After the opening ceremony, there will be a day off and the real battle will begin tomorrow.
On August 7, the men's basketball team ushered in the first game of the Rio Olympics. It was the second of three games today. The opponent was the United States men's basketball team, ranked No. 1 in the world.
The match will take place at the Carioca Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Many big-name stars from the Dream Team came this year, but none of the stars like Kobe, James, Paul, and Howard, who helped the Dream Team return to its peak in 2008, came.
And the relatively young backcourt leaders such as Curry, Westbrook, and Harden also did not come.
But this does not mean that the dream team is weak.
On the contrary, this year's Dream Team is still quite strong.
This is the Dream Team 12, led by Durant and Anthony, two international killers.
Then there are Lillard, George, Draymond Green, Klay, Irving, Butler, Lowry, DeRozan, Cousins, and DeAndre Jordan.
The lineup is basically all-star players, which can be said to be star-studded.
The head coach is still the old coach K, who has rich experience in international competitions and has no loopholes to exploit.
If you want to defeat this dream team, you can only rely on your strength to fight head-on.
It is worth mentioning that Wang Zelin will not only compete with his old partner Lillard in this year's Olympics, but also have a chance to compete with his younger brother Jokic. This is quite interesting.
After Lillard saw Wang Zelin, he actively came over to greet him, and pretended to be sorry: "Oh, dear Wang, I may be sorry tonight, we will not hold back!"
As he said that, Wang Zelin watched him with an expressionless face as he jumped back to the Dream Team. He cursed crazily in his heart: I didn't expect that Director Li would have such a naughty day.
It is estimated that in Lillard's heart, he has been waiting for the World Series for a long time, because this should be his only chance to defeat Wang Zelin, the strongest player in his class, face to face.
Due to the obvious gap in paper strength between the two sides, the decision was made directly before the game to strategically abandon the game with the American team.
Uh... It seems that except for 2008, the Chinese men's basketball team has always used this tactical strategy when meeting the Dream Team.
It’s been going on since the 1980s and 1990s. I can’t do it anyway. It’s better to reduce consumption and try to compete with other teams to get a good ranking.
However, after Wang Zelin argued hard, the superiors finally chose to respect his suggestion and canceled this traditional strategy.
Among Wang Zelin, if he wants to compete for medals, it is inevitable to run into the dream team. Anyway, it will happen sooner or later, so it is better to go up and fight for a game first and test the opponent's strength.
Of course, the disadvantage is that Wang Zelin used his strength to guarantee that he would definitely lead the men's basketball team to break through the group stage.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the higher-ups to let Wang Zelin do whatever he wants.
…
The time difference between China and Brazil is 11 hours, and the match between the men's basketball team and the Dream Team is at 19:00 pm.
It's 19:00 here, but it's 6:00 in the morning in China. Domestic fans don't have to stay up late, they just have to get up early to watch.
Although the opening match is the Kangaroos national team vs. the French team, compared with the men's basketball team vs. the Men's Basketball Team, fans are obviously more concerned about this fierce duel.
The third in the world VS the first in the world, this game has attracted the attention of fans from both countries, and the domestic attention is unprecedented.
At this time, countless domestic fans got out of bed early and turned on the TV.
It is not ruled out that there are lazy people who choose to lie in bed and take out their mobile phones to watch.
When the time was up, the referee officially blew the whistle to start the game, and players from both sides began to take the field.
The lineup of the Tianchao team: point guard Guo Ailun, shooting guard Ding Yanyuhang, small forward Zhai Xiaochuan, power forward Yi Jianlian, and center Wang Zelin.
Dream Team lineup: Point guard Lillard, shooting guard Paul George, small forward Anthony, power forward Durant, center Cousins.
An almost impeccable lineup. If you want to attack, you must attack, and if you must defend, you must defend.
After appearing on the stage, Dayao and Gong Luming looked at each other and sighed secretly.
At present, the Chinese men's basketball team is definitely no match for this American dream team. Even if the king insists again and again, they regard this game more as a training exercise.
That's right, even on our own side, not many people think that the men's basketball team can beat the Dream Team. Even with Wang Zelin here, many people think that if the men's basketball team can lose to the Dream Team by less than 20 points, it will be considered a win.
The real significance of this game lies more in the training of young players such as Guo Ailun, Zhou Qi, Ding Yanyuhang, and Li Muhao. By the way, it also allows these young people to gain insights, open their eyes, and clearly perceive the world's number one player.
strength.
Wang Zelin went out of his way to say hello to Meng Twelve before the game. They were all acquaintances, opponents on the court, and off the court... It was okay to remain superficial brothers.
First he exchanged a few words with his old partner Lillard, then George and Cousins, and finally Durant. After the two playfully joked, Wang Zelin returned to the men's basketball team.
Team.
"We saw that the king went over to say hello to Durant, the leader of Dream Twelve. After all, they are all in the same league and they know each other more or less."
"There is also Cousins, his opponent in the finals. It seems that Zelin has a good personal relationship with these opponents."
In the live broadcast of the imperial court, Yu Jia and Zhang Li said with a smile.
In addition, today we also invited a special guest - God of War Liu Yudong.
The game hasn't started yet, so everyone's atmosphere is relatively relaxed.
Of course, maybe it was because there was no chance of winning this game, so everyone watched this game with a relatively relaxed attitude.
The game officially begins.
The centers of both sides jumped the ball in the center circle.
As expected, Wang Zelin successfully obtained the first offensive right for the Tianchao team.
"good!"
"King NB!"
"Go ahead and blow them up!"
"Come on Team China, beat the Dream Team!"
Seeing Wang Zelin win the jump ball, the domestic fans suddenly roared with excitement.
Carioca Stadium.
The Dream Team had long been mentally prepared for Cousins' failure to jump the ball. After all, in the past few seasons, in their impression, few people could beat Wang Zelin in a frontal jump ball.
Occasionally I lost a few jump balls, but I still lost to the top jumper in the NBA, Jordan.
But Jordan is just a substitute in this dream team, and Cousins can only jump the ball.
As for Cousins, it seems that he has never beaten Wang Zelin in this stage.
Guo Ailun received the ball and looked at his opponent Lillard cautiously.
Damian Lillard, as the head of the Trail Blazers dynasty in the past three seasons, would have been the first point guard of the new generation if it hadn't been for the emergence of a Golden State junior.
But this being the case, it does not prevent Lillard from entering the ranks of the top point guards in active service.
Facing such a powerful opponent, it's no wonder Guo Ailun isn't nervous. He is the head point guard of a dynasty team!