Chapter 262 The top four! The top four in the world!
"What? The Chinese team has entered the quarterfinals?"
"It has been six years, and we have finally made it to the quarterfinals again. Do you know how we have spent these six years?"
"It may not be just the top eight, but our opponent in the next round is Puerto Rico!"
"The Chinese team is much stronger than Puerto Rico."
"The Chinese men's basketball team has finally risen, and we are now a world-class team!"
When Lu Yu saw various comments on the Internet, he just sighed secretly.
Six years?
In Lu Yu's previous life, the Chinese men's basketball team was only six years away from being among the top eight in the world!
In the history of the Chinese men's basketball team, it has only been in the top eight of the World Championships in 1994. It has only been in the top eight of the World Championships this time. It has been in the top eight of the Olympic Games three times, namely in 1996, 2004 and 2008.
If you say it sounds better, it's the top eight, if you say it sounds worse, it's number eight.
For 14 years since 2008, the Chinese men's basketball team has not been ranked among the top eight in the world, and may not even be among the top eight in Asia.
I originally thought that the past few years would be the beginning of the rise of Chinese basketball. Who knew it would be the swan song?
After Lu Yu can't control it, he doesn't know how to help Chinese basketball. He only knows that he can play well in every game he participates in and win a few more championships.
This year is the best opportunity for Chinese basketball.
The opponent Puerto Rico is not very strong, so there is no problem in reaching the semi-finals. If nothing unexpected happens, the other three teams in the semi-finals will be Argentina, Germany and Yugoslavia.
Argentina and Germany were both defeated by the Chinese team, but Yugoslavia was more difficult to deal with.
As long as we make it to the semi-finals, we are only two games away from the final championship.
No matter who the opponent is, it will be over in one last stand!
On September 6, the quarter-finals of the Men’s Basketball World Championship began.
The first two games are the match between Argentina and Brazil at the RCA Dome, and the match between Germany and Spain at the Conseco Arena.
The overall playing style of the Argentine team this year has shown a very high level, and their tactical skills in actual combat have been extremely proficient.
The Argentine team's defense is also worth mentioning. Even though their height is not an advantage, they can fill every loophole with quick defense and help defense, making it difficult for their opponents to shoot comfortably.
As for this contest with the Brazilian team, the focus was more on the players from the two teams who may enter the NBA, so the scene also attracted many NBA scouts.
Ginobili has confirmed that he will join the Spurs after this summer.
Scola was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 56th pick in the second round of this year's draft. However, due to the high buyout fee demanded by his parent team, he will not land in the NBA in the short term.
As for the Brazilian team, there was a shooting guard who was still playing for a small club in Brazil and attracted the attention of scouts.
He is Leandro Barbosa, who scored 115.8 points, 6.4 assists and 1.7 steals last season.
The guy nicknamed the Brazilian Lightning made two white men, Mr. and Mrs. Nash, give birth to a black boy.
He was indeed fast, and his playing posture was quite weird, but he could score goals and led Brazil to hold on to the score until it collapsed in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter.
In the end, Argentina defeated Brazil 78-67 and advanced to the semi-finals.
The Brazilian team fell into the competition for 5th to 8th place.
Another game held at the same time at the Conseco Arena also ended, with the German team defeating Spain 70-62.
Gasol is still a little immature in front of Nowitzki.
Even though Nowitzki is two years older than Gasol, Gasol has just spent his rookie season in the NBA, while Nowitzki has been in the NBA for four seasons.
These four seasons have brought about earth-shaking changes in a player's growth.
At this time in Spain, there is no golden boy Rubio. Rubio this year is still a twelve-year-old child. Rudy Fernandez has just finished playing for U16. Gasol's younger brother Marc Gasol is still playing for the Lausanne Academy.
.
Gasol alone cannot withstand the rolling wheels of the German tank.
Gasol only scored 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in this game, while Nowitzki scored 30 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists.
It's simply incomparable.
After these two games, two teams have entered the semi-finals, namely Argentina and Germany.
Unfortunately, these two teams also lost to the Chinese men's basketball team.
This doubled the confidence of the Chinese men's basketball team.
The game between Germany and Spain ended, followed by the game between the United States and Yugoslavia at Conseco Arena.
The United States cannot lose anymore.
They lost to the Chinese team and the Argentine team. Both games were held at the Conseco Arena, so the American team always felt that this place was unlucky.
Since the formation of the American Dream Team in 1992, only the 1998 American team lost worse than them.
But that year was completely different from this one.
The 1998 Men's Basketball World Championship U.S. team consisted of Brad Miller, Jimmy King, David Wood, Wendell Alexis, William Edwards, Andrew Amaya, Chivan Garris, Shi
Starring Steve Hawkins, Gerald King, Trajan Langton, Jimmy Oliver, Jason Sather.
It’s no surprise that this list is unfamiliar to you. Even experienced fans can’t recognize a few of them.
Due to the NBA lockout in 1998, the American Basketball Association was unable to recruit players from the NBA to compete in the 1998 Men's Basketball World Championship, so it was composed of a group of non-NBA active players at the time.
The most famous among them is undoubtedly Lu Yu's teammate, Brad Miller. At that time, he was only a college player, and the other college player on the team was Langton.
Besides Miller, Jimmy King is probably the most famous, but he is not famous for his NBA career, but for being one of the top five Michigan players in college.
Except for Miller and Wood, most of the other players have only played in the NBA for 2-3 seasons, and three of them have never played in the NBA.
So it doesn't matter if this American men's basketball team loses.
But this year is different. Although this year's Dream Team is weak, there are many NBA star players. Even second-rate stars are at the NBA level.
Any other team that can find an NBA-level player should be called a strong team.
So is there any reason for the US men’s basketball team to lose?
Definitely not!
Therefore, the members of the US men's basketball team are under a lot of pressure, especially playing on such an unlucky venue, they are even more nervous.
People can't be nervous. When they are nervous, they not only want to pee, but also shoot crookedly. The basketball hoop in the Conseco Arena was smashed crookedly. After the whole game, the U.S. men's basketball team only scored 78 points.
In this game, Yugoslavia's Peja Stojakovic was like a miracle, scoring 20 points and 4 assists, leading the team to defeat the United States and advance to the top four.
The final score was 81 to 78!
The U.S. team underestimated Yugoslavia, and you must know that Stojakovic was the second-in-command of the Kings this year. The seven-game battle between the Kings and the Lakers is still fresh in my mind.
American fans were completely angry.
I really wrongly blamed the Chinese team. It was not that the Chinese team was too strong, but that the American men's basketball team was too weak. They lost to the Chinese team, the Argentina team, and the Yugoslavia team.
Not to mention the top four, now we still have to compete for 5-8 places.
Lu Yu is playing against Puerto Rico at this time, and he doesn’t know the result of the game yet. If he knew, he would tell the American fans: “Don’t be sad, you will lose to Spain again later.”
Just smile if you can get sixth place.
But Lu Yu knew that American fans and media would soon find excuses for this team.
for example……
The difference between NBA and FIBA rules.
The biggest difference, a rule that has benefited countless centers, and is also the rule that American players are most uncomfortable with is that FIBA does not defend for three seconds.
Among all basketball leagues, only the NBA has created a unique defensive three-second rule. The reason is that there have been too many outstanding inside players in the NBA. If the three-second defensive rule is not restricted, it will lead to an imbalance on the court.
, a situation where excellent inside players are almost invincible.
The FIBA Basketball Federation has not introduced the three-second defense rule, so in theory, the big center can always stand inside.
In other words, whether you are standing, lying down, or asleep in the restricted area, whatever you want...
For the US team players who are good at breakthroughs, I am not used to it, I am not used to it, and I don’t know how to play like this, so I deserve to lose!
There is always a reason anyway.
At this time, the Chinese men's basketball team and Puerto Rico were competing in the quarterfinals at the RCA Dome.
The Puerto Rico national basketball team is a traditional powerhouse in the basketball world of Central and North America, and this Puerto Rico team is their most golden team.
In Lu Yu's previous life, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, this team defeated the American "Dream Team Six" and became famous.
The Puerto Rican men's basketball team is quite capable of being a killer. Once it gets going, it can even kill the American Dream Team. However, they are sometimes eliminated in the group stage, which also shows their true nature as a killer.
The ups and downs of being strong and weak make them a team that no one in the world dares to despise.
However, once the state is not good, it will often be ravaged by second- and third-rate teams.
This fatal injury also means that they often qualify for the group stage, but if they want to go further, they have to put in considerable hardships.
This year they were very lucky and reached the quarter-finals.
It’s a pity that we met the Chinese team!
"Dear viewers, after the timeout, the Chinese team replaced Lu Yu and Yao Ming, but the firepower of other players is still very strong, and the Puerto Rico team seems to be unable to withstand it."
The person responsible for the commentary of this game is still the familiar Sun Yiping, whose unique tone is full of passion.
"Wang Zhizhi hit a three-pointer from outside the three-point line... This is Wang Zhizhi's third three-pointer after Lu Yu and Yao Ming went down. The Puerto Rican team's power forward moved slowly and could not pull out to defend Wang Zhizhi's three-pointer." Sun Yiping
He said excitedly: "The Chinese team played very decisively and constantly created difficulties for their opponents on the outside..."
Not long into the third quarter, the Chinese team had a 21-point lead over Puerto Rico at 68:47.
After the two teams switched offense and defense, Wang Zhizhi once again received the basketball from outside the three-point line in the corner. The Puerto Rican power forward did not take Wang Zhizhi seriously before the game, but after Wang Zhizhi made consecutive three-pointers, he had to admit that defending Wang Zhizhi was against him.
It was indeed a bit difficult for him. When he saw Wang Zhizhi receiving the ball, he immediately pounced on it.
Wang Zhizhi shook the opponent's center of gravity with a feint, and then quickly broke through from the baseline to the basket. The basket was already full of people. Battelle and his opponent were fighting hand-to-hand under the basket. Wang Zhizhi, who originally wanted to shoot a mid-range shot, saw it from the corner of his eye.
Seeing Li Nan unmarked at the top of the arc, he threw the ball away with a flick of his hand.
After Li Nan received the ball, no one was guarding him within two meters. The player who was supposed to guard him had already gone to cover Wang Zhizhi. Li Nan calmly adjusted and then shot a three-pointer.
Whoosh!
The basketball hit the net.
"Beautiful! Li Nan deserves to be the 'Little Li Fei Dao' of the Chinese men's basketball team. After this three-pointer, the Chinese team widened the point difference to 24 points." Sun Yiping said with a smile: "Li Nan has been playing in the Atlanta Olympics since 1996.
In every major competition, no more, no less, he will definitely have an outburst. He will throw more than 6 three-pointers and score around 25 points. However, since this year's World Championships, he has not performed well. He originally thought that this World Championships would be the best.
Li Nan will not explode, and now it seems that the outbreak will happen in this one!"
Zhang Weiping added on the side: "The Chinese team played very hard in this game. Although Yao Ming and Lu Yu took a break for the next game, none of the players on the field wanted to give up the game. The current score is 71 to 47. China
The team replaced Wang Zhizhi and Battelle to continue to maintain the point difference... Although Battelle has not made a single shot in this game, he has limited his opponents well both on the offensive and defensive ends. Now the only scoring points for the Puerto Rico team are them.
The guards and centers were...beautiful. Zhu Fangyu passed his opponent neatly and hit a mid-range jumper to make the score 73-47, and the point difference widened again..."
After making the goal, Zhu Fangyu blew a kiss to Lu Yu on the bench and thanked Lu Yu for allowing him to lose a thousand three-pointers. Now he feels great shooting.
"..." Lu Yu.
"The only Chinese player who has not scored yet is Battelle. Although Battelle has not scored, his role cannot be ignored." Sun Yiping said: "His opponent is a center from Puerto Rico who is known for his strength, but he encountered a center that is stronger than him.
The stronger Battle seems a bit reluctant..."
The Puerto Rican coach knew that Battle, a Chinese player who couldn't even make the rotation in the NBA, originally thought that his player was a step above Battle, but after several hard fights, he found that he couldn't get into the fight at all.
The strength of the Puerto Rican center may give Yi Jianlian an advantage, but meeting Battelle is like playing house.
Lu Yu knows that every player on the Chinese team has demonstrated confidence and fighting spirit.
For the Chinese team, the results of this World Championship are temporary, but when the team has this kind of fighting spirit, it will affect generations of Chinese men's basketball players.
And this game will become a symbol of the maturity of the Chinese men's basketball team.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, men's basketball veterans Liu Yudong and Gong Xiaobin rushed into the court, and everyone roared wantonly.
