The Golden Age of Basketball

Hu Weidong demonstrated outstanding physical qualities.

His leaping, speed, and explosiveness are on par with some Black players.

If there's a shortcoming, it's in confrontation and offensive stability.

Upon witnessing Hu Weidong's dunk, Jerry West resolved to bring him to Portland.

He believes Hu Weidong is a talent with potential, at 21 years old, still having room to improve and change.

Other young players from the China Team, like Sun Jun, also performed exceptionally well in this Olympic Games.

His feel for the ball, organizational ability, and shooting stability have reached a high level.

However, Sun Jun's physical attributes are still slightly inferior to Hu Weidong's; in the NBA, physicality is always of utmost importance.

After scoring this point, the morale of the China Team soared, and in the ensuing defense, everyone worked harder and didn't give Croatia easy shot opportunities.

Gan Guoyang resolutely guarded the Three Second Zone, staying put, interfering with any Croatian player attempting to attack the basket, and securing every defensive rebound.

Years later, Bobby Berman mentioned in many interviews and speeches, "Ah Gan's defense is where he truly set himself apart from other super centers, not offense, although the offensive gap was also significant."

"From 1989 to 1994, it was Ah Gan's most dominant defensive period. His psychological tactics paired with keen defensive instincts, incomparable skills and experience, combined with excellent physical attributes, made anyone attempting to challenge him in the Three Second Zone feel immense pressure."

"The defensive three-second rule could be said to be, to some extent, designed to limit Ah Gan's defense, as he stood in the Three Second Zone greatly damaging the opponent's offense."

In the Olympic Games, Gan Guoyang once again showed Croatian players what "no look defense" means.

His eyes don't focus on the ball handler, nor on the ball, seeming to be wandering elsewhere.

You think he's distracted, rushing into the basket for a layup or dunk, but he quickly comes up to deliver a big block.

Low-post defense is as solid as a rock. Francovic attempted to back down Gan Guoyang, but couldn't budge him at all.

A slight dribble poses the risk of having the ball snatched away, and his quick shots are like a blade technique.

This defensive intensity led to Croatia scoring very few points at the basket in the first half, with most points coming from outside shots.

Of course, Croatia's shooting precision kept them in the lead.

Especially Petrović's three-pointers were as accurate in the knockout stage; in the first half, he scored 4 out of 5 three-point attempts.

Neither Adi Jiang, Sun Fengwu, nor Hu Weidong could stop Petrović from making successful shots.

Halftime, Petrović scored 18 points, helping Croatia lead China 49-36 by 13 points.

In the first half, besides Hu Weidong, Sun Jun occasionally shone, the others seemed mundane against Croatia's superior defense and talent.

Frequent missed shots, tentative passing, slow pushing pace, taking time, made the scene quite unpleasant.

Meanwhile, Croatia constantly tried to speed up, showcasing imaginative and cohesive passing, breakthroughs, feeds, back passes, long passes in their offensive plays.

However, not many of Croatia's cooperative plays transformed into scores, as they lacked scoring opportunities at the basket, ultimately relying on outside shots.

They were indeed precise, difficult for the China Team to defend, yet playing this way was also uncomfortable for them.

Conversely, the China Team played unattractively but fully exploited Gan Guoyang's prowess under the basket.

Francovic, unused to the slow-paced positional battle, couldn't withstand Gan Guoyang's back play and offensive rebounds.

Tall and slim, Francovic's fast reaction favored playing against Team USA.

Because Team USA always played fast, focusing on speed, players charged with the ball inside, allowing Francovic to leverage his height and arm length to block opponents.

Gan Guoyang differs; he consistently attacked the basket with a power play style, using ferocious offensive rebounds to perform second-chance plays, not only scoring but also stifling Croatia's fast breaks.

At halftime, Gan Guoyang scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds, making Croatia's inside line lament.

During halftime, Croatia's coach Zeviclov Lejuboyevic continuously reminded players to protect the defensive rebound, to protect the defensive rebound.

Beyond reprimands, Lejuboyevic faced a dilemma of whether to play quick, whether to implement a fast-paced offensive strategy.

In European basketball, team offense and quick counter-attacks have always been mainstream strategies; passing, speed, team-first are ingrained in European players' blood and genes.

Lejuboyevic regarded the China Team's style, focused entirely on one player's abnormal play due to the immense disparity between an interior supergiant and others, as a monstrosity.

The China Team is indeed a monstrosity; in the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang often played team basketball thanks to teammates being NBA-level elites.

But with the China Team, it was impossible, as solo effort was the best option.

Chinese players came to understand this, focusing most effort on spot shooting and defense.

Of course, Gan Guoyang didn't anticipate, decades later, when China's domestic professional league introduced foreign players, many teams would play similarly.