From today on is the king

Chapter 1278 1277. The Birthday Night Competition
August 8th is the first off-season day after the start of the World Championships. In the following finals, except for the quarter-finals where opponents are selected according to rankings, starting from the quarter-finals, after each game, each team has a rest period. Winners rest and wait for their opponents in the next game, and losers can also rest and wait for their opponents in ranking matches.

The final final will be held on September 9, and the closing ceremony of the World Championships will be held on September 3.

If it is said that after winning two games in the group stage, they can relax a little bit. In the final round, the players of the Chinese team dare not be careless at all. If they lose, they will be eliminated.

You have to give your all in every game.

The Chinese team successfully refreshed the group stage ranking of the world's top men's basketball international competition. After ranking second in the Olympic group stage two years ago, this time they won five consecutive victories and won the group stage No. 1.

Chinese fans feel that there is hope for the "guaranteed four cards" announced by the Blue Association this time!

The players of the Chinese team are also very happy. This feeling of winning glory for the country is very special.

But when they paid attention to Serbia and Montenegro, their opponents in the quarter-finals, they felt a bit overwhelmed!

Judging from the situation in the group stage, China, Argentina, and Spain are the three best-performing teams.

As for the U.S. team, they lost to Greece by two points. They didn't play as well as they should have suppressed against Turkey. They were blown up by Turkoglu, but fortunately they won.

Wade and those three guys, Antawn Jamison and Shane Battier, deserve a lot of credit for being able to shoot the ball...

But there are other teams that give the top four teams a headache.

For example Serbia.

The Serbia and Montenegro team this year is very different from the Serbia and Montenegro team two years ago. Their surnames all end in C, that is, all kinds of "odd"...

Except for Milicic, the Serbia and Montenegro team looked completely different from the Serbia-Montenegro team they played against two years ago.

Including Milicic, compared to two years ago, there have been earth-shaking changes.

Milicic averaged 19 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3.2 blocks and 1.6 steals per game. Milicic is the top two in Serbia and Montenegro in almost all statistics!
Milicic ranks first in the Serbian team in scoring, first in rebounds, first in blocks, second in assists and steals, and among the players in Serbia and Montenegro who have taken more than 5 shots in total, Milicic's 50.00% field goal percentage is also the first, and the number of three-pointers hit 9 is also the first in the Serbia and Montenegro team.

The most important thing is that Milicic ranks No.1 among all players in this World Championship in blocks per game!
The name is still called Serbia and Montenegro, but in 2005, Serbia and Montenegro had disintegrated, just because when they qualified for the competition, the country was still called Serbia and Montenegro, but in fact this Serbia and Montenegro team, there are not many members of the former Serbia and Montenegro team, it is a team composed of young players from a Serbian country.

Previously, the players of the Chinese team focused on their own group matches, and did not do much research on other teams. With this five-day, five-game schedule, no one could tell who the opponent would be in the finals, and it was only in the last game that the opponent was determined to be Serbia and Montenegro.

Another point is that Serbia and Montenegro are not the imaginary enemy of the Chinese team, and they are not a team. They will not deliberately study a declining basketball king.

The characteristic of a young team is vigor. In the first game of the group stage, they played against Argentina until the last moment. Argentina defeated Serbia and Montenegro 79-77 by relying on Scola's corner three-pointer at the last moment.

Although the Serbia and Montenegro team has mainly replaced young players, most of the players are born in the 80s. Most of the players born in the 70s in the last Olympic Games returned to their hometowns to farm or raise cattle, but they are Serbia.

Serbia and Montenegro have three tall players. The tallest 21-year-old Kosta Perovic has been noticed by the NBA. He is [-] meters tall, which is the key to the defense of the Serbia and Montenegro inside when Milicic rests.

In defeating the French team, Serbia and Montenegro only allowed the French team to score 50 points.

It was the group of black muscle monsters in Nigeria who beat Serbia and Montenegro by more than 20 points.

But there are so many muscle monsters in Nigeria, the Chinese team can't do it!

However, the Serbia and Montenegro team is not an example that has not been defeated by a technical team. Argentina has a lore, and Venezuela also relied on an outstanding performance from beyond the three-point line to narrowly beat Serbia and Montenegro 89 to 85.

Therefore, although the Chinese team has a big head over the opponent's group of Eastern European white men, they are still very confident.

……

……

In the past, except for the 2004 Athens Olympics, every time the Chinese team held a press conference on the first rest day after the Olympic Games or the World Championship group stage, they would reflect, summarize, and express that they would work harder next time...

This time, the Blue Association was very vocal. Instead of holding a press conference at the venue to deal with reporters, a group of officials from the imperial capital held a press conference to publicize their great achievements. The national team devoted themselves to preparing for the game.

In fact, it is very similar to the preparations when playing against the Italian team. They are all a group of muscle monsters.

However, compared to the majority of black players in Italy, Serbia and Montenegro are all white, so if a technically skilled team plays well, the odds of winning are relatively high.

And...the Chinese team definitely has a strength advantage, so their mentality is very good.

I concentrated on preparing for the game for a day. In order to preserve my physical fitness, I only carried out simple training. Soon, on August 8, the match between the Chinese team and Serbia and Montenegro arrived.

"Happy birthday……"

At noon, the national team held a simple birthday celebration for Liu Mang. They did not surprise Liu Mang until they defeated the US team in the group stage like in the last Olympic Games. Today, the Chinese team has enough confidence to beat Serbia and Montenegro.

Liu Mang blew out the candle in the shape of 24. This small birthday cake was specially bought by Director Zhang.

The management of the Chinese national team is relatively strict. Since Liu Mang returned to the team on July 7, except for the holidays on August 30 and 8 to get together with his family, the rest of the time is a group action, either staying in the hotel or staying at the training ground arranged by the Japanese side.

When they want to see their families, they come to see their husbands, their sons, and their boyfriends.

Seeing the little girl pull out the 24 candle and put it on the table, and ran to the side with a small cake to eat, Liu Mang felt a little emotional. Before he knew it, he was already 24 years old. In his NBA career, the 24-year-old just changed into the No. 24 jersey, which is also a good meaning.

It's the first knockout game on your birthday, you have to win!

(End of this chapter)