The era of point forwards in the NBA

Chapter 134 Final Four, Here We Come (Please subscribe, please collect)

In the locker room of the Croatian men's basketball team, everyone was frowning. Although the opponent was the Chinese team, they still failed to open the score.

Even, if it weren't for the three-pointer at the buzzer in the middle circle, they would still be behind their opponents, which makes it difficult for the Croatian who considers himself the king of Europe to accept.

How do you explain it when you lose, blame the bad grouping?It's not like blind people who don't know that the other group is the group of death.

Blame the Chinese team for being too strong?

The laughter from the hotel was still echoing in everyone's hearts before, which was embarrassing. It would be better to forget about meeting the US team. Anyway, if you can't beat them, you won't get sprayed. This "Dream Eight Team" is not good for anyone.

"What's going on one by one? Come out with the self-confidence before the game. It's not that you keep saying that you want to blow up your opponent. Why do you give up before the second half? We are not little mice to be slaughtered. Just treat it as if the first half didn't start. The proud Croatians never give up?" The coach said angrily.

Before the game, the coach of the Croatian men's basketball team watched the video of the Chinese team's group stage. Their state was not always very good. After the explosive victory over Spain, the remaining games were the most real results of the Chinese team.

Yao Ming's performance contributed a lot to winning the German team. Lin Yue, a young player, made his eyes shine, and the young but experienced new generation made him somewhat jealous.

It’s not just them. The current Chinese team is different from the Croatian team. The old Chinese team brings newcomers. With the existence of Yao Ming, Du Feng, Wang Zhizhi, and Li Nan, the mentality of the Chinese team will be much better.

Coupled with young people like Lin Yue, Yi Jianlian, and Sun Yue, the Chinese team has a strong immediate combat capability.

But Croatia is different. They have no NBA-level players and are still in the vacuum of reconstruction. The new generation has not inherited the toughness of the older generation, and not many can come in handy at critical moments.

In fact, facing the second half of the game, the Croatian coach was at a loss. The more they compared, the bigger the gap was. They couldn't beat the Greek team, and their cohesion was not as good as their opponents.

However, BJ is the capital of China and a famous city in the world. It is not bad to stay for a while after losing a game to see the scenery.

Of course, it's best to win.

"The intermission is over. Welcome back to the game. The Chinese team drew with Croatia at 47 in the first half. Without Yao Ming on the court, the Chinese team was targeted by Croatia on the inside. This also allowed them to chase the score all the way to the tie at the last moment of the second quarter." Yu Jia said.

"In the second half of the game, the intensity of the two teams will definitely go up to a higher level. I don't know if the Chinese team can hold on to the physical strength at that time." Zhang Weiping said.

Zhang Weiping knew it, and the head coach Yunus must also know it.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Jonas did not use Yao Ming, but let Wang Zhizhi take the center position first to prepare for the decisive battle that followed.

Lin Yue, Liu Wei, Li Nan, and Zhu Fangyu started the second half. Yi Jianlian played too long in the first half and needed more rest. Now Zhu Fangyu can only play the power forward position.

The Croatian team did not show such a strong desire to win. In the opening scene, the lineup that was not high against the Chinese team did not choose to kill the inside line, but floated outside to shoot.

"Why doesn't Croatia look very interested?"

Zhang Weiping's words also made Yu Jia on the side feel puzzled, "It stands to reason that the Chinese team's lineup defends well on the outside, but not on the inside. It shouldn't be like this!"

Lin Yue was also puzzled by how the Croatian team played. Isn't this a gift?

"Why, you don't want to win at the Olympics?"

The Croatian team's outside shots gave the Chinese team a chance to grab defensive rebounds. Lin Yue is a good player in the fast break, and this small lineup gave Lin Yue a chance to play.

Wang Zhizhi got a defensive rebound under the basket, Lin Yue dribbled the ball forward, and gave it to Li Nan who ran beyond the three-point line, and hit a chasing three-pointer with a knife in his hand.

After that, Zhu Fangyu received a pass from Lin Yue, counterattacked and dunked successfully, and the point difference was opened to five points.

The coach of the Croatian men's basketball team can't hold back his face, not to mention anything else, even the commentary can see this style of play, can't he see it?
"Do you want to go home that much?" the coach shouted angrily.

The rest of the players lowered their heads, feeling guilty, as if thinking about the situation they were in, not saying they couldn’t have fun, but they were representing the country, wearing the uniform of the national team, and the moment they stood on the stage, they were the highest-level basketball players in the country. How could they not make people angry.

"Don't look, let's play our own game well." Lin Yue said, although he couldn't hear what the other party was saying, he was obviously angry at the state just now, but now they only need to play their own ball well, and other things are not up to them.

"Lin Yue is right, just take care of yourself." Yao Ming said, and the rest of the people turned their eyes back to the tactical board.

……

"The moment you put on the team uniform, you are representing the national team and it is the honor of the country. Just think about what you are playing and do your best. Losing is not terrible. What is terrible is your attitude. Your attitude is not worthy of this stage and this suit." The coach said, although he tried his best to control his emotions, the tone he blurted out made the Croatian players realize their mistakes.

"Coach, we were wrong." The captain of Croatia apologized on behalf of the whole team. He was not on the field, but he did not fulfill the duty of the captain.

"There is no time to set up tactics, you go on the field, you should not apologize to me, you should apologize to every Croatian fan in front of the TV, you are sorry for them. Use your performance on the field to speak." After the coach finished speaking, the timeout ended, the players returned to the field, and the five players of the Croatian team readjusted.

"The game continues, Croatia has the ball." Zhang Weiping said.

Croatia's attack was orderly this time, shifting their focus to the inside line of the Chinese team through running positions, and hitting the basket successfully.

However, in the momentum of the fans at the scene, the momentum of the Chinese team has risen, and the attack just now allowed them to find the rhythm of the game.

Lin Yuehuang made a shot after driving away his opponent, which did not give Croatia a chance to recover the score.

The next few minutes became a point-chasing battle. After Croatia scored a goal, the Chinese team fought back. Both sides held their breath, and whoever was discouraged would lose.

In the end, Jonas was afraid that the situation would change, so he replaced Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming, and now the Chinese team's style of play could be shifted to the inside. Yao Ming had the advantage in the matchup with the opponent, and continued to play hard at the basket.

At this time, Croatia never gave up. Maybe the score could not be recovered, but they had to pay for the previous stupid ideas and find the heart that the players needed most.

Until the last moment of the game, they were still trying to foul to see if they could save the situation.

"The Croatian team played very tenaciously today. The two teams fought until the last moment. With Yao Ming's four free throws at the critical moment, Croatia did not recover the score. The Chinese team led the Croatian team 76 to 73 and entered the semi-finals by three points. It successfully created the best result of the Chinese men's basketball team in the World Series. The Chinese team played well!" Yu Jia said excitedly. Witnessing the historic breakthrough with his own eyes made people overwhelmed.

"Four finals, here we come." Lin Yue shouted looking at the dancing national flag. The legend is still going on, and no one knows the end.

(End of this chapter)