The InterContinental Hotel in New York is located near the famous Times Square, which is the most central location on Manhattan Island and is also known as the "crossroads of the world".

Although InterContinental Hotel is just a four-star hotel, its service concepts and measures are quite advanced, especially the employees here have foreign language skills, so the NBA officials also prefer to arrange foreign visitors to this hotel.

At this time, in the welcoming hall on the first floor of the InterContinental Hotel, Gan Guoyang was sitting on a chair and quietly waiting for the arrival of the Chinese national team.

Some time ago, after Muscattin confirmed the news of the Chinese team's visit, Gan Guoyang couldn't sit still. He didn't want to wait until the last stop of the Chinese men's basketball team to return to Portland. Instead, he hurriedly said goodbye to Stockton and Hansen, flew directly to Boston to meet David Stern.

On June 9, 1985, the sixth game of the finals was played at Boston Garden Plaza. The Los Angeles Lakers, who had a 3-2 lead, had the opportunity to win the O'Brien Cup in Boston.

The last time the Lakers had such an opportunity was in 1969, which was Bill Russell's last year. The Lakers also led 3-2 in the first five games, and the sixth in Boston, but they lost that game and dragged the Finals into Game 7.

The seventh game was played at the Lakers' home court. At that time, the team's bosses had already prepared the balloons for the Lakers to win the championship and would release them together when the Lakers won the championship.

However, the Celtics, who were almost exhausted, burst out with the last trace of energy. Relying on Don Nelson's key shot, they won the championship tiebreak 108:106. The Celtics won the 11th championship in 13 years, and Russell successfully retired with a ring.

This bad memory is engraved in the soul of every Lakers player. Lakers head coach Riley always uses the history of the Celtics once "oppressing" the Lakers to stimulate his players.

For the Lakers this year, Game 6 is the best opportunity, because if they drag to Game 7, the venue for the battle is still in Boston, which is very bad for the Lakers.

Of course, Celtic fans still firmly believe that their Greens will tie the score at home. In their opinion, "There are countless possibilities in this world, but it is impossible for the Lakers to defeat us."

However, not everyone has a green belief. Gan Guoyang, who sat in the front seat with Stern, does not believe that the Celtics can equalize, not only because history is like this, but also because Gan Guoyang looks at it from the perspective of a professional player, he can feel that the Lakers have a stronger belief in winning the championship, starting from Palm Springs.

Sure enough, Gan Guoyang and Stern witnessed this historic moment when the Lakers picked up the O'Brien Cup in Boston Garden Plaza. Looking at Jabbar, who was 38 years old and almost lost all his hair, he picked up the trophy of the Finals MVP.

Now that the finals have been settled, Gan Guoyang is still sitting next to Stern, waiting for the arrival of the protagonists of this welcome banquet tonight.

"Gan, they are here." At this time, Stern turned his head and said to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang nodded after hearing this. He didn't know why he was so nervous. Logically speaking, according to basketball level, he had long surpassed the men's basketball players, and there was no Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi in the current men's basketball lineup. Perhaps Gan Guoyang didn't know any of them at all.

"Maybe it's a bit like 'nearby feeling is even more timid'..." Gan Guoyang thought to himself that although he was not returning to China this time, it was enough to make Gan Guoyang excited when he came from his fellow workers in his motherland.

For any Chinese, the plot of "hometown" will never be erased.

Even though it comes from the future time and space, Gan Guoyang still believes that his soul is still lingering in the country on the other side.

Although Gan Guoyang has achieved success in the United States, he always feels that he is a person without roots in basketball. Of course, this is closely related to his special "talent value", and his potential is almost overnight.

In the United States, his experience of playing in Palo Alto High School and Gonzaga did not bring a strong sense of belonging to Gan Guoyang.

No matter how great success he achieved and how unprecedented honors he brought to the two schools, his name will inevitably be engraved on the school's honor list in the future. Gan Guoyang understands that he is still a foreigner after all, the least yellow man in the American sports circle.

Gan Guoyang has been in the United States for so many years and has never changed his nationality. He has always worked hard in the NBA as a foreign player.

Nowadays, the arrival of Chinese players will undoubtedly bring about a strong sense of identity, even if he does not know any of them.

But when the door of the welcome hall opened and walked into the first Chinese player under the guidance of the hotel staff, Gan Guoyang found that he was very familiar with the face of this person.

"This person... is so familiar... Is he the head coach of Bayi before, Wang Fei!" Gan Guoyang looked at the player who was walking in front and had a handsome face. The more he looked, the more he felt that he was the head coach of the Bayi team of CBA.

Gan Guoyang guessed right, Wang Fei was the first to be in the process. After retiring and becoming a coach, Wang Fei has always maintained his figure very well and has basically not gained weight. Therefore, the difference between his appearance in his forties and his twenties is really not very different.

In addition, when Gan Guoyang was watching the CBA at that time, Wang Fei, as the head coach of the super strong team Bayi team, often appeared on TV cameras, so he had a very deep impression of Wang Fei.

"Welcome to you, friends from China!" Just as Gan Guoyang was stunned, Stern had already walked up and shook hands with the coach in the Chinese team wearing a suit and a red tie.

At the same time, the band in the hall also played soft blues music, and the whole hall suddenly became lively.

Gan Guoyang also hurriedly went up to meet him and shook hands with the guidance officer Qian Chenghai.

"Hello...money,money coach..." Gan Guoyang and Ramsey were not so nervous when they spoke, but instead stuttered in the face of this legendary coach from China.

For Gan Guoyang, the name Qian Chenghai is really a bit old, but it is still well-known. Anyone who has a certain understanding of Chinese basketball should know how great this old coach has made to the development of Chinese basketball and how many outstanding talents have been cultivated for the Chinese basketball industry.

Qian Chenghai in 1985 was not as white as he had since. He looked full of energy and his eyes were sharp. He stared at Gan Guoyang who had come forward to shake hands with him for a while, held Gan Guoyang's hand tightly, and said, "Hello, I have heard of Daming for a long time, Comrade Gan Guoyang!"

Since the last time I met the Chinese delegation in Mascatin, this is the second time that Gan Guoyang has heard someone call him "Comrade Gan Guoyang" in pure Chinese, and a kind feeling has once again come to my heart.

Listening to Qian Chenghai's loud voice, Gan Guoyang felt a little embarrassed and couldn't help scratching his head.

At this time, other Chinese players were also looking at the "first Chinese to play in the American Professional League."

"It feels like we are, and we don't have three heads and six arms!" Lu Jinqing thought in his heart.

Most other Chinese players also have this idea. They are young men in their early twenties and are also top basketball players in China. Seeing that Gan Guoyang is not very tall and looks relatively ordinary, they naturally feel uncomfortable.

After a few greetings with Qian Chenghai, Gan Guoyang shook hands with the players of the men's basketball team and said hello one by one.

This time, the men's basketball team had fifteen people, one head coach, one assistant coach, one translator, and the other twelve people were players.

When greeting him, the players introduced themselves. Gan Guoyang found that besides Wang Fei, he also knew only Min Lulei, Sun Fengwu and Song Tao. Gan Guoyang had never even heard of the names of others.

Afterwards, everyone took the seat, and Stern began to come on stage to deliver a welcome speech to the men's basketball team, introducing the Chinese team to the guests present, and hoped that this visit would promote exchanges between China and the United States in basketball.

Of course, in the NBA business league, everything will be linked to the economy. Even the naming rights for this visit were sold by Stern, the businessman, and KALIBER beer. Therefore, this men's basketball team's visit to the United States is also called "Kaliber Tour".

Although the activities in the United States are full of commercial flavor, compared with the large-scale Chinese events full of political scent, its advantages are that they are simple and clear and efficient. So Stern did not chatter on the stage. After all the people involved made some simple welcome speeches, he entered everyone's free time for activities.

Like the NBA All-Star Game, Stern arranged a buffet this time. This dining situation is more free and conducive to communication between people. It is really better for young and energetic players.

At this time, China was still in the stage of reform and opening up, and the people's living standards had not yet been qualitatively improved. Correspondingly, although the food of men's basketball players is very good, they are not comparable to that of the developed United States.

The rich dishes here quickly attracted the young men's basketball team who had been hungry for the afternoon. They began to feast on like Monkey Monkey entering the Peach Garden.

Only Mr. Qian Chenghai also focused on Gan Guoyang. After a brief exchange, he found that Qian Chenghai found that Gan Guoyang was different from most Chinese athletes. He spoke appropriately and used appropriate words, which reduced the motivation of athletes and became more calm and atmospheric.

After learning during the conversation that Gan Guoyang was studying in college in the United States and then entered the NBA, coach Qian Chenghai nodded as if he had realized it. You should know that China was a vocational sports school system at that time, and many athletes' cultural courses were not taken seriously.

The welcome meeting lasted for more than two hours. Stern also invited famous local bands to perform for the Chinese team, and also allowed the men's basketball boys to see what the "sugar-coated cannonballs" of imperialism and what the "despicable sound" of capitalism is.

The welcome party, because after a long period of hard work, the national team and his group returned to their room early to rest.

"Oh Lao Qian, look at that Gan Guoyang, how about it?" asked the team's assistant coach Lu Changxin on the way back.
Chapter completed!