(I will focus more on describing the protagonist's mental journey in these chapters. Of course, this is not abuse, but rebirth, and nirvana will only occur after pain. Gan Guoyang must grow further, because he will face huge challenges in college, not just from basketball.)

June 1, 1982, International Children's Day, but today is not only a festival for children, but also a festival for fans in Los Angeles.

In this year's NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers, who won a 1-1 home advantage in Philadelphia, will welcome the Philadelphia 76ers from afar at the Greater Western Conference Forum Arena today.

The eyes of basketball fans across the United States have shifted from cold and humid Pennsylvania to warm and dry California, and fans in Los Angeles have been ready.

Gan Guoyang, who had been in line for two hours yesterday to buy the "reserved ticket", took Gan Guohui and Chen Xing and the other three to take the bus to Inglewood after supper.

"If the Lakers can win two games in a row at home, it will be 3:1! The championship is definitely a matter of certainty, I just don't know who will win the MVP?" Gan Guohui held the ticket in the car, chewing Black Jack's gum in his mouth, and discussed the finals with the other two.

"I think it's good that the 76ers won the championship once. They have been in the finals for the third time and they lost all the first two times. It's a pity. I think Dr. J should win the championship once." At this time, of course, Chen Xing had to stand up clearly to oppose the fat man Gan Guohui, and stood on the side of the 76ers.

"Do you think you are Sun Wukong! The emperor took turns to sit and came to my house today? The championship is not something everyone is talking about. In this situation, the Lakers will definitely have a big chance of winning!" Of course, Gan Guohui fought back, and the Lakers are indeed in a better situation as they win the home court advantage. He is naturally confident that he said this.

"Hmph, I bet that the 76ers will definitely win this finals! Do you dare to bet? Whoever loses will invite you to McDonald's!" Although Chen Xing also supported the Lakers in his heart, in order to stand opposite Gan Guohui, he chose to support the 76ers without hesitation - at the cost of a McDonald's.

Gan Guoyang knew that the 1982 championship in NBA history was the Los Angeles Lakers, and he could no longer remember the specific score.

As long as Gan Guoyang's arrival does not change the general direction of NBA history, then the winner of this bet is Gan Guohui.

"Go to bet! But we start betting in this game! I bet on the Lakers to win! If you lose... then... I will treat me to two McDonald's!" Gan Guohui thought for a while, and the bet he thought of was to add an extra McDonald's...

"Hmph, who is afraid of whom? Just bet this game, I bet 76ers win!" Chen Xing was very disdainful of Gan Guohui.

"Look at your promising prospects!" Gan Guoyang couldn't help but say after hearing what Gan Guohui said.

"Hehe, cousin, anyway, if you don't participate in the bet, you will be invited by anyone who loses. You are sure to make a profit and you will not lose money!" Gan Guohui responded with a smile.

However, Gan Guoyang seemed to be in no mood to joke with his cousin. He forced himself to smile and kept silent, and held his chin out to look out at the scenery.

Gan Guohui looked at Gan Guoyang, then looked at Chen Xing, with a little helpless look on his face, and Chen Xing had the same expression.

It has been two months since the competition on April 1 to today's June 1, and Gan Guoyang still seems to have not completely emerged from the shadow of that loss.

After that big reversal on March 28, the morale of Palo Alto High School reached its peak.

They were full of confidence and enthusiasm to the basketball capital of the west, the entertainment capital, and the most charming city on the west coast.

They spent three days in this bustling city experiencing the fun brought by modern civilization and enjoying the joy beyond basketball.

Back on the arena, on the highest stage of the California High School League, they met the Southern California Division II champion, Riverside Professional High School.

Everything was perfect from the beginning of the game, and this perfection lasted until one minute before the end of the game. They were still 5 points ahead, and the championship was close to each other.

Gan Guoyang scored 37 points and 21 rebounds in the first 39 minutes. If he wins, he will become a strong contender for the California Basketball Master, even if he is a yellow man.

But that person appeared.

In fact, Gan Guoyang had expected that the moment he stepped onto the court and saw the opponent's player, he reminded himself in his heart, "You must be careful of this person, and you must not take it lightly even in the last second."

But Gan Guoyang still failed to stop the miracle from happening and failed to change the ending that should not have been changed.

64:65, when the game ended, the score was frozen on these two numbers that were only one point apart, but the results were very different.

Being in the sea of ​​people and being lonely - this is Gan Guoyang's biggest feeling at the end of the game, and until now, he still feels like this from time to time.

"Big Cousin! Big Cousin! The car has arrived, it has arrived." The car has arrived at its destination - the Great Western Forum Arena. Gan Guohui looked at Gan Guoyang who was still in a daze and reminded loudly.

Gan Guohui naturally also attended the battle in Los Angeles, and naturally brought his banner of "Gan Family Restaurant".

He was originally planning to find an opportunity to squeeze next to his cousin after he won the championship, and also take a photo of the big flag of the "Gan Family Restaurant".

Unfortunately, the Vikings eventually failed.

However, victory or defeat is common in military affairs. For a high school team, losing is normal. There is no invincible team in this world.

But what worries Gan Guohui was Gan Guoyang's performance after the game.

After the defeat, Gan Guoyang looked no different on the surface, but there were two changes that were obvious:

First, Gan Guoyang no longer likes to say witty words. He was silent all of a sudden and always said something about the topics raised by others.

In the past, Gan Guoyang not only squirted about trash on the court, but also kept all the classic quotes off the court, including all English and Chinese.

In Gan Guoyang's words, Gan Guohui is often "spoken" by his cousin.

Second, Gan Guoyang has reached a state of almost obsessiveness and madness in basketball training. 24 hours a day, from opening his eyes in the morning to going back to the dormitory to sleep, Gan Guoyang's heart almost completely threw himself on the basketball.

This kind of practice that is constantly being done is not so much a training as a destruction.

Many people, including Bellman, have advised Gan Guoyang, but he always politely rejected other people's reminders with a kind smile and continued to torture himself in the arena.

Other teammates, senior high school students, applied for college basketball scholarships or prepared for the entrance exam, while others returned to class and continued to attend classes, and everything became calm.

Finally one day, Gan Guoyang, who tortured himself excessively, was exhausted in the gymnasium. Fortunately, Dippenblock was also there and sent him to the infirmary and hanged up some glucose to get better.

Since then, Bellman Le ordered Gan Guoyang not to continue training and had to go home to rest.

But Gan Guoyang, who was sent home, did not seem to be better.

Looking at Gan Guoyang who was idle and often dazed, Gan Guohui, who was also going home to wait for news of university, knew that he could no longer watch his cousin like this.

So, at the end of May, Gan Guohui, Gan Guoyang and Chen Xing went to Los Angeles together. While completing the application for college, they came to watch this year's finals.

Gan Guohui hopes that the most gorgeous and powerful team in the NBA league can dilute the pain of Gan Guoyang's defeat and allow him to return to his past confident, domineering and humorous cousin.

"Ah? It's here..." Gan Guoyang looked confused and hurriedly stood up and prepared to get off the bus.

"Bang! Ouch!" Gan Guoyang was too tall, but when he stood up, he suddenly hit the roof of the car.

Gan Guohui looked at Gan Guoyang's confused look and was completely devoid of his former self-deprecating spirit. He couldn't help but sigh.

But soon, the three of them had no intention of thinking about the messy things before, because as soon as they got off the car, the brightly lit Great Western Forum Hall stood in front of the three of them like a Roman temple.

Although Gan Guohui and Chen Xing both came here to watch the game and Gan Guoyang came here to buy tickets yesterday, on the day of the finals, looking at the crowds of people wearing various costumes for cheering the Lakers, the atmosphere of the finals really came to his mind.

"It's a pity that I didn't come in the finals two years ago. This feels so fucking good." Gan Guoyang walked in the hall hall and said in admiration.

This arena that looks like a round cake, and there is a festive atmosphere of the finals everywhere, although it is much less than the entertainment elements of later generations.

The three of them went up the stairs to the second floor and entered the core area of ​​the stadium - the court and the stands.

Although Gan Guoyang has also watched several games at the Oakland Stadium in San Francisco, he has not been there to watch the NBA live for a long time since the high school league, let alone the famous Grand Western Forum Stadium.

As soon as he entered the stands, he looked at the people slowly sitting around him. He still felt that the NBA stadium stands in the 1980s were like the old cinemas in some counties in our country, with an old smell everywhere, but it was many times bigger.

However, the chairs here are all yellow, giving people a feeling of the Lakers.

As time goes by, more and more people are in the stands, and the players of the two teams also enter the field from the player channel and start warm-up training.

"Wow, the 76ers are worthy of being an NBA circus. Even warm-up before the game is so good!" Gan Guohui came into the city like a country bumpkin, and even the players warm-up was enjoyable. Unlike other fans around him, they were chatting in their seats, and the exciting time had not arrived yet.

But the Sixers' warm-up is really exciting, because they have "Dr. J" Julius Irving, and "Chocolate Bomb" Darrell Dawkins - a "barbarian" who smashed the rebound twice.

Even during the warm-up before the game, the 76ers did not hide their dunk talent, flew around the floor and dunked the ball into the basket.

Other players of the 76ers were also good at flying and detonating, so in the late 1970s, the 76ers won the title of NBA circus, and every time they went to a city to play, they could cause a craze for watching the ball.

But now, what the 76ers and Irving want most is an NBA championship, and what stands in front of them is another rising new circus - SHOW-TIME Lakers.

However, judging from the situation this year, it is a bit difficult for the 76ers to win the championship.

Gan Guoyang, who has some knowledge of this history, knows that the 76ers will not win the championship next year.

"It seems that Moses Malone went to 76 people before winning the championship, right?" Gan Guoyang remembered Moses Malone who was injured in the hospital in Santa Barbara before, shocked him in newspapers and TV.

Unfortunately, the Houston Rockets, led by him, lost to the Seattle Supersonics in the first round of this year's playoffs, which also opened the Rockets' miserable history when facing the Supersonics in the playoffs.

For Gan Guoyang, who had already roughly known the results, this game has lost the greatest pleasure of competitive sports - suspense.

Therefore, the only attraction of the game to him was the only smooth and exciting performances of the two teams on the court.

Gan Guohui and Chen Xing were very dedicated to watching it. At least this game will affect one or two McDonald's.

Although it was the finals, Gan Guoyang felt that the warm atmosphere of the stadium was still very "simple" compared to later generations.

There is no midfield acrobatic performance and audience interaction, no mascot funny dunks, no colorful lights, and the only eye-catching one is probably the Lakers cheerleaders in a short skirt.

Only basketball is the real center of the stadium.

"Maybe this is a purer basketball?" Gan Guoyang still often misses the colorful NBA in "later generations", but now the simpler and simple basketball game has attracted him deeply.

In this game, Lakers' Nom Nixon performed exceptionally and scored a game-high 29 points.

The entire Lakers also took advantage of the home power and won the game with a 129:108 amid the familiar yellow court and the cheering of fans.

"Hahaha, Chen Xing, you are today! You can't avoid this McDonald's!" On the way to leave, Gan Guohui was like a winning rooster, arrogant. Who told him to always lose to Chen Xing in the past? Today he finally got proud.

"Hmph~ I'm giving in to you! I originally thought the Lakers would win, but in order to make a bet with you, I supported the 76ers. You didn't see that I've been cheering for the Lakers?" Although Chen Xing was willing to accept the loss, he couldn't stand Gan Guohui's proud look.

"I'm willing to accept the loss! Anyway, you can't avoid this McDonald's! Is there a big cousin who testified? Is it my big cousin, big cousin, big cousin?" Gan Guohui looked at Gan Guoyang, but found that he was dazed again.

"Ah? Oh, Guohui, you two will go back first. I'll go to Inglewood for a walk, and I'll go back later." Gan Guoyang suddenly proposed to go to Inglewood and asked Gan Guohui and Chen Xing to go back to the hotel first.

"Big cousin, Inglewood is a black area. It is very dangerous for you to go alone at night!" Gan Guohui immediately reminded him when he heard that Gan Guoyang wanted to go alone at night.

Inglewood is a famous black district in Los Angeles, with bars and gangs entrenched.

In a country like the United States where guns are flooded, any quarrel or conflict may turn into a murder.

And in such a dark night, it is not a wise move for a Chinese to go to a black district like Inglewood.

But neither Gan Guohui nor Chen Xing could dissuade Gan Guoyang, and Gan Guoyang claimed that he was going to the home of a Chinese friend, so it was difficult for them to stop him anymore, so he had to take the bus back to the hotel first.

"Big cousin, remember to call the hotel! I will copy the number on the note to you." Gan Guohui gave the hotel's phone number to Gan Guoyang, and then followed the crowd and walked towards the bus stop.

Gan Guoyang went east alone, heading towards Inglewood in this deep dark night.
Chapter completed!