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The 1986-1987 regular season finally came to a close, and Gan Guoyang's 81-point game brought a huge shock to the league.
David Stern was quite satisfied with the final scoring battle between Gan Guoyang and Jordan, which was very good news as the playoffs approached.
According to the league's revenue-sharing rules, most regular season income goes to the teams, while the playoffs are mainly for the league's profit, and this 81-point game was an excellent trigger to hype up the playoffs and make money for the league.
For nearly a week, Guoyang's 81 points dominated important sections of America's sports news media and were mentioned repeatedly in various programs.
His scoring highlights from the game were edited by networks like ESPN and featured in special segments on morning news programs.
ESPN, without broadcasting rights, managed to earn a wave of pay-per-view subscribers in this way.