The news of Gorbachev's visit to the United States quickly occupied the main frequency and main pages of major American television, radio, and newspaper media. Gorbachev's decision to go to Portland to watch a Trail Blazers game also made the entire city of Portland busy.

Although the Portland police and security department had received relevant notices to prepare, it was not really certain whether Gorbachev came to Portland to watch the game and when he would come. No one thought that Gorbachev would go to Portland to watch an NBA game so soon.

However, many commentators also analyzed that the reason why Gorbachev went to Portland so soon to watch the Trail Blazers competition where Sabonis is also profound.

At this time, the Soviet Union was in trouble internally and externally. Gorbachev was eager to open up the situation diplomatically. After he came to power, he implemented a "peaceful offensive" in foreign policy and took the initiative to establish good relations with Europe, the United States and China to ease the pressure brought by domestic conflicts.

Therefore, one of the important purposes of Gorbachev's visit to the United States is to ease the US-Soviet relations. When the new US president just came to power, Gorbachev's visit to the United States was more friendly.

Because of this, Sabonis, who was unable to enter the NBA due to the rigid US-Soviet relations, is now able to successfully enter the most important basketball league in the United States, which is undoubtedly an important symbol of the easing of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, and has strong political significance. Although the real reason for Sabonis to come to the United States was Gan Guoyang, no one will pay attention to these details at this time.

Gorbachev's visit made the entire Portland feel like a great enemy. On the evening of December 12, all police officers' vacations in the entire Portland city were cancelled, and security work was displayed quickly and silently.

There is not much difference for the Trail Blazers. The opponent they will face tomorrow is the Los Angeles Clippers, which is not particularly strong. For Gorbachev's live viewing, the team has also received notifications from the league. The Trail Blazers' plan is very simple - to respond to changes in the same way.

Indeed, with the strength of the Trail Blazers, there is no reason to be afraid of the Clippers. Moreover, Gorbachev's visit does not mean that the Trail Blazers must win. Adelman's requirement for the players is "playing the game seriously, there is no difference from usual."

The only one with some pressure may be Sabonis, but from the perspective of nationality, Sabonis was actually a Lithuanian. At that time, the conflict between the Soviet Union was becoming increasingly sharp, and the foundation of the country's consortium had already been shaken.

As an athlete, Sabonis didn't think so much about it. He is also a player of the Soviet Union and has just won great international honors for the Soviet Union. Now the country's top leader wants to see the game of his team, and he must be excited and nervous.

Before the game, Adelman still put Sabonis in the starting position, and Adelman also withstood the pressure from many parties, including the team manager and the boss. They all had some doubts about Sabonis' ability, and the amazingness at the beginning of the season has been forgotten by them.

"Come on, Avidas, I bet tonight not only the map head is watching you, but audiences from all over the Su, Europe and even the world will look at you, and show your strength as the best player in Europe! Well!" In the player channel before entering the court, Gan Guoyang grabbed Sabonis' head vigorously and said to him while shaking his head.

After saying that, Gan Guoyang punched Sabonis hard on his thick chest, and then under his leadership, the Trail Blazers players entered the court.

Compared with all the previous night games, there were obviously more security personnel at the police at the game tonight, and there were also many FBI agents among the audience to ensure safety. Before last night's game, every corner of the stadium was searched by the hunting dogs of the riot police to ensure that there were no explosives.

After all, the leaders of the two strongest and largest countries in the world are currently the leaders of the two strongest and largest countries. If something goes wrong, it will be amazing.

Not only Gorbachev and Reagan were there to watch the game tonight, but NBA President David Stern also came to the scene. He knew that this was a great opportunity to take the opportunity to promote the NBA, and there were not many opportunities for national leaders to do free advertising like this.

Apart from these, this game is not much different from other Trail Blazers games. It is still the same recipe and the same taste.

Sabonis started under tremendous pressure, but his pressure on the defensive end tonight was much smaller, because he was against the Celtics' substitute center Greg Kate, a figure on the edge of the bench, but when he arrived at the Clippers, he became the starting center, which was enough to show how bad the Clippers' inside line was.

Another player of the Clippers is Sabonis's old friend, the power forward who met at the Olympics, this year's No. 1 pick, Danny Manning.

Manning, the No. 1 pick, performed well after entering the NBA. He showed outstanding talents, flexible steps and spiritual offensive skills in the interior allowed the Clippers to see hope.

However, Manning was quite miserable tonight. First, Sabonis, as an opponent who had defeated him in the Olympics, had a psychological advantage. At that time, the inside line composed of Manning and David Robinson failed to gain a advantage in the wrestling of the Soviet inside line and unexpectedly lost the game.

Second, the player Manning will face tonight is Gan Guoyang, who has the title of "rookie killer".

In fact, Gan Guoyang has been away from his rookie status for a few years, but he is known for teaching rookie players in the league. Once there are rookie players in the opponent's lineup in every game, the opponent's coach will remind him not to provoke Gan Guoyang.

But on the court, Gan Guoyang is a typical type of person who will provoke you if you don’t provoke him. Reggie Miller is the one who was beaten by Gan Guoyang the worst, and the same is true for Manning tonight.

I wonder if the Clippers coach forgot to remind Manning that Manning took the ball at the beginning of the game. After receiving the ball at a high position, he faced Gan Guoyang for the first time. This was the first time Danny Manning encountered this rookie killer.

"Chestnut head, don't be afraid, fire at me." Gan Guoyang said to Manning. He had already started to nickname Manning. Manning's head was indeed sharp.

Gan Guoyang knew that the rookie player was not afraid of the world just entering the league, and he was the most unbearable to challenge him. He was also furious by Larry Bird back then, but now he is familiar with this trick.

Sure enough, Manning held the ball and lowered his waist, looking ready to make an attacking move.

Gan Guoyang's provocation to others is by no means arrogant. In fact, he will study the technical characteristics of the counterattack extremely carefully before the game. For example, after watching several games of Manning, he knew that this thin forward, who was like a thin strip, had a very flexible breakthrough in the basket, but he was better at walking his right hand side, which is a common problem for most rookie players, and his left hand skills are not proficient.

Moreover, his dribbling is relatively high. Gan Guoyang carefully looked at his dribbling scenes, made rhythm statistics, and kept his steps and starting habits in mind - Gan Guoyang, who did not enter the NBA, would study him like this.

Manning took a deep breath, then suddenly dribbled faster, trying to kill the basket from the middle.

Gan Guoyang did not block Manning's breakthrough route, nor did he take the ball. Although Gan Guoyang's view had two chances to break Manning's ball, he still put Manning in.

Manning successfully broke through to the basket, but Sabonis occupied a large position under the basket. At this time, Manning found that he had no way to get rid of Gan Guoyang's defense, nor could he rush to the end to shoot on Sabonis' head. This hesitation made him fall into the siege of the Trail Blazers' defense.

Gan Guoyang wrapped Manning up like a spider web. Manning stopped the ball, turned around to protect the ball, and wanted to pass the ball, but found it extremely difficult. As a result, he could only forcefully turn over and jump shot, but the jump was not enough, and he was greeted by Gan Guoyang's big hat.

"Welcome to the NBA, rookie." This is what all NBA veterans have to say when teaching rookies.

Manning's nightmare did not end there. He made a total of seven shots in the whole first half. Not only did he make any attempt, but all of the first three shots were blocked by Gan Guoyang.

It was not until after the second half that Gan Guoyang said to Manning, "You can start scoring now", that Manning relied on free throws to score two points.

On the other hand, Clippers center Greg Kate really has no offensive ability, which reduces Sabonis's pressure on the defensive end to the lowest level. So Sabonis began to show off his power, assists, passes, and sort out the offense, but also played singles at a low post. He scored a season-high 18 points in the whole game, grabbed 7 rebounds and sent 6 assists.

The Trail Blazers fans at the scene also gave Sabonis the greatest support. Every time Sabonis scored a goal, the applause and cheers of the fans were more enthusiastic than Gan Guoyang's goal, which was completely gone before.

Everyone gave Sabonis enough face and Gorbachev.

Gan Guoyang's passion in scoring has decreased compared to the previous week. He scored less than 30 points in two consecutive games, only scored 21 points in this game, but contributed 17 rebounds, 6 blocks and 3 steals. It is obvious that he is making up for the team's defensive loopholes after Williams was absent.

When the game ended, the Trail Blazers beat the Trail Blazers with a 115:90 and 25 points, they sat in the ordinary audience seat, but in fact, Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, who were full of agents, stood up with the audience, applauding the Trail Blazers who contributed the wonderful game, while the Clippers players could only serve as foils.

When Gan Guoyang and his teammates walked back to the locker room, they found that the locker room was already on guard. Not only were there a large number of agents, but many reporters were also surrounded by the cordon. These reporters were not allowed to bring photography equipment, but could only bring paper and pen.

There was a person who was particularly conspicuous, a Chinese journalist wearing glasses and smiling. Unlike others, he was able to stand inside the cordon, which means he could directly enter the locker room.
Chapter completed!