My Name is Kobe Bryant

Chapter 19 The Olympics

The Chinese men's basketball team stopped in the top 8, but their performance left a deep impression on the people watching the game.

In the first game, the Chinese team played against Angola.

The Chinese men's basketball team seemed to have opened up after the game against the Lakers, giving Liu Yudong and Wang Zhizhi ample opportunities to perform, and the ball was concentrated in their hands.

The two of them also performed well on the offensive end. Liu Yudong and Hu Weidong played against each other and repeatedly overwhelmed the opponent's defender in the middle distance. After the defensive player's center of gravity was attracted by Liu Yudong, Hu Weidong was liberated. Hu Weidong hit consecutive shots, and the Chinese team firmly controlled the situation of the game.

Wang Zhizhi, who came off the bench, also performed well. He used low singles to overwhelm the opponent's substitute insider, and after the opponent switched to the starting insider, he focused on defense. Pulled to the three-point line and shot a three-pointer.

In the end, China 78:67 Angola, Liu Yudong scored 18 points and 7 rebounds, Hu Weidong scored 17 points and 4 assists, Wang Zhizhi came off the bench with 15 points and 5 rebounds, the Chinese team's three guns were fierce, and they led the Chinese team to win the first game together, gathered on the TV The domestic audience in front suddenly cheered.

In the second game, the Chinese team faced Croatia. In the 1994 World Basketball Championship, Croatia won the bronze medal. In the 1992 Olympics, newly independent Croatia won a silver medal in basketball. In addition, Croatia also won the bronze medal in the European Basketball Championship in 1993 and 1995.

It can be said that Croatia is a strong team, and the score of the Chinese team 89:109 in Croatia is a bit ugly. The rhythm of the game was quickly brought by Croatia, and the Chinese team's perimeter defense was sieved.

The third game was against the South American powerhouse Argentina. In 2004, Argentina defeated the U.S. team to win the Olympic gold medal, interrupting the U.S. basketball dominance of the world.

But today's Argentina's strength is still a little weak, Gong Luming gritted his teeth and replaced the twin tower combination of Wang Zhizhi and Liu Yudong. Chinese sports pay attention to seniority ranking. Gong Luming dared to change his team on the spot and recruit new players, which also took a lot of pressure.

The Chinese team, which lost the last game, was on the edge of a cliff, and the result of the loss is likely to be eliminated by the group.

Two inside players with excellent shooting ability brought the team a huge offensive space. Wang Zhizhi and Liu Yudong hit consecutive mid-range and long-range shots. When the opponent pulled out the defense, Li Xiaoyong and Hu Weidong cut inside and scored.

Argentina was taken out by the twin towers, and the defender's tactics of cutting inside were baffled. Argentina, with a cold offensive touch, was suppressed by the Chinese men's basketball team throughout the game. In the end, the Chinese team won a big victory 94:77! Hearty victory!

Wang Zhizhi lived up to Gong Luming's expectations and performed brilliantly. With 3 of 7 three-pointers, he scored 21 points and 4 rebounds in one fell swoop, and the space he created for the team's offense was beyond the reach of statistics.

The fourth battle was a massacre. Dream Team 3 beat the Chinese team at every point, and the Chinese team had no power to fight back. The 66 point difference made people desperate. Under the strong physical confrontation, the Chinese team played abnormally.

The fifth game, against Lithuania.

Lithuania is a traditional basketball powerhouse. They just won the bronze medal in the 1992 Spanish Olympic Games and the silver medal in the 1995 European Basketball Championship.

Their pride, future Yao Ming's idol Arvedas Sabonis is one of the best center forwards in the world. With a height of 2.21 meters, he won the 1988 Olympic champion with the former Soviet Union.

In 1992, the dream team built by NBA stars replaced the US national team composed of college students and amateur players and came to Barcelona. Prior to this, American professional basketball players had never appeared in the Olympic Games.

The reason why these superstars came to the Olympics was a miserable failure, or to put it more exaggeratedly, it was because of one person: Avidas Sabonis. In the men's basketball semi-finals of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, the Lithuanian led the former Soviet Union's men's basketball team to kill the US team, which was said to be impossible to beat.

The match between the Chinese team and Lithuania also became one-sided, with Sabonis calling the shots inside. But the immature Wang Zhizhi Battelle was helpless in front of him.

82:116 is the final score. So far, the Chinese team group stage is over. In the knockout round, they met the runner-up Yugoslavia. The Chinese team, which has not yet adjusted from the consecutive defeats, suffered another disastrous defeat and handed over the answer sheet of 77:128. So far, the Chinese team has stopped in the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, the smug dream three US team's championship journey also had a lot of troubles in the final against Yugoslavia.

At the end of the first quarter, Malone had 2 fouls, Pippen had 3 fouls, Yugoslavia had 8 free throws, and the US team had 0 free throws.

Yugoslavia has the upper hand in both offensive success rate and patience. The pace of the game was very slow, and the Dream 3 team could not play a fast-paced attack wave.

In terms of height, Yugoslavia is not at a disadvantage at all, so it is difficult for the US team, which has switched to positional warfare, to penetrate the opponent's defense. Yugoslavia led 21 to 14, and the Dream Team's score was frighteningly low, and the gorgeous lineup did not play a role at all.

With a second lineup of David Robinson, Charles Barkley, Anfernee Hardaway, John Stockton and Richmond, the U.S. began to chase hard in the last five minutes of the first half. After catching up to 34 to 35, there was only 1 point difference. At this time, Wilkens replaced the heavy weapon O'Neal, who turned around and attacked to regain the lead.

Wilkens used Robinson and O'Neal's twin-tower lineup, trying to control the air supremacy in the penalty area in a slow-paced game. In a passive situation for most of the first half, at the end of the half, relying on the advantage of the depth of the bench, the Dream Team used the second and third teams to even out the point difference and lead by 5 points, 43 to 38.

At the beginning of the second half, there was a conflict on the field. Malone clashed with Divac while grabbing an offensive rebound. The arms of the two burly men were about to start a fight. Seeing that the master was in trouble, everyone in Yugoslavia immediately swarmed and surrounded Malone.

Reggie Miller, who was outside the encirclement, saw that it was difficult to squeeze into the punch, so he came up with a trick to surround Wei and rescue Zhao, and went straight to the opponent's coach. Yugoslavia really missed the other, and hurriedly withdrew the army to protect the coach, and Ma Long was able to retreat completely.

Wilkens cleverly replaced the hot-brained Malone with Barkley and continued to hit the inside. Soon Divac, who was also hot-brained, scored two fouls and graduated with honor. Now the Yugoslav inside line suddenly lost towering trees. Admiral David Robinson began to show off. His excellent athletic ability and height and arm length made it very difficult for Rebraca to replace Divac. The fast footwork allowed the US team to quickly establish a tactic of breaking through and then passing the ball to Robinson. The speed of the latter receiving the ball and putting the ball into the basket made the slow Yugoslavs look like spectators. In the middle of the second half, the US team had led by 12 points 67 to 55, and the balance of victory and defeat gradually shifted to the Dream Team.

Barkley also left the field with 5 fouls in the 9th minute of the second half, which shows the fierce confrontation between the two sides inside. With more than 6 minutes left until the end of the game, the Dream Team led by 15 points, but Yugoslavia did not give up, and was still desperately playing every attack.

Wilkens changed his formation again, forming a fast lineup with Robinson as the center, Hardaway, Miller, Stockton and Richmond as the four guards, abandoning the positional offense, trying his best to speed up and pursue steals. Counterattack, this trick worked, making Yugoslavia exhausted in the rapid offense and defense.

With three and a half minutes left in the game, the score was 83 to 63. Off the court, the players of Team Dream Three began to show relaxed expressions. In fact, Yugoslavia's performance has exceeded most people's expectations. They were able to take the lead in the first 15 minutes, and they were evenly matched with the Dream Team in the first 30 minutes.

In the last minute, Wilkens replaced Robinson, who scored 28 points and 7 rebounds, the first hero, and let the itchy O'Neal go up and do some exercise. O'Pang came on the court with a steal, allowing Dream Team 3 to get the 95th place point. Finally, in Stockton's dribble, the clock ticked down the last 24 seconds, and the Dream Team won the gold medal without any risk.

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