On August 15, the Athens Olympics men’s basketball group stage finally started. When the Chinese team members arrived, the first two games were already over.
The Angola team in Group B lost to Lithuania 73:78, and Italy in Group A narrowly defeated New Zealand 71:69.
As the whistle sounded at the end of the match between Italy and New Zealand, more and more fans began to pour into the arena. Most of them were local international students and overseas Chinese. Many fans from Spain also appeared in the arena.
In an ordinary group match, the attendance rate was more than half.
The interval between the two games was very short. After the on-site staff urgently cleaned up the traces left by the previous game in the arena, the Chinese team and the Spanish team began to warm up.
In the interview area, Yao Ming looked relaxed and confident when being interviewed by CCTV reporter Yu Jia.
Yu Jia asked: "Seeing Yao's confidence, he must be very confident to win this game?"
Yao Ming smiled and said: "Yes, we must win this game!"
"As Spain is the top opponent in Group A, have we made corresponding tactical arrangements?" Yu Jia then asked.
"Well... this is confidential. You can ask Harris. He is the head coach. The tactics leaked by the head coach must be fake tactics."
"Haha, Dayao is really humorous. Last question, are you confident of entering the quarterfinals?"
"Of course." Yao Ming raised his chin, "Have you seen my beard? I told my teammates that I won't shave until I make it to the quarterfinals!"
Yu Jia was infected by his strong self-confidence and couldn't help but applaud him. However, it is not easy for the Chinese men's basketball team to defeat Spain. After all, the Spanish men's basketball team has always been a strong team in the world. Although the Chinese men's basketball team has five
NBA-level players, but all five players are inside. Fortunately, Lu Yu used to play outside, so he can move to the guard position. Spain is a traditional European team, and their players in each position are very balanced.
However, as a Chinese, Yu Jia believes that what the Chinese team needs at this time is encouragement, rather than preaching to tell them to recognize the reality.
"Looking forward to your performance, looking forward to the performance of the Chinese men's basketball team, I hope to see your clean chin at the Olympic closing ceremony, and Chinese basketball fans will stand behind you and cheer for you!"
Yao Ming nodded and said seriously: "Thank you! Definitely!"
Yu Jia originally planned to interview Lu Yu, but Lu Yu refused.
Lu Yu just said calmly: "If you win the competition, come and interview me again..."
He knows the strength of this Spanish team better than anyone else, so he is even more unwilling to be distracted before the game. This Spanish team can be called the golden generation in the history of Spanish basketball. Although it is still a little green now, as time goes by
If it settles, sooner or later their fangs will open to the world.
What's more, even a young lion is still a lion...
Yu Jia ran from one end of the interview area to the other to interview Harris, but Harris just bluntly told him that if he wanted to be interviewed, please come back to the interview area after the game. By this time, he was about to enter the stadium.
What a stubborn old man.
Sun Yiping took his seat in the live broadcast room early. Due to the large number of Olympic games, CCTV simply did not have enough hosts, so he could only perform a one-man show this time.
But there is nothing to worry about. For a commentator like Sun Yiping, as long as he enters the commentating state, even the tone of his speech will obviously become full of passion.
What's more, he is commentating on the Chinese men's basketball game.
"CCTV……"
"CCTV……"
"Good evening everyone, I am currently broadcasting for you in Athens the first game of the men's basketball group stage of the Athens Olympics. The Chinese men's basketball team faced the Spanish men's basketball team."
"Actually, it's still 2:30 in the afternoon in Athens, but I know that our time in China is 7:30 in the evening. Everyone is in front of the TV to support our Chinese men's basketball team. Yao Ming will accept Gasol's challenge. This will
This is the first confrontation between the two outside the NBA arena... Today the Chinese team wears white jerseys and the Spanish team wears red jerseys. From my visual inspection, the number of Chinese fans at the scene is greater than that of Spanish fans."
He cleared his throat and continued: "The Spanish team is actually not as good as our Chinese team in terms of the number of NBA players. The Chinese team has 5 NBA players, while Spain only has one Pau Gasol, but they have the strength to enter the NBA.
There are many players, such as their guard Juan Carlos Navarro, nicknamed "Bomb", who was drafted by the NBA as early as 2002, but never went to the NBA, as well as players such as Calderon and Fernandez.
They are all players with great ability.”
"The game is about to begin. We see that the starting lineup of the Chinese team is center Yao Ming, power forward Wang Zhizhi, small forward Li Nan, shooting guard... The Chinese coaching staff put Lu Yu at the shooting guard position, and the point guard is Liu Wei
.”
"This is slightly different from what the media predicted before the game. No one expected that Coach Harris would arrange Lu Yu to the shooting guard position. You must know that Lu Yu has been playing the forward position in the NBA in the past two seasons. However,
It doesn't matter, Lu Yu played shooting guard in his rookie season, and he has the ability to play shooting guard."
"The arrangements made by the men's basketball coach Harris are beyond everyone's expectations, and I think it will also be beyond the expectations of the Spanish men's basketball team."
Fans of the Chinese team chanted the names of Yao Ming and Lu Yu in the audience. The game had just started and the atmosphere in the stadium was already heated.
"The coach didn't let me start the starting lineup because he was afraid that I would destroy Spain in a matter of seconds..." Zhu Fangyu sat in the audience and thought to himself.
In fact, he still wants to start the game, but he knows that he is still worse than Li Nan in handling the ball, just like Yi Jianlian next to him. Logically speaking, Yi Jianlian's strength must be the best in the team except Lu Yu, Wang Zhi and Yao Ming.
The strongest player, but because his position overlaps with Wang Zhizhi's, he can only serve as Wang Zhizhi's substitute.
Yi Jianlian sat calmly on the stool, always preparing to play.
After this period of training, he also learned the difference between playing in the NBA and playing in FIBA.
In terms of one-on-one ability, he can even match up with Wang Zhizhi without falling behind. As for other players on the team, he can basically beat him.
But if we talk about the game experience in FIBA games.
Inside players such as Yao Ming, Battelle, Wang Zhizhi, Du Feng, and Moko all have the experience to crush him.
Yi Jianlian sometimes admires Lu Yu. No matter what the rules of the game, Lu Yu can play with ease. Perhaps this is because he is too strong, and beating other players is like a dimensionality reduction attack.
For example, the Dream Team back then, the reason why they were able to play so easily in the international arena was because they were strong enough to ignore the rules.
The referee threw the ball into the air and both sides jumped.
When the ball reached its highest point, Yao Ming reached the ball with his fingertips. Gasol missed it by just a little. You must know that being tall is still useful.
Yao Ming easily passed the ball to Liu Wei.
Yao Ming's jump ball may be a bit difficult to face against the jumping men in the NBA, but as a player who also works two centimeters above the ground, Gasol is not much better than Yao Ming.
Liu Wei quickly passed the half court with the ball and encountered an interception from the opposite side at the midline.
Standing in front of him was the 'bomb' in Sun Yiping's mouth - Navarro.
Juan Carlos Navarro.
Height: 193 cm.
Weight: 91 kg.
Nickname: Bomb.
Features: Accurate three-pointers, good at throwing, excellent scoring ability, clear tactical ideas.
In the 1999 World Youth Championship, Juan Navarro won the MVP.
In the battle for fifth place in the 2002 World Championship, Navarro defeated the American Dream Team 5 with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Navarro and Gasol are like Lu Yu and Yao Ming of the Chinese men's basketball team. One is domestic and the other is external. They are both representatives of their respective countries' basketball.
His throws were like bombs, hence his nickname "The Bomb."
But no one knows that his best thing is not his throwing, but his defense. Liu Wei struggled to face his defense. After halftime, he quickly passed the ball to the outside of the three-point line.
Yao Ming.
Harris frowned off the court. It was obvious that the team underestimated the opponent's defensive pressure.
Fortunately, after Yao Ming received the ball, he handed the ball over to Liu Wei. Yao Ming's offensive starting point was not at the three-point line. The reason why he brought it up was because he was too familiar with Liu Wei. From Liu Wei's dribbling movements, he knew
You can see the defensive pressure Liu Wei faces.
This wave of reception relieved Liu Wei's pressure. Liu Wei took the ball and did not rush to move, but observed the situation on the court.
He didn't expect that it would be Navarro who was guarding him, which was a bit unexpected.
Because Navarro is a shooting guard, the opponent's point guard Calderon should be guarding him. However, with just one glance, Liu Wei understood his opponent's intention. The opponent was simply pressing him after halftime and playing.
The offensive rhythm was disrupted, and with the team in position, Spain had now switched to a 2-3 zone defense formation.
Liu Wei couldn't help but regret a little. If he had noticed his opponent's intention immediately and directly found the ball to the shooter, there would have been an opening.
It's just that it's too late now, so we can only look for opportunities again.
"We can see that the Spanish team has adopted a 2-3 zone defense formation. The defensive integrity of European teams is obviously their advantage... Let's take a look at the Spanish team's starting lineup." At this time, it was played on the big screen.
The Chinese team’s starting player Sun Yiping has already been introduced before. He only needs to introduce the Spanish team’s roster.
"Spain's starting lineup: center Pau Gasol, power forward Felipe Reyes, small forward Jabaho Shah, shooting guard Navarro, and point guard Calderon."
"Comparing the lineups of both sides, the Chinese team is only strong but not weak. The Chinese team has the twin tower combination of Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi on the inside. Gasol and Reyes are relatively weak in strength. Li Nan also has enough experience to defend Jia Zhizhi.
In Bahosha, shooting guard Shang Luyu is stronger than Navarro, so Liu Wei is the most important point for the Chinese team to pay attention to at the moment... Liu Wei passed the ball out, and Li Nan passed the ball directly after receiving the ball.
Wang Zhizhi stood in a high position and lobbed the ball directly to Yao Ming without stopping. Yao Ming scored and the Chinese team took the lead!"
The Chinese fans in the audience suddenly became excited. They gave this attack a warm applause and hoped that the Chinese team could continue to perform such wonderful performances.
Wang Zhizhi mentioned the position of the free throw line. The two defenders did not dare to shrink. Only Gasol in the middle area came up. Once Gasol came out, Yao Ming was given enough room to display inside.
The camera was now focused on Lu Yu. This wave of offensive basketball passed through the hands of four players and did not reach Lu Yu's hands at all.
What is Lu Yu doing?
He's running!
When Liu Wei received the ball and passed it to Li Nan, he cut directly into the Spanish team's defensive area from a 45-degree angle, forcing the Spanish team to shrink its defense. When Wang Zhizhi received the ball, he slipped to the bottom corner again, because
With his excellent three-point ability, the Spanish team's defensive area can only continue to expand, so Yao Ming can score the ball steadily.
Lu Yu was very calm under the camera. He was just running in and out according to Harris's request. This time, Yao Ming had a chance to fight. If the opponent is too tight next time, it will be his turn to take action.
Harris nodded with satisfaction. In terms of understanding of team tactics, no one on the Chinese team could surpass Lu Yu.
The most important thing is that every time Lu Yu runs, he can hit the timing very accurately.
The head coach of the Spanish team was stunned. A layman would only watch the excitement, but an expert would watch the door. Only those who truly understand basketball will understand how fatal an excellent free-handed movement can be to a zone defense.
It’s not just shooting that can break a zone defense…
"Gasol of the Spanish team asked for the ball under the basket." Sun Yiping shouted: "Calderon easily hit the ball and handed the ball to Gasol's hands, and then he slipped past Gasol.
The bottom line opened up space for Gasol... Gasol turned around and feinted, but Yao Ming didn't take advantage of his fake move. He turned back again... Be careful, it's Navarro's air cut!"
Just when everyone thought that Gasol would pass the ball to Jabaho Shah on the outside when he failed to make a play, he pointed east and west and passed the basketball to Navarro with a sharp pass.
Navarro throws!
Hit!
Lu Yu chased after Navarro and watched helplessly as the ball fell into the basket.
"Blame me!"
He took the initiative to indicate that he didn't guard the ball well. When he was blocked, Wang Zhizhi actually wanted to make up for it, but Lu Yu shouted: "No change!"
That is to say, Lu Yu did not ask for a defense change, but bypassed the defense and chased after Navarro. He was worried that Wang Zhizhi would suffer a loss in defending Navarro after the change.
But I didn't expect Navarro's throw to be so accurate. The nickname "Bomb" was indeed not given for nothing.
The two sides tied at 2:2.
Navarro clenched his fist fiercely and roared. This shot really gave him confidence.
His eyes looked at Lu Yu inadvertently. In his opinion, Lu Yu is now the number one player in the NBA. Many American fans or players are unwilling to admit that the strongest player in the NBA right now is Lu Yu.
Because in their eyes, black people are the dominant players in this sport.
But the honors Lu Yu has received are there. There are many stars in the entire league who have been defeated by Lu Yu. Of course, there are also many stars from the Western Conference teams who lost to Lu Yu in the regular season but failed to win in the playoffs.
Everyone was a little unconvinced when they tried.
Different from the NBA arena, in the entire FIBA international arena, all players believe that Lu Yu is the number one player in the NBA now, just like Jordan back then.
Therefore, Navarro was very excited to score on Lu Yu.
