Chapter 592 It’s Really You!

After defeating Australia in the quarterfinals, the Chinese men's basketball team successfully advanced to the semifinals.

The Chinese team's opponent in the semi-finals is the Spanish team, an old rival and acquaintance over the years.

Spain defeated Argentina 90-86 in the quarter-finals with difficulty to advance, and finally reached the semi-finals and met the Chinese team again.

As for the other semi-final matchup between the United States and Lithuania, Lithuania easily defeated the Greek team in the quarterfinals and reached the semi-finals.

The Chinese team plays against Spain.

The United States team played against Lithuania. To be honest, the match between these two groups was really exciting.

Compared with the dark horses in the last Olympics, in this Olympics, the teams that reached the semi-finals are all well-known and powerful teams in the international basketball world.

The first of these two sets of semifinals is the semifinals between the United States and Lithuania.

Lithuania is the seeded team, first in Group A, so they play first.

The match between the Chinese team and Spain will start at 22:15 in the evening.

However, on August 22, Chen Xiao and Yao Ming took the Chinese team players to Wukesong Arena at eight o'clock in the evening and took their seats, preparing to watch the entire match between the US team and Lithuania. game.

At the same time, next door to the Chinese team, the Spanish team also arrived.

To be honest, the new-look American team really deserves more attention and understanding from the Chinese team and Spain.

In this case, no one wants to miss something useful.

However, for the Chinese team and Spain, they certainly hope that Lithuania's performance in this game can be better. This can also push the US team even harder and allow the US team to exert all its strength without reservation. Come out, which also facilitates the observation of the Chinese team and Spain.

Lithuania has always been one of the strongest teams in the world, and it is not just a fantasy that the Chinese and Spanish teams have for them.

In fact, Lithuania did create a lot of trouble for the American team in this game.

Facing the American team, which has been very motivated recently, Lithuania played very tenaciously from the beginning.

The U.S. team relied on its strong players and recent excellent morale to beat Lithuania 9-4. Many people originally thought that the U.S. team was going to sweep away the Spanish and German teams just like the autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves. After arriving in Lithuania, people who thought this way soon realized they were wrong.

When the U.S. team led Lithuania 14-8 by up to 6 points, Lithuania's defender Kaukonas used the pick-and-roll to get to the basket and score consecutively. At one point, the score between the two sides was only 1 point.

"The U.S. team's defense is too strong and aggressive. If they can't force the opponent to make mistakes, if the opponent can stabilize their tactics and use pick-and-rolls, it will be very easy to break up the U.S. team's defense."

"Lithuania is very experienced. Facing the U.S. team, almost every round is full-court or half-court pressing defense. They play very patiently and tactically. They seem to be even more tactical than Spain. Literacy.”

Listening to the words of the coaches of the Chinese team next to him, although Chen Xiao did not have any emotional changes, to be honest, he was also surprised by the tactical literacy of the Lithuanian players. After all, Lithuania has always been the most tactically accomplished in the world of basketball. Team, no one.

Tactical literacy is engraved in the bones of Lithuanian players.

The Lithuanian team can maintain its status as the world's strongest team regardless of whether it has peerless talent or not. The lower limit has always been very high. Even a group of ordinary players can achieve very good results. This is because of the players. Their tactical literacy supports all this.

There are teams that are strong with talent and weak without it, and that never happened in Lithuania.

Without Chen Xiao and Yao Ming, the Chinese team would not be able to rule the Asia Pacific, let alone the world.

Even Brother Wei and the others are enhanced versions.

The overall tactical literacy of Chinese men's basketball players is very low, and their basic skills are not solid at all. The basic skills of shooting, free throws, and offensive and defensive skills are all very poor by the standards of the world's top teams.

China is indeed the strongest team in the world now, but Chinese basketball has a long way to go to be a world basketball powerhouse.

When will the Chinese team no longer have talents like Chen Xiao and Yao Ming? They can still randomly select 12 players to play in the Olympics and reach the quarterfinals. When they reach the semifinals, the Chinese team will really become the world's basketball team. Tradition is powerful.

And Lithuania is a rare traditional powerhouse in the world basketball circle.

It should be said that there are only two traditional powerhouses in the world of basketball, not counting disbanded teams, the US team and Lithuania.

Spain, Argentina, and the Chinese team are not considered to be the world's traditional powers in front of Lithuania.

Of course, Lithuania and the US team certainly cannot be compared.

However, the tactical literacy of Lithuania's entire population as soldiers can indeed cause a lot of trouble for the US team.

The unhurried temperament of the Lithuanian players made it difficult for the US team to play.

Therefore, in the middle of the first quarter, Lithuania even relied on Kokonas' three-pointer to overtake the score 17-15.

The two teams played very ferociously in the first half of the first quarter, and the consumption was naturally very high. Maintaining such a good state even consumes more energy.

Not to mention Lithuania, even the U.S. team was having a hard time. Kobe and James played 6 minutes in this game, but because they couldn't control the scale, they both received two fouls and were both substituted.

In a less intense game, it is easy for players like the US team who are not familiar with FIBA ​​standards to control the scale. However, when the game becomes extremely fierce, the unfamiliarity of the rules and standards of this group of US team players will still be exposed.

The U.S. team's current defensive intensity is so intense that almost every defensive round is teetering on the edge of fouling or not fouling.

Scale, it's easy to say, but it's really not that easy to do.

Players like Brother Ke and Xiao Zhan got into foul trouble less than halfway through the first quarter. For the average team, this is definitely going to be bad or even problematic.

But for the U.S. team, it really doesn't matter that Kevin and James got into foul trouble.

Even the players who come on the bench may perform better, such as Wade who replaced Kobe Bryant. Wade changed the U.S. team's lagging situation as soon as he came on. In his first attack, he scored 3 points with a free throw and a shot. Another successful steal and a backhand dunk helped the US team outscore the score by 20-17.

How long has it been!

Just two rounds!

The scoring explosion of the American team is simply terrifying!

The thickness of the US team's lineup is equally terrifying!

Even if Kobe and James are not on the court, Wade and McGrady can still maintain the same defensive intensity.

But how can other teams follow?

No matter how strong Lithuania is, the strength gap between their substitute players and starting players is still very obvious. It is impossible for the US team to have 12 players who are almost completely replaceable like the US team.

Therefore, when the physical strength of the Lithuanian players was crazily declining, the players coming up from the US team were alive and well.

How can one deal with this?

At the end of the first quarter, Wade hit the first three-pointer of the game. For Wade, a FIBA ​​three-pointer is two points longer, so in FIBA, Wade has the ability to make three-pointers. , maybe not that strong, but certainly there.

In the end, under the leadership of Wade, the US team ended the first quarter 38-31. Wade only played 6 minutes in the first quarter and scored 13 points. The efficiency was still astonishing.

Under Wade's blow, Lithuania looked a little shaky and about to collapse. However, after the second quarter started, Chen Xiaoyao Ming and the players and coaches of the Chinese team next to them were once again shocked.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Lithuania's Jaskovicius scored 5 points in a row with a mid-range shot and a three-pointer, quickly narrowing the point difference, followed by Lavrinovic and Yasetis After that, they hit three-pointers one after another. After the start of the second quarter, Lithuania actually shot a 19-6 wave. Good guys, Brother Ke and Xiao Zhan, who came back to play at the beginning of the second quarter, were both confused.

To be honest, as far as Lithuania is concerned, no one can be fooled, and Wade sitting off the court is all fooled.

This group of tenacious guys from Lithuania took advantage of the U.S. team's defensive aggressiveness and tendency to lose position, and used their own tactical coordination and patience to find open spaces one after another. Lithuania's series of three-pointers were simply daggers. Pierce the heart!

50 to 44!

The US team led by 7 points at the end of the first quarter, and fell behind by 6 points after less than half of the second quarter.

The audience at Wukesong Arena were stunned.

Even NBC's on-site commentator Barkley was speechless for a while, and could only stare blankly at the court with his mouth wide open.

Finally, Barkley choked out a sentence: "We all know the weaknesses of the U.S. team's current defensive method, but this is the first time I have seen the weakness of the U.S. team's style of play so accurately and so ruthlessly. !”

The Lithuanian team is really a god-like team!

However, looking at those Lithuanian players who were already sweating and seemed to be exhausted on the court, Barkley couldn't help feeling a little respectful in his heart.

These Lithuanian players played a lot of playing time in this game. With the current state of the US team, if they want to compete with the US team, Lithuania needs more main players to play.

Lithuania's tenacity can withstand it now, but will it be able to withstand it in the future?

It has to be said that Barkley's idea was correct. Lithuania scored 19 points in the first four minutes of the second quarter, but only 11 points later.

However, in the second half of the second quarter, the U.S. team took advantage of Lithuania's declining physical strength, reduced concentration, and declining shooting percentage, and made successive steals and counterattacks. At the end of the second quarter, the U.S. team led by another 8 points, 69 to 61.

In the first half, Wade scored 21 points alone. Wade came on the court after Ko and James exhausted the strength of the Lithuanian main force. It was a crazy killing.

When the game reached this point, everyone knew that Lithuania must have lost, and in fact this was indeed the case. Although the efficiency of both sides was declining in the third quarter, Lithuania was 9 points behind 82 to 91 at the end of the third quarter. , only lost 1 point in a single quarter, which seems to be okay.

However, everyone knows that Lithuania's shooting percentage dropped in the third quarter. It was a real drop. It was not a poor state, but a real loss of physical strength, and it would be impossible to come back later.

The low efficiency of the US team in the third quarter is entirely due to the player's state and has nothing to do with physical strength. The efficiency can be improved in the fourth quarter.

Therefore, in the fourth quarter, the U.S. team regained its form and beat Lithuania 30-11. At the end of the game, the U.S. team finally defeated Lithuania 121-93 by 28 points to advance to the Olympic finals.

This is also the first time in eight years that the US team has entered the Olympic men's basketball finals and the World Series finals.

"After eight years, Team USA is finally back again!"

For a team like Team USA, eight years is indeed a long time.

So not only Barkley was excited, the players and coaches of the US team, and even Basketball Association Chairman Jerry Colangelo were also excited.

"Now that the competition in the world of basketball is so fierce, it is no longer a matter of course for the United States team to enter the Olympic finals. We have never seen the dream team cry with excitement because they entered the finals. Now we see it, K The coach’s tears are not the self-movement of an unambitious weakling, but the memories of the painful past eight years of the US men’s basketball team. Now, under his leadership, the US team has finally found a way to dominate the world basketball world again!”

Barkley was full of praise for Team USA and Coach K.

Barkley thinks this American team can once again dominate the world.

Because Buckley felt that the U.S. team was no longer lucky to win this game. Buckley felt that even if the U.S. team and Lithuania played another 100 games in this game, the only one who would win in the end would be the U.S. team, and Lithuania would not win even once. field.

"Congratulations to Coach K. He finally found the most suitable tactical play for the American team. Before facing the Chinese team, they reached their own peak!"

He doesn't care about fouls or physical strength. He uses his personal abilities to crazily strangle individual players of the opponent.

I have to say, this American team is really scary right now.

Lithuania has tried its best, but even a team like Lithuania cannot last three quarters with the American team's style of play.

What about the Chinese team?

In short, this big victory against Lithuania finally allowed the US team to determine what their biggest advantage is.

Lithuania forced them like this in the first half. As long as they stick to their own style of play, they will still win in the end, and they will win by a big margin.

As long as they stick to their dominant style of play, no team can beat them!

After the game against Lithuania, the players of the US team did not go back to the hotel after attending the press conference, but returned to Wukesong Arena again.

"It led 50 to 38 by 12 points at halftime, and after three quarters it led 71 to 47 by 24 points. Although Spain fought hard in the last quarter, they still lost 71 to 100."

"We beat Lithuania by 28 points in the semifinals, and the Chinese team beat Spain by 29 points in the semifinals. Is this a coincidence?"

Listening to the whispers of the US team players around him and watching the wild cheers of the Chinese fans at the scene, Coach K clenched his fists.

It's you!