The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 83 - 22 Unstoppable

[In the 1984 Sweet Sixteen, Duke’s players were like moths to a flame, constantly fouling Gan Guoyang, sending him to the free throw line again and again. Later, Bilas said, "Fouling Gan had become an inertia; we didn’t care if it worked or not, we just didn’t want to see him score over your head anymore. Scoring from free throws felt less insulting."]

————Excerpt from "Tales from the Duke Blue Devils Locker Room" by Jim Sumner, published in 2005.

How dirty you play is actually a relative concept.

Just like how tall is tall, how heavy is heavy, or how ugly is ugly.

You think the opponent is playing dirty, but if you play dirtier than the opponent, they don’t seem that dirty anymore.

The game between Gonzaga and Duke, fueled by Gan Guoyang’s passion, quickly heated up.

Both sides abandoned zone defense in favor of man-to-man, using intensity, stamina, and endless entanglement to wear down the opponent.

Every dribble up the court, every screen around a player, every battle for the rebound, physical contact was inevitable.

The referees tried to control the players’ actions with their whistles, but as the game went on, they couldn’t possibly eject everyone.

A subtle balance was struck between the players and the referees, and the game unfolded amidst fierce competition.

By the end of the first half, Gan Guoyang was drenched in sweat, with several bloody marks on his arms.

He fiercely contested for offensive rebounds under the basket, and although the on-site statistician didn’t differentiate between offensive and defensive rebounds, he estimated that at least 7 of Gan Guoyang’s 13 rebounds were offensive ones.

Duke had no one who could stop him from grabbing those rebounds, preventing Duke from executing their sharp fast breaks.

Coach K was anxiously scratching his head on the sidelines, as losing defensive rebounds was the last thing he wanted to see.

During the halftime break, he had to specifically emphasize the issue with defensive rebounds, with the halftime score being 32:38, putting them 6 points behind the Bulldogs.

Duke’s offense wasn’t bad, with Dawkins handling the ball and the team’s set plays being orderly.

The Bulldogs’ defense was intense but lacked depth; as long as they could bypass Gan Guoyang and tear open the defensive line with passes, opportunities to score would arise.

It all came down to rebounds, details, and interior defense; they let Gan Guoyang score 19 points in the first half alone, with the Bulldogs’ more than half points coming from him.

Coach K had Alari double-team Gan Guoyang in the second half to alleviate Bilas’s defensive pressure.

Bilas sat in the locker room drinking water profusely; the 20 minutes of confrontation had left him feeling dehydrated.

"Jay, you have to keep wearing him down, wear down that number 11!"

"Yes, Coach, I know."

"I don’t believe he can last an entire game playing like that."

Gan Guoyang’s style of play indeed consumed a lot of stamina, burning his energy while sprinting and leaping on the court, fiercely contesting every ball and driving the whole team with tremendous vitality.

But Labis thought, whether you believe it or not, I certainly can’t make it through an entire game.

"If it gets too tough, just foul him; use fouls to wear him down."

Coach K asked his players to use fouls to interfere with Gan Guoyang, which certainly meant not the ordinary kind but the fierce ones.

Such fouls could hurt the opponents and disrupt their scoring rhythm and would not be readily resorted to unless absolutely necessary.

However, Coach Donohue, who tried to exhaust Gan Guoyang’s stamina in the previous game, had utterly failed.

And here was another unbeliever.

On the court, Duke and Gonzaga were fighting a fierce battle.

Off the court, Blue Devils fans and Bulldogs fans were also engaging in a fierce war of words.

Leading the charge off the court was Gan Guohui at the helm of the Beiqiao High School Gan Guoyang support group.

Gan Guohui swung the large flag in his hand the entire game, organizing Beiqiao High School students to attack Duke without interruption.

When Chinese students unite, they can wield formidable combat power, with unified slogans and loud voices, fiercely cursing the Duke Blue Devils as bloody fools.

This national essence echoed within the UCLA Pauley Pavilion, leaving a significant mark in NCAA history.

Though American fans and players could not understand them, they knew it was nothing pleasant.

In any language, curse words are the quickest to catch on; everyone learns them without a teacher.

After the second half started, when Gan Guoyang heard the national essence ringing from the stands, he felt an inexplicable power coursing through his body, continuing to assault Duke’s interior line under the basket.

He grabbed his eighth offensive rebound of the game and, with Labis and Alari hanging on him, tossed the ball into the basket.

The referee called a foul, the basket counted, and he was awarded an additional free throw.

Coach K, feeling helpless on the sidelines, called Labis and Alari over and reminded them, "I said, if you’re going to foul, do it fiercely! Don’t let him score! Don’t let him score!"

Labis wanted to explain, but after glancing at Alari and exchanging looks, they decided it was better not to explain and just be more vicious. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

As they walked away, Alari said, "I know what you mean, he’s like a tank."

"Yes, I haven’t met a player stronger than him; he really is like a tank."

Labis had faced taller players, players who looked stronger than Gan Guoyang, players with more developed muscles, but he had never met anyone as ironclad as Gan Guoyang.

Any pushing or pulling seemed to have no substantial effect on Gan Guoyang; his muscles felt like they were embedded in his bones, you couldn’t move him an inch.

And yet, with such a hard body, he had great flexibility and coordination, able to perform various technical moves under the basket, with fake moves that could kill, defending him was a huge torment.

Labis got under the basket and couldn’t help but ask Gan Guoyang, "Gan, are you made of iron? I almost want to stab you with a knife to see if I can kill you."

Gan Guoyang immediately found the referee and said, "Labis threatened me, saying he wants to use a knife to stab me to death."

The referee gave Labis a warning, reminding him to play the game properly and that he’d be thrown out if he continued to talk nonsense.

"Damn!"

Labis decided not to talk to that jerk anymore, he grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket and tried to make a layup in front of Gan Guoyang, but was ruthlessly blocked.

Challenging Gan Guoyang head-on was very unwise. With the ball in hand, Gan Guoyang passed it to Stockton, starting the Bulldog’s fast break. Gan Guoyang once again dashed to the basket, ready for a dunk after receiving Stockton’s precise pass.

This time, Labis and Alari went for a tough close-down from behind, finally pulling Gan Guoyang to the ground with both their efforts.

This was no longer a basketball move, it was not for the ball, it was completely targeted at the person.

The Bulldog’s players all rushed up, Van Nort was about to throw punches with Labis.

The referee quickly stepped in to prevent the conflict, and at this moment Gan Guoyang stood up to separate the sides, telling his teammates he was fine, nothing was wrong.

He stretched and moved around a bit, indeed, no problems.

The referee whistled Labis for a flagrant foul, two shots and one throw.

Labis already had four fouls, and the second half had only just begun.

Coach K had no choice but to take Labis out and brought in freshman center Martin-Nesbitt.

This was a towering 7-foot-2 center, but he was too young, lacking experience and practice.

As a freshman, he spent most of the time on the bench, cultivated as a future pillar of the team in the paint.

Coach K patted Nesbitt and said, "Your job is to stick to Gan and protect the defensive rebounds. Go for it."

Coach K knew that though it was risky to let young players onto the court in such a crucial game, it would be a valuable asset for their growth.

Five minutes later, Nesbitt, having committed three fouls, was taken out by Coach K.

With a dejected face, Nesbitt said, "Sorry coach, he’s too fast, I..."

"It’s okay, you did well. Fouling is not bad either, at least you didn’t let him make an and-one."

Coach K consoled Nesbitt, and himself as well, at least Gan Guoyang hadn’t completed an and-one, right?

But he was unstoppable at the free-throw line, shooting with high accuracy. Tonight he was already 13-for-12, terrifyingly steady.

At this rate, he might end up taking 20 free throws by the end of the night.

Elimination games, win or go home, no one is holding anything back.

Coach K started activating his bench, sending his centers to guard in turns.

Regardless of the cost, even if it meant fouling, they needed to stop Gan Guoyang from wreaking havoc in the paint.

As Guoyang repeatedly stood on the free-throw line facing Duke’s aggressive fouls, some fans in Los Angeles began to boo Duke, feeling they were making the game ugly.

Unmoved, Coach K prayed in his heart that Gan Guoyang’s free throws would worsen, giving Duke a chance.

The Bulldogs consistently maintained a lead of 5 to 7 points, with Gan Guoyang’s score gradually increasing.

Each foul was a hit to him, but he was completely fearless, neither irate nor discouraged. He just stood at the free-throw line, took a deep breath, and steadily made the shot.

In the NCAA, free throws are done on a 1-on-1 basis. If the first attempt misses, it immediately goes to rebounding mode, which equates to an offensive failure, and the opposing team only incurs a foul.

If Gan Guoyang’s mental fortitude were any weaker, his free-throw percentage could drop later in the game, giving Duke a chance.

But Guoyang was like a war god at the free-throw line, never missing the first shot, with the solitary miss being on the second attempt, still ensuring at least 1 point.

Coach K paced from the sideline, to crouching, to sitting with his chin in hand, and then to complaining, discussing, and contemplating strategies with his assistant coaches—they had tried everything, to no avail, unable to stop Gan Guoyang from scoring at that spot.

In the slow-paced, no-shot-clock NCAA game, facing Duke’s fierce defense, Gan Guoyang went 20-for-21 from the line, scoring 37 points, grabbing 24 rebounds, and delivering 7 blocks.

The Duke Blue Devils’ fans on the sidelines went from initial frenzy, to gradually being silenced by insults, to covering their faces after being dominated by Gan Guoyang, and ultimately all became silent, some with arms crossed, others with hands on hips, and a few turning away, no longer watching the game.

This game became one of the most memorable losses in Duke Blue Devil’s history.

The final score settled at 72:65, the Bulldogs Team winning over the Duke Blue Devils by a 7-point margin and advancing into the Elite Eight.

The Blue Devils team actually played a good offense that night, with Dawkins scoring 23 points; the Bulldogs didn’t really manage to stop Duke’s perimeter shooting.

However, the Bulldogs’ advantage inside was too great. Coach K’s intentions of wearing down Gan Guoyang were not realized until the last second of the game; he was still lively and unstoppable in the paint.

At the moment the game ended, Beelman rushed to embrace Gan Guoyang warmly, his eyes brimming with tears.

The Elite Eight, his greatest regret had been not advancing to the Elite Eight with the University of Notre Dame, and now he finally achieved it as a head coach.

"Gan, you are my God, you are my God!"

"Coach, I rather like the title ’Bodhisattva’."