Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 724 Group photo before the match
It has to be said that when the players of the dream team start to get serious, it is indeed difficult to meet opponents on this planet.

In the first warm-up match, the key to the Dream Team's loss was Hurley.

Because of Li Weisi's scruples about ankle injuries, his speed in lateral movement has weakened a lot, and Magic Johnson has never been able to defend these speedy point guards. When he was in the Lakers, it was Scott or Michael Cooper who defended Johnson. of.

Therefore, in the warm-up match on the second day, the first person in charge of defending Hurley became Jordan. Facing Jordan, who had won the best defensive player, it became extremely difficult for Hurley to even dribble the ball to the center line.

In the second half, Li Weisi finally overcame his inner demons. When facing Hurley, he also showed his defense. In just 3 minutes, Hurley scored three goals in a row.

It can be said that under the continuous care of Jordan and Li Weisi, the two top two stars in the league, Hurley, who performed well in the last game, was completely misfired in this game.

And when Hurley, the college team's engine, couldn't perform normally, the smooth offense they played in the last game also disappeared in this game.

Originally, in every position, the college team didn't have an advantage. If they couldn't even play tactics, then they really had no chance of winning, and the whole game was completely reduced to an exhibition match for the dream team.

In the end, even the scorekeeper on the sidelines didn't bother to count the scores of the two teams. They only knew that the dream team had won the college team by at least 40 points.

Winning this game is like opening up the two branches of the dream team. The whole team has a new look. They seem to have found the characteristics of their own existence and found those important details. The ball runs smoothly and the players live together in harmony. .

Everything became peaceful, and gradually, the laughter on the training ground also increased.

No, on the court, Drexler held the ball to face Mullin and planned to break through. However, just as he was about to start, Barkley outside the court shouted at Mullin dancing: "Cut right, Cut him right!"

Mullin also reacted very quickly, without the slightest hesitation, and he chose to move to the left, blocking Drexler's breakthrough route.

Seeing that Mullin really did it, there was a sound of "haha" laughter outside the court. This harsh ridicule made Drexler feel ashamed, so that he made a mistake immediately and hit his foot with the dribble On, the ball flew out of the touchline.

This is the dream team's favorite thing to do in the team, find a teammate's weakness, and then beat and laugh at him to death.

In their daily relationship, they found that Ewing always took too many shots from the outside, and sometimes chose mid-range shooting when the basket was empty; When he arrived, he lost his position, and the opponent hit the basket, and Barkley hadn't gotten up yet!

Among them, the most ridiculed is Drexler. When he plays, he has the habit of dribbling with his head buried, and when he breaks through, he always goes to the right. He is not Iverson, and he has no "answer" ", but got the disease of "Answer".

After this was discovered, as long as he tried to go to the left during the breakthrough, he would make a mistake, and if he went to the right, everyone would laugh at Drexler again, making Drexler unable to play. up.

Of course, such a farce is just a seasoning for daily training, and they are serious when it comes to real training or competition.

It's just that there is not much time left for them to train.

Although the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics will be held on July 7, before that, they need to participate in the Americas Championships to compete for the qualifications for the Olympics.

Yes, who would have imagined that the awesome dream team would aim for the championship before it was established, but it is a bit ironic that this team has not yet qualified for the Olympic Games a month before the start of the Olympic Games.

However, for qualifying for the Olympics, no one thinks that the dream team cannot do this. After all, there is no Polish center in their team, and the head coach will not just play "diamond horns".

The American Championship was not called this name at the beginning, and it was not held in the United States. FIBA ​​arranged the original North American and South American Olympic qualifying matches in Brazil, and planned to start in March 1992.

If it was really at that time, not to mention the NBA big shots like the Dream Team, even college players would not be able to get together, because the NCAA March Madness was in full swing at that time.

As we all know, when faced with rules that are unfavorable to them, Americans usually modify the rules. Of course, FIBA ​​is also happy to see the revised rules this time.

In this way, under the mediation of the US Basketball Association and Stankovic, yes, it is the Stankovic of the Stankovic Cup, who has served as the chairman of the FIBA ​​​​for a long time.

With their joint efforts, the Olympic Qualifying Tournament was renamed the Americas Championships, moved to Portland, and moved to the end of June.

The first match of the dream team was held on June 6. Their opponent was the only social country in the Americas, the thorn in the side of the United States, the Cuban team.

With such ideological differences, most of the Dream Team players are not interested in the Cuban team, and even Barkley told his teammates, "I will fix them severely!"

However, it's the day of the game.

Before the start of the game, the players of the Dream Team were still discussing on the sidelines how to play in a while. Unexpectedly, two players from the opposite Cuban team came over.

At first, Barkley and others thought that the other party was provoking, but unexpectedly, the other party said: "Hello! Can we take a photo before the game?"

Looking at the Cuban team members looking forward to it, pointing at the camera in the hands of their teammates not far away, the players of the entire dream team were dumbfounded. What is the way of unfolding this?

The facts are not difficult to understand. For the players of the Cuban team, winning or losing this game is secondary. As long as they participate in this game, it is the highlight moment in their lives.

They are just athletes from ordinary small countries, and they will never be able to play in the NBA or Europe in this life, but one day in the future, they can point to the photos on the wall and show off to others: "Look, I and West Lee, Michael Jordan played ball!"

Just like that, the Dream Team players who were still discussing how to fix each other shut their mouths one by one and came to the middle of the court.

All the players of the Cuban team had already knelt down on one knee, posing for a photo, looking at the enthusiastic opponents. The members of the dream team were too embarrassed to refuse, so they stood behind the Cuban players.

"Click!" With the staff on the sidelines pressing the shutter, the game officially started in such a strange way.

(End of this chapter)