The Golden Age of Basketball

After Gan Guoyang hit a shocking long-range shot, Tiger Team's coach Larry Orwell could only call for a timeout.

The score gap was widening, and the key issue was that the Tiger Team was becoming more and more confused as the game went on—they couldn't break the Shui Zhong Team's zone defense.

For high school players, whether it's guarding a zone defense or breaking one, it's not an easy task.

The Shui Zhong Team maintained the tenacity of their zone defense with their good discipline, as well as daily hard training.

As time passed, the Tiger Team's spirit before the game was gradually deflating, and Orwell could feel the frustration on everyone's faces.

How should he motivate the players? It was difficult, because there was no enmity between the two teams, and this wasn't a key game.

It was crucial for the Shui Zhong Team, but for Fremont High School, winning or losing was more a matter of face.

There had always been rumors that the white high schools in Oakland didn't dare to win at Tiger Stadium because the people near Fremont really were a bit crazy, and many hated white people.

But the Shui Zhong Team was different; they were Asian, and in some respects, their situation was similar to that of black people. Tonight, they fought as if they were fearless warriors.

Everyone knew they had a reason to win and brought the conviction of victory, a courage that was admirable.

Larry Orwell looked up at the timer, there were only 8 minutes left until the end of the second half.

The Tiger Team was 11 points behind the Shui Zhong Team, but there was still a chance. If they could make good use of the home advantage, play some tricks, and put some pressure on the referees, the outcome was still uncertain.

But what would it mean to defeat the Shui Zhong Team? Oakland defeated San Francisco? That was just some nonsense cooked up by the San Francisco sports media in October when they had nothing better to do.

Yet, letting the Fremont Tiger Team be the stepping stone for the Shui Zhong Team didn't seem right to Larry Orwell; it would be recorded in the Bay Area's sports chronicles and forever etched in history.

This internal struggle and procrastination prevented Orwell from being able to calmly come up with a good strategy.

If the coach himself was wavering, how could the players perform well?

Meanwhile, on the Shui Zhong Team side, Beelman didn't stop berating his players despite their excellent performance.

"You're too slow on defense, Chen!"

"Xu, your shooting is like crap, my grandma shoots better than you."

"Franklin, did you disappear in the second half? Didn't I pay you for the second half?"

Only Gan Guoyang stood there with his arms akimbo, Beelman automatically skipped over him when it was his turn.

Gan Guoyang's performance was nearly perfect, and Beelman knew that this kid wasn't even giving his all.

From this battle on, Beelman began to have confidence in the Shui Zhong Team and had greater expectations for them.

However, the game was not over yet, and once you show a weakness in the Tiger Gymnasium, the opponent will tear at you and give you a fatal counterattack.

For the Shui Zhong Team, the last five minutes were a huge test; as stamina waned, more and more gaps appeared in the zone defense.

Franklin, who had performed well in the first half, saw a sharp decline in efficiency due to increased physical exhaustion and the Tiger Team's intense defense.

He missed two layups after breakthroughs, and one of his shots was massively blocked by Herbert as if playing volleyball. Franklin fell to the ground, but the referees didn't call a foul.

The Tiger Team counterattacked, with Turner charging unstoppably, scoring a layup and bringing the gap down to 5 points, 57:52, giving the Tiger Team a glimmer of hope.

Franklin struggled to get up from the ground, panting heavily, with his thighs and arms trembling a bit.

Due to numerous school transfers and dropouts, as well as hanging out on the streets for a long time, he lacked systematic physical training.

Seeing this, Beelman called for a timeout and let Franklin sit on the bench to rest for a while.

Chen Xing, who also had stamina issues, wasn't a professional basketball player. Throughout the entire game, he had been running ragged trying to protect the ball.

With just two mistakes, Chen Xing had already given his all. If he continued to stay on the court, frequent ball-handling errors in the final stages would be fatal.

Beelman kept Franklin on the court but replaced Chen Xing with the substitute guard Huang Zhenfan.

Huang Zhenfan was Huang Shaohua's grandson, not very tall, only 168 cm, even shorter than Chen Xing.

However, he loved basketball, had decent ball-handling skills, a solid build, and was also good at shooting.

Beelman gave him only two tasks: first, don't make turnovers, and second, make sure the ball gets safely to Gan Guoyang's hands.

But whether it was due to nerves or the Tiger Team's increased defensive intensity in the final phase,

Huang Zhenfan's pass to the inside for a feed resulted in a turnover—he's too short, has a poor field of vision, and he passes the ball too slowly, allowing the Tiger Team to intercept it.

In the counterattack, Henry-Turner once again charged ahead, leading the pack and bombing the hoop for a score.

The gap had narrowed to just three points, and the Tiger Stadium became like purgatory, hot and noisy on the cool October night, thick with polluted air from too many people crammed in.

Both teams' stamina had reached their limits, and as Guoyang was about to throw in from the baseline, he reminded Huang Zhenfan, "Don't rush. I'll come out to receive the ball. Don't pass it inside."

Huang Zhenfan nodded, steadying his emotions. Immense pressure can break a person, and at times like this, someone must stand up to support the entire team's backbone.

Gan Guoyang indeed received the ball high from Huang Zhenfan. After catching it, he immediately passed it to Franklin—who had only scored 2 points in the second half.

After a hand-to-hand pass between the two, Gan Guoyang immediately cut down. He didn't go too deep because the deeper the cut, the more likely a turnover would occur.

Franklin made a short pass to Gan Guoyang, who received the ball at the elbow, a little inside. With a fake move, he feinted, and Herberg bit.

Gan Guoyang took the ball, accelerated to break past Herbert, and breezed into a layup, scoring with an easy bank shot under the hoop.

The gym became much quieter. Gan Guoyang's mix of feints and real moves meant no one could stop him tonight, and he had certainly stopped the Tiger Team a lot.

Facing the zone defense, the Tiger Team executed a clever play, with the point guard charging from the sideline to the bottom corner, passing the ball out, taking one step inside to accelerate, and then receiving it back.

With the help of the center's screen, the point guard broke through the zone defense into the paint, where there was an open space, and the Tiger Team's point guard chose a floater.

It looked like a sure shot, but unexpectedly a giant emerged from the side, swatting the ball against the backboard with a huge block. The ball was controlled by Gan Guoyang.

On the sidelines, Little Gary held his head in dismay, "Why didn't he lay it up? Why go for a floater! Why not lay it up, this damn, damn, damn bastard!"

He thought if it had been him, he would have opted for a reverse layup or a bank shot after a contact to avoid the block, not a non-resistant floater, waiting to get blocked.

Gan Guoyang, after grabbing the defensive rebound, dribbled the ball across half court himself. Although his dribbling was somewhat clumsy, no one came to stop him. The legs of the Tiger Team players felt as if they were filled with lead.

Facing Herbert, he accelerated past him, went straight to the hoop, and scored an easy layup!

61:54, the Shui Zhong Team regained a 7-point lead, and after scoring, Gan Guoyang raised his arms in a shout, invincible in this gymnasium!

Orwell called his last timeout, but with less than two minutes left in the game, they were unable to make a comeback.

In an era without three-pointers and with slow offensive rhythm, a 7-point difference was hard to overcome in a short time.

The spectators on-site held their heads, their faces a mix of disbelief. Were the Tiger Team really about to lose to a San Francisco Chinese basketball team?

When the final buzzer sounded, the score was set at 63:58, with the Shui Zhong Team's bench erupting in cheers, rushing onto the court to embrace each other.

In this game, Gan Guoyang played the full 40 minutes without a minute of rest, scoring 31 points, grabbing 22 rebounds, and blocking 8 shots, making him the number one contributor to the team's victory.

Gan Guoyang's performance was reminiscent of the high school days of Moses Malone—that guy, in his senior year, averaged 36 points, 26 rebounds, and 12 blocks per game, maintaining his team's unbeaten streak for two years.

After the Shui Zhong Team's victory, the Tiger Gymnasium didn't erupt into a riot as some might have expected; instead, the fans applauded the Shui Zhong Team's performance.

Apart from students, the crowd included neighbors who had come to watch the game, with adults, elderly, and women among them. They might not have thought much of Asians, but they didn't despise them as they despised White people—not before the unemployment wave caused by Toyota in the car manufacturing industry arrived.

The Shui Zhong Team had earned the respect of the impoverished areas of Oakland with their brilliant performance.

Of course, for the people of Fremont High School, clapping for the victors was a way to keep a good reputation at this moment, otherwise, they would be accused of being poor losers.

As he was leaving the field, Guoyang didn't forget to greet Little Gary at the sidelines. Draping a towel over his shoulder and hands on his hips, he looked down at Gary and said, "If you're not convinced, come to the court to find me. I'm ready anytime."

"I fucking will, you fucking wait!"

How could Gary concede in a verbal exchange, though his voice was clearly trembling?

But Guoyang was already a senior, while Gary hadn't even started high school yet.

Their true face-off on the court would have to wait another 10 years.