am i proud?

Chapter 289 The system is going to be upgraded again?
After defeating the Spanish team, the Chinese team defeated New Zealand, Argentina, Italy and Serbia and Montenegro in the next group stage, and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals with a record of victory.

In fact, the strength of these opponents is not weak, especially the Argentine team, whose overall strength is even slightly better than the Spanish team.

If you only look at the book strength, the Argentine team can say nothing compared to the Spanish team, but the sport of basketball has never just looked at the book strength.

For example, Manu Ginobili, although he averaged 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals last season, his personal performance is absolutely remarkable, but he is still on the bench most of the time in the Spurs.

There is also Luis Scola, who is still struggling in the Spanish league... Although he was selected by the Spurs as early as 2002, he was unable to join his favorite NBA team because of the high buyout fee demanded by his home team.

就是这样的两个人撑起了阿根廷无比犀利的进攻体系……在中国队强大的内线防守体系下，他俩竟然合力砍下了49分15篮板12助攻4抢断3盖帽。

Even Wang Dalin, who is as strong as Wang Dalin, can't help paying respect to them... Without the strong performance of these two, how could the Argentine team fight against the Chinese team until the last minute before losing with regret?

On the other side, the match in Group B was exactly as Wang Dalin expected... The U.S. team lost to Puerto Rico 73:92 in the first game, breaking the biggest upset of this Olympic basketball event.

In this game, the U.S. team couldn't make an outside shot, and was stubbornly blocked by the opponent when they wanted to break through the inside.

Since there is no "three seconds of defense in the penalty area" under FIBA ​​rules, the opponent's center and power forward can stay in the penalty area to protect the basket... Facing such an iron barrel formation, even the two S-level superstars Duncan and Iverson seem helpless.

Of course, Larry Brown has to take the blame for this... If Popovich behind him was the coach, he would have been replaced by Carmelo Anthony, who is more adaptable to FIBA ​​rules.

Larry Brown blindly emphasizes defense and knows nothing about offense. He only knows how to let the stars fight alone... Indeed, both Duncan and Iverson are superstars.

In the following games, the American team learned a lot... They put more energy into defense and played a suffocating defensive intensity, but their offensive performance was still not ideal.

On August 8, the US team defeated the Greek team 18:77.

Although they won the game, the major media in the United States still scolded them... Once upon a time, the "Dream Team" averaged a margin of more than 40 points per game, but now they can only play this "ugly victory". How can they be satisfied with the discount?

It's a bit like the Brazil team in football.

Brazil is a country where you just shoot and score a goal...you have to pass at least two defenders, then dunk the keeper and put the ball in the empty net to call it a good goal.

American fans were fed up with the "Dream Team" in Barcelona in 1992... In their view, the American men's basketball team must win, and it is normal to win by 30 or 40 points every game, otherwise it can only be called an "ugly victory"!
On August 8, the US team defeated the Australian team 19:89 and once again dedicated an "ugly victory" to the American fans. This time, the major media in the United States were too lazy to complain about them.

Maybe they took the initiative to lower their expectations for this American men's basketball team... Anyway, as long as they can win, the gold medal is ours anyway!

But are things really as they thought?

On August 8, the US team lost 21:90 to the Lithuanian team in the penultimate group match, another upset.

This is the whole frying pan in the United States.

The loss to Puerto Rico can also be said that the players did not adapt to the FIBA ​​rules for a while, and everyone's state was not adjusted well. This was just an accident.

But losing to Lithuania... Is it impossible to win?

The entire process of this game was very anxious, and the two sides took the lead alternately more than a dozen times.

It's a pity that the players of the US men's basketball team didn't seize the opportunity at the last minute. They failed to score two offenses, and they didn't even make a foul... As a result, the Lithuanian team scored two goals in a row to seal the victory.

Although the US team defeated the African champion Angola 89:53 in the last game of the group stage, which also allowed them to advance to the quarterfinals, their domestic reputation has long since collapsed.

According to the rules of the Olympic basketball event, in the group stage, 2 points are awarded for a win and 1 point for a loss. If the points are the same, the relationship between each other is compared, and the second is the net difference... In this way, the rankings of the two groups have been freshly released——

A组：1、中国（5战全胜积10分）；2、阿根廷（4胜1负积9分）；3、西班牙（3胜2付积8分）；4、意大利（3胜2负积8分）。

B组：1、立陶宛（5战全胜积10分）；2、希腊（3胜2负积8分）；3、波多黎各（3胜2负积8分）；4、美国（3胜2负积8分）。

According to the schedule, the first place in Group A will face the fourth place in Group B in the quarter-finals. That is to say... the Chinese team will face the US team just after entering the quarter-finals!
Before the start of the Olympic basketball game, no one expected that the Chinese team would advance to the quarterfinals with a record of 5 victories, and no one would have imagined that the US team barely reached the quarterfinals as the fourth in the group.

Although Wang Dalin is obviously a bit contemptuous of the current American team, the coaching staff of the Chinese team is not as optimistic as he is. They have been secretly studying the next game's countermeasures for the past few days.

As the saying goes, "a skinny camel is bigger than a horse". After all, the American men's basketball team has dominated the world basketball world for so many years. Even if they lost two games in the group stage, who knows what they will do in the next game?
Wang Dalin is quite happy... Finally, he can face the US team, which also means that he finally has the opportunity to complete the promotion task of "Road to Superstar".

As long as he wins this game and his personal statistics surpass Allen Iverson in an all-round way, he can immediately be promoted to become an S-level superstar and complete the ultimate transformation of his basketball career.

So from the very beginning of this match, Wang Dalin was on full fire, playing so brutally.

Even Duncan, a superstar, was blown away by him in the interior... Wang Dalin not only succeeded in attacking the interior one after another, but also made Duncan 5 fouls within 2 minutes of the opening.

After Duncan left the field, Larry Brown was forced to replace Amare Stoudemire...Compared with rookie Emeka Okafor, "Stoudemire" has more game experience.

However, "Stoudemire" also has nothing to do with Wang Dalin, which he has proved many times in NBA games.

After only 4 minutes, "Stoudemire" had committed 3 fouls, and Larry Brown had to replace him with the immature Okafor.

Let me say one more thing..."Stoudemire" did not defend Wang Dalin after he came on the field, but went to the center position. Yao Ming committed 3 of his 2 fouls.

In order to make his personal data comprehensively surpass Iverson, Wang Dalin can be said to have done everything possible. Sometimes he even gave up his defender in order to prevent Iverson from scoring.

Uh, the main reason is that he is sure that Iverson will not pass the ball... In fact, it is true!
Many people think that Kobe is the most "independent" one in NBA history. In fact, if you really watched the NBA of that era, you will know... Iverson is even more "independent" than Kobe!
Although Iverson has averaged 6.2 assists per game in his career, which is much higher than Kobe's 4.7, in fact most fans know...a high number of assists really does not mean that he plays selflessly. Most of his passes are when he is forced to pass out.

Of course, Kobe is also very unique, it can only be said that he is slightly inferior to Iverson in this field.

The Chinese team has firmly controlled the situation from the very beginning of the game. Since they took the lead, they have never been overtaken by the US team, and the point difference between the two sides is getting bigger and bigger. By the middle of the second half, they have already led by as much as 20 points.

A hint of panic appeared on Larry Brown's face. He couldn't imagine the scale of criticism he would receive after the game if the US team couldn't even make it to the semifinals.

Maybe he couldn't figure it out for the rest of his life... Why did he send Duncan, the best inside player in the league, and Iverson, the best outside player, on the field, and the team still fell into a passive situation with a big score behind?
He used to do the same thing in the past, isn't the result of leading the team very good?
His stubborn heart will never understand... The sport of basketball is constantly developing. In the past, he could rely on this tactic to make a living, but now he really can't!
At the end of the game, Wang Dalin continued to forcefully hit the inside again, and directly beat Duncan to 5 fouls and left the field... Duncan's last foul was obviously intentional, and he didn't want to fight anymore!
In the end, the Chinese team defeated the US team 108:85, blocking the champion of the last Olympic Games from the top four, and also broke the biggest upset of this Olympic basketball event.

Team USA is out!
Although they can still participate in the final ranking, what is the difference between No.8 and No.5?
For the U.S. men's basketball team, as long as it does not win the championship, it is a failure. Let alone No.8 or No.5, what if it is the runner-up?

According to Kobe's statement - "The runner-up is the biggest loser", and they didn't even become the "biggest loser" this time!

……

After the match with the US team, Wang Dalin checked the system for the first time, only to see the "system upgrading" interface... Completing the promotion task means that he has successfully advanced to the S-class superstar, so the system will be upgraded again.

The upgrade time this time is 72 hours like last time, so Wang Dalin ignored it and put all his energy into the upcoming semi-finals.

The opponent of the Chinese team in the semi-finals is the Argentine team again.

Wang Dalin didn't dare to be careless about this powerful opponent... Although the Chinese team won them in the group stage, they only won by a few points.

For the Chinese team, the most important thing in this game is to limit the performance of Ginobili and Scola. They both performed very well in the group match.

To this end, Wang Dalin discussed for a long time with head coach Harris and other members of the coaching staff, and finally they decided that Wang Dalin would play the role of "court free man".

Of course, there is the role of "free man" on the football field, but basketball has never seen such a role before. This is a completely new concept!

In response to Ginobili's outside shots, the Chinese team arranged for Zhang Jinsong, nicknamed "Desperate Saburo", to press him in the half court. When he was weak, he would replace Li Nan and Zhu Fangyu... Anyway, as long as Ginobili gets the ball in the frontcourt, someone must press close to him.

If Ginobili breaks through, or if he and Scola play a pick-and-roll, then Wang Dalin will sweep within the entire three-point line... His ability to assist defense is very good, and there is no more suitable role for him on the defensive end than "court free man".

On the evening of August 8, the two semi-finals started successively.

After the start of the game, the Argentine team was still the same as in the group stage. Ginobili controlled the entire offensive rhythm, but he encountered Zhang Jinsong's stalking "mad dog" defense in the frontcourt, and he had to pay a lot of effort for any action.

Under Wang Dalin's "care", Scola has basically entered a "stealth state". It is difficult for him to catch the ball. Even if he can barely catch the ball, he has little chance to break into the inside.

Of course, the Argentine team's defensive quality is also very high. They have successfully defended Yao Ming in the paint. Their various defenses around the front made it very difficult for Yao Ming to receive the ball.

But they still had nothing to do with Wang Dalin... Yao Ming had to get inside to threaten them, and Wang Dalin was still very intimidating outside the three-point line.

In this game, Wang Dalin hit 8 out of 5 shots from beyond the three-point line. If he didn't want to better mobilize the team, he could have shot a few more three-pointers.

The entire process of this semi-final was completely beyond everyone's expectations. At first, everyone thought it would be an evenly matched fierce matchup, but in fact "fierce" was indeed "fierce", but "evenly matched" did not appear at all.

The Chinese team had the upper hand after 10 minutes of the game. At the end of the half, they had already led by double digits. In the second half, the gap between the two sides became larger and larger. Even Ginobili hit two consecutive "gambling" three-pointers to no avail.

In this way, the Chinese team defeated the Argentine team 99:82 without bloodshed, thus breaking into the final of the Olympic men's basketball event in a historic way.

Of course, they have already made history by defeating the US team and reaching the semi-finals...

(End of this chapter)