The Golden Age of Basketball

"Who? Who are you talking about?"

"The Emperor of the Desert."

Champion, power, glory—these things once again stimulated Allen Iverson, prompting him to muster all his strength and start anew.

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Time flies, and now it is December, close to Christmas.

The arrival of Allen Iverson brought many surprises to Las Vegas fans.

His debut was against formidable opponents Spurs; Iverson played for 33 minutes, efficiently scoring 23 points and providing 11 assists, helping Glory easily defeat the opponents.

Over the years, the Spurs have built a core lineup centered around Gasol, Ginobili, and Billups, taking one step at a time to climb upward.

During the offseason, after acquiring Tayshaun Prince from the Rockets, the Spurs’ system gradually was completed, standing strong for the current season.

Popovich wove a solid defensive system with the league’s top five suppression defense, ranking third in the Western Conference, just behind the Suns and Mavericks.

Yet in this match, Allen Iverson, like a sprite, used his back-and-forth assault to disrupt the Spurs’ solid defensive positions.

His arrival immediately infused Glory’s offense with a lot of vitality, especially his presence further liberated Raja Bell and Gerald Wallace, allowing them to become spot-up shooters and cutters instead of facing large ball-handling roles, which made them much more comfortable.

Iverson was responsible for driving the perimeter, while Gan Guoyang was in charge of the inside; both quickly clarified their roles.

With a score of 101:85, Glory’s victory proved that the arrival of Iverson was not a bad thing as it seemed.

Of course, the season is still long, and regular season matchups often don’t count for much, as Iverson and Glory still need to adjust more and face more challenges.

After all, Iverson is a player whose strengths and weaknesses are very pronounced, with his height being a shortcoming that can’t be compensated on the defensive end.

Facing tall point guards and shooting guards, Iverson had to gamble with steals; although he achieved good steal stats from this, the number of successful steals is quite limited, and many gambling-style steals allowed opponents to easily attack the basket, harming the team’s defense.

That’s why when 76ers were at their peak, an inside player like Mutombo was needed to cover Iverson’s shortcomings.

Fortunately, Glory has not only Mutombo but also Yao Ming and Gan Guoyang, with Gerald Wallace on the outer layer and Raja Bell by their side.

The inside boasts hoop-protecting beasts while the outside provides strong locks, allowing Iverson to recklessly gamble and attack defensively, someone always having his back.

In Terry Porter’s view, rather than letting Iverson hold the ground, it was better to gamble; successfully winning a steal was highly rewarding.

In guarding ground, with Iverson’s height and weight, solo defense would be given away easily; better to let Wallace, Bell, and others defend.

If he breaks into the inside, Yao Ming and Ah Gan are poised to take care of it, making it hard for opposing ball handlers.

Surely, only a team like Glory with such defensive resources and configuration could afford Iverson to squander, referring to the system set by Larry Brown back then has its points.

Also, such a system can only tolerate Iverson’s flaw; if there were another strong offensive but weak defensive player in the core lineup, the system would collapse.

The offensive benefits brought couldn’t surpass the defensive flaws, imbalance in offense and defense, would hinder the team’s record.

Iverson felt as if he had returned to the 2001 season, when he was showcasing might and taking the MVP in a superhero season.

Thus, in late November, heading into December, Iverson’s performance remained very stable, and his integration with the team became increasingly better.

They defeated the Spurs, overcame the Suns, and on December 19th against the in-form league-leading Dallas Mavericks, with a 103:101, they bested the Mavericks by 2 points! Ending the opponent’s winning streak and elevating Glory’s rank to fifth in the Western Conference, a step away from the upper tier.

The Mavericks indeed were formidable, with the match being hard-fought and tied.

This Dallas team, led by Avery Johnson, transformed from its past offensive-heavy under Nielsen into a balanced offensive-defensive setup.

Moreover, each player’s individual capability was strong, with everyone capable of solo battles, placing great pressure on Glory’s defense.

Facing truly top-notch teams, players like Iverson and Yao Ming, with petite, tall, and slow profiles, were easily targeted for their shortcomings and attacked.

Thus, the Mavericks maintained oppression over Glory throughout, but in the final stages, Iverson succeeded in two consecutive steals, overturning the situation.

One fast-break layup, one assist to Raja Bell for a perimeter three-pointer to close them to just 1 point behind.

Then, Glory defended Mavericks’ critical offense, with Gan Guoyang hindering Nowitzki’s shot in a one-on-one contest.

Gerald Wallace grabbed the rebound; Porter called a timeout, giving Glory a chance for a decisive strike.

In the past, in Glory, Ah Gan would handle the ball.

At the 76ers, it would certainly be Iverson handling.

Now with both on one team, defensive layout became increasingly challenging.

Indeed, in the end, Iverson held the ball, passed to Gan Guoyang, who at the left 45 degrees caught and shot a tough three-pointer, clinching the Mavericks with a game-winning shot!

Gan Guoyang opted for what seemed tougher but actually less guarded by Mavericks, making the difficulty lower for the three-pointer, sealing this crucial victory.

This victory signified that in terms of strength on paper, Glory could definitely arm wrestle with the league’s top teams, entering the circle of championship contenders.

After the game-winning moment, Iverson was so thrilled he leaped onto Gan Guoyang, who easily picked him up.

Their collaboration was much more harmonious than external perceptions imagined.

Off the court, Iverson was unprecedentedly clean; no negative stories arose.

Not only because Iverson became more disciplined but also due to Las Vegas media under Ah Gan’s control prohibiting gossip and sides stories about Glory’s core players.

Sometimes, players’ mental states could be wrecked by negative news.

Originally, if they indeed did poorly committing 20% of wrongdoing, media coverage exaggerated it to 80%.

These black players generally weren’t overly smart; when annoyed, they clashed with media and did outrageous things.

Thus, originally 20% of wrongdoing escalated to 60%, not far from the 80%, leading to a vicious cycle of "the worse you are, the worse you become."

Gan Guoyang realized this point, and decisively blocked any reporting here, telling reporters to go to another city, to Los Angeles, to Boston, to major networks, but not here.

In some cases, solving people, not the problem, yields better results.

Now, with Iverson disciplined and a friendly public opinion environment, his wife moved the children from Philadelphia to Vegas, the school was already set.

Thus, Iverson could genuinely have more time to accompany his family, spending time with the children as Gan Guoyang noted.

Iverson even had time to attend school events with his children, participate in community volunteer services, distribute aid items to residents in need, and partake in Glory’s various social affairs.

Rather than lingering in nightclubs with frivolous friends, spending money on keeping a large entourage.

Gan Guoyang didn’t prohibit his friends from coming to Vegas; after stable performance on the field, they still came to enjoy; Ah Gan covered all expenses.

But after enjoying, he asked them to leave and return home instead of leeching off, not lingering in Vegas; this place temporarily wasn’t for their stay.

Next time, when Allen misses them, they’ll come over for fun, getting a warm reception, but upon ending, they leave, not infiltrating Iverson’s life, but allows him more time with family, especially with his wife.

Truthfully, Iverson had wanted to leave his past environment, but lacked the strength, with no one pulling him out.

Surrounding people wanted to exploit him and thus dragged him into the mire for better gains.

Only Ah Gan and this city could pull him out, letting him start anew with his basketball career.

Until December 25th, the Christmas match took place in Las Vegas, with Glory welcoming another Western Conference heavyweight: Portland Trail Blazers.

Compared to Iverson, Kobe’s situation this season was not so good.