basketball kingdom

Chapter 27 Top of Asia
On the night of winning the Summer League championship, Xu Tian drank alcohol for the first time, breaking the self-discipline he had maintained for many years.Not for anything else, just because McGrady attended the dinner that day.

During the drinking process, Xu Tian made Howard a little unhappy, but he didn't notice.

Later, Mai Di chatted with Xu Tian and Alice, and the conversation between the two was very pleasant.The ease of mood made Xu Tian very drunk that night, and finally it was Alice who brought him back to the hotel.

On the morning of the next day, Xu Tian ignored his physical discomfort, and after returning to Los Angeles with Alice, he contacted Kobe's personal trainer Gary Vitti immediately.

From that day on, Xu Tian started his ascetic summer special training.The content of this special training is mainly targeted, increasing his weak strength and physical fitness, and hard training the offensive method that is now popular in the league-three-pointers.

After Kobe's trip to China ended, he returned to Los Angeles, and the two started training together again.

The process of this is boring, so I don't need to go into details.

Time flies, summer passed, autumn came, and it was October 10rd in a blink of an eye.

For domestic athletes, the topic that can never be avoided is the national team.

The jersey of the Chinese national team is red and white, which is very beautiful, but what is even more beautiful is the small five-star red flag on it.It is precisely because of this symbol that no matter where the athletes are, they will return to the national team when there are major events.

Since it is basketball, we must mention men's basketball.The peak of the Chinese men's basketball team was in 08. Although the record was only the top eight, it is indeed the strongest Chinese men's basketball team in history.

Just looking at the lineup, the 08 men's basketball team has three top insiders, Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian. Later, Yi Jianlian, the absolute leader of the national team, was just the younger brother of the big brother at the time.

The main point guard is Liu Wei, the strongest in the history of the men's basketball team. Although he has received many doubts, he is the strongest point guard in China based on his performance in the international arena.

In that year, Sun Yue, who was selected by the Lakers in 07, still has an unlimited future. His wonderful performance in the national team made Director Zhang utter his classic commentary during the commentary, "Sun Yue, play with him!"

In addition to these few people, Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, Li Nan, Du Feng, Chen Jianghua, Zhang Qingpeng, Wang Lei, all of these people are top figures in the domestic basketball world.These 12 people came together to form the Chinese men's basketball team at that time.

That year's Dream Eight was the redemption team. After losing the Olympic and World Championships in a row, Kobe finally decided to play for his country.

At that time, there was such a paragraph in the lineup introduction of "Slam Dunk" magazine.

"The Americans used to say when they lost, 'We haven't sent our best player.' Now, the best player has."

This passage is to describe Kobe Bryant at the time. Although it was just the words of "Slam Dunk" magazine, at that time, Kobe was indeed the No.1 of the American men's basketball team.

The American men's basketball team was star-studded that year. In addition to Kobe, there was also a captain, the veteran Jason Kidd who held the lineup.

In addition to the double captains, the U.S. men's basketball lineup also includes "Four Heroes" LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, "Warcraft" Dwight Howard, "Dragon King" (Raptors boss) Chris Bosh and Jazz boss Deron Williams who can always "eat, sleep and beat Paul".

In addition to these top stars at the time, there are also some good players in the lineup, they are Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and the then "Deer King" (Bucks boss) Michael Reid.

The U.S. men's basketball team of this strength, the men's basketball national team back then, was evenly matched with them in the first half.After the lack of physical strength in the second half, they gradually lost.

The most classic scene of that game was Yao Ming's three-pointer at the beginning of the game. At that time, it was still a rare thing for a center to shoot a three-pointer. No one would have thought that the first point of the Chinese team would be Yao Ming's three-pointer.

The most regrettable game was against the world champion Spain.

The Chinese team performed well in the first three quarters of that game, leading by 14 points.But the opponent aggressively counterattacked in the last quarter, and the point difference continued to close.At the last moment before the end of the fourth quarter, the Chinese team still held a 2-point advantage, but Marc Gasol made a difficult fadeaway jumper in front of Yao Ming, tying the score and entering overtime.

When talking about this defense afterwards, Yao Ming was full of regrets. He once said: "If God can give me another chance, as it said in the movie, I will break my leg and block that ball."

But reality is not a movie after all, and the game was eventually lost.

The game that really reflects the overall strength of the men's basketball team is the game against the German team led by Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman.

In that game, there was Wang Zhizhi's chasing points and Yi Jianlian's key mid-range shot at the last moment. The performance of these two men at the end ensured that the Chinese men's basketball team entered the quarterfinals.

The strongest men's basketball team means that the men's basketball team behind is not that strong.

Since 08, the Chinese men's basketball team has gone downhill and began to experience a few years of low tide.

In the Tianjin Asian Championships in 09, the Chinese team led by Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian lost to the Iranian team led by Haddadi and Bahrami in the final. After 07, they lost the Asian Championship again.

In the 11 Wuhan Asian Championships, Yi Jianlian became an absolute core player.Facing Jordan led by Douglas and Abbas in the final, he scored 25 points and 16 rebounds. In the final stage, he used free throws to help the Chinese team beat Jordan 70-69.

After a lapse of six years, the Chinese men's basketball team has returned to the top of Asia.With this victory, the Chinese men's basketball team got tickets for the London Olympics.

In the 2012 London Olympics, the Chinese men's basketball team lost all five group matches, and finally ranked No.12, setting the lowest ranking in the history of the men's basketball Olympic Games.

In the Asian Championships in Manila in 2013, Yi Jianlian injured his leg and was forced to play after playing closed.Although he performed well personally, the men's basketball team was distracted and lost to South Korea, Iran and Chinese Taipei one after another, and finally ranked fifth in the Asian Championships.

In that Asian Championships, a classic photo was left. In the photo, Yi Jianlian was sitting on the bench, covering his mouth with a towel.The lonely expression on his face is the truest portrayal of the men's basketball team at that time.

After the Asian Championships, great turmoil occurred within the Chinese men's basketball team. Gong Luming was once again the coach of the national men's basketball team and began to carry out internal reforms.

In the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the unfamiliar faces of the Chinese men's basketball team in the Asian Games were all replaced by newcomers.In the end, this men's basketball team won the fifth place again, creating the worst record of the men's basketball team in the Asian Games in 40 years, tying the men's basketball team's worst record in Asian competitions.

Xu Tian felt a little uncomfortable looking at the information displayed on the computer, especially after seeing the photo of Yi Jianlian.

……

Xu Tian is now in Changsha and has already helped the men's basketball team win the Iranian team in the semi-finals. In tonight's final, they will face the Philippine men's basketball team led by Andre Blatche.

Because of this Asian Championship, Xu Tian asked Li Lang to reject the Rockets' training camp, which made Rockets coach Kevin McHale very dissatisfied and cast a shadow over his prospects in the Rockets.

But Xu Tian doesn't care about this. Now that the Chinese men's basketball team is in dire straits, he must come back.

……

Brac's poor performance in the final, not driven by a sense of national pride, had a very loose attitude.

In the semi-finals, Xu Tian overwhelmed "Asia's No. [-] Small Forward" Bahrami, and it was even easier to face the Filipino striker in the final.

Yi Jianlian played very excitedly in this game, and Xu Tian gave him most of the shots.The leader of the men's basketball team deserves such treatment.

Zhou Qi performed well and scored a double-double in this game, showing the potential of the next generation of inside cores.

In the final stage of the competition, Yu Jia explained enthusiastically on the commentary platform, "It's time to celebrate! It's time to celebrate! After many years, China has won the Asian Championships again and stood on the top of Asia again..."

Except for Yu Jia's commentary, there was no wave in the whole game. In the end, China won the 88 Asian Championships 67-2015 to the Philippines.

Because of the team's status and tactical layout, Xu Tian's statistics are not gorgeous. He only took 6 shots and scored 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists (assists are very strict in FIBA ​​rules and are generally very low).

……

The team members of the men's basketball team prepared red championship T-shirts in the locker room. After putting on the T-shirts, the whole team followed the officials to the awards ceremony.

Xu Tian stood at the very edge of the team. He was the youngest in the whole team, so he could only stand in this position.

……

When the 12 Chinese men's basketball players stood on the podium, the most enthusiastic cheers sounded in the stadium of Changsha Civil Affairs Vocational College.After the failures of Manila and Incheon, the championship won at home is particularly important, which represents the return of the Chinese men's basketball team to the top of Asia.

After the process of awarding the gold medal was over, the officials of the Asian Championships took the trophy and went straight to Yi Jianlian who was standing in the middle, and gave him the championship trophy with both hands.

All the players put their right hands on the trophy, and Xu Tian was no exception. Having watched the history of the men's basketball team during the day, he felt that the trophy was very important.

……

The final part of the award ceremony is the flag-raising ceremony. The most important reward for the champion is that the national anthem will be played when the flag is raised.

The host at the scene issued a reminder, "Friends at the scene, please stand up! What is about to happen is the national flag raising and the national anthem!"

The fans at the scene quickly responded to the call, because what was about to be played was the national anthem they had been listening to since childhood.

When the prelude to "March of the Volunteers" sounded, Xu Tian's nose was sore and he almost cried.

All Chinese people, even those who are tone deaf, can sing the national anthem easily.This song is amazing, it seems to be something in the bones, people can sing it naturally as long as they hear familiar music.

The sound of the fans singing the national anthem in a low voice slowly reached Xu Tian's ears, causing a wave of turmoil in his heart.

Sure enough, this is his real hometown.

(End of this chapter)