Starting from the last bus in the NBA

Chapter 440 Team USA

Two days later, the semi-finals between Argentina and Italy started first, which was a bit surprising.

Argentina won with a huge score of 84:69.

Perhaps the previous victory over the Lithuanian team consumed too much of Italy's energy, resulting in a lack of energy in the body.

After all, Italy's defense has always been very good.

In addition, Italy relies too much on three-pointers, and as a result, today's three-pointers were a bit misfired.

Finally, the Italian team seems to be too afraid of Argentina's outside line, but instead allows the inside line to play.

Scola kept spinning in the paint, scoring 25 points and 11 rebounds, becoming the most shining player.

This is also a highlight of Argentina. Although Ginobili is the most famous, Argentina has never been the most famous for Ginobili.

In fact, before the match between Italy and Argentina ended, the Chinese team and the American team had already arrived at the scene.

I have met them several times in the past. At that time, Wang Hao would greet them, and Iverson and others were also willing to chat with Wang Hao.

However, when we met again today, everyone had no intention of talking at all.

They are their opponents soon, and no one wants to lose, so there is no need to deal with this.

From Argentina's victory to the two teams doing shootarounds, everything went by quickly.

With the expectations of the whole world, the semi-finals between the Chinese team and the American team are about to begin.

First of all, the US team has the same starting lineup. It can be seen that Larry Brown trusts this lineup.

The two guards are Marbury and Iverson. To be honest, this guard combination is a bit short in international basketball.

Jefferson and Odom are paired up front, and Duncan is in charge inside.

To be honest, this lineup looks very good, but in fact it is a bit mismatched.

Whether it's Marbury, Iverson, or Odom, they are all players who need to have the ball in their hands to perform.

As for Jefferson, he can play without the ball, and Duncan also needs a lot of ball support.

It would be such a waste to just let Duncan defend and stand when attacking.

To put it bluntly, amidst the losses and criticism, this dream team has become somewhat at a loss and discouraged.

At this time, if Larry Brown had any real ability, he should actually know that someone needs to stand up.

There are also such players on the bench of the US team. James, Wade, and Anthony are all there.

Although they are all rookies, the fact is that they are not bad at playing, and more importantly, they are motivated.

Obviously, Larry Brown has no such ability.

For the Chinese team, the starting lineup has changed. Yi Jianlian replaced Wang Zhizhi in the starting lineup.

The American team's athletic talent is too strong, and the Chinese team needs to improve its athletic talent.

Yi Jianlian plays, at least in terms of athletic ability and defensive area, he can keep up with Odom.

"Di!"

As the referee's whistle sounded, the game began. Yao Ming rarely missed a jump ball, and the US team took the lead in attacking.

The U.S. team's strategy is actually to attack the interior first. After all, they have Duncan.

Larry Brown is not stupid, nor is he completely ignorant.

It's just that these NBA players need the ball so much that they forget about Duncan as they play.

Fortunately, the game has just started and everyone's minds are still very clear.

Marbury dribbled the ball across half court and handed it to Iverson on the wing. Iverson quickly gave the ball to Duncan inside.

Yao Ming is one-on-one with Duncan, so he naturally does not need to defend, but the Chinese team is still shrinking.

This is necessary against the American team, but the three-point shot that bullies the American team is not enough.

Liu Wei, in particular, was directly told before the game that when defending Iverson, he should take a big step forward and make shots rather than sudden shots.

When facing Yao Ming, Duncan was still a little stressed.

Especially now, Yi Jianlian has received the basket, and Liu Wei is watching eagerly in the middle.

To put it bluntly, as long as Duncan chooses to turn around and break through, he will immediately be surrounded by a group of people.

Breakthrough is the best method when facing Yao Ming. It is not a good choice to fight head-on.

However, there was nothing Duncan could do. The first ball of the game had not been played yet, so he couldn't be timid.

With his back against Yao Ming, Duncan's shoulders kept shaking from side to side, and finally he chose to turn over and shoot.

Yao Ming was very focused and immediately stepped forward and reached out to interfere. His height advantage was obvious.

Duncan had to change his shooting angle, which naturally affected his shooting hand.

The basketball bounced out of the frame. Yi Jianlian protected the rebound and gave it to Wang Hao immediately.

Wang Hao didn't waste any time and immediately pushed forward with the ball, looking for an opportunity to play a fast break.

It's a pity that the US team retreated quickly. Even Odom retreated immediately, so naturally he had no chance.

He was not in a hurry and waited for Yao Ming to land in the low post before passing the ball to Yao Ming.

Duncan still wanted to save face. He did not choose to go around to defend, but chose to fight head-on.

Of course, today's Yao Ming is not as dominant as O'Neal.

Moreover, it is not only the Chinese team that will choose to shrink its defense, but also the American team.

Yao Ming was very uncomfortable with the ball in his hands, and was unable to push Duncan to the bottom of the basket.

He could only choose to turn over and shoot a jump shot, but it seemed that the confrontation just now was a bit too much, and the basketball bounced out of the frame.

The Chinese team did not dare to be careless and retreated quickly.

You know, back in 2008, the American team's deepest impression was its fast-break counterattack.

There is no way, when a group of versatile and athletic players are together, it is easy to find opportunities to counterattack.

Iverson held the ball at the top of the arc and handed it to Marbury on the wing. Duncan was trying to get a position inside.

However, Yao Ming was prepared to guard against Duncan's catch. Marbury saw that the opportunity was not very good and did not pass the ball.

Marbury directly chose to break through, and I have to say that his choice was actually correct.

Li Nan's defense is actually average, and it can even be said to be a loophole in the Chinese team's starting lineup.

However, Wang Hao reminded him to try not to give shooting opportunities when defending, and try to keep up when he is broken through.

As for being broken through, naturally we can only rely on insiders to make up for it.

Today, not only Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian are in the paint, but Wang Hao will often appear in the paint.

Sure enough, Marbury broke through, and Wang Hao quickly stood up and blocked Marbury's breakthrough route.

In fact, at this time, Marbury can pass the ball to Jefferson, which is an open opportunity.

However, if he wants to pass the ball, he will not be nicknamed the lone wolf. Marbury chose to do it himself.

Facing Wang Hao's block, Marbury chose a small throw. Unfortunately, the FIBA ​​basket seemed not suitable for him.

"boom!"

The basketball bounced out of the frame, and Wang Hao protected the rebound himself.

The score was still 0:0, and the situation didn't look bad, but Wang Hao knew that he couldn't continue to be entangled.

After all, there is still a huge gap in personal ability between Chinese players and American players.

However, because Yao Ming and Wang Hao guard one end of the team inside and outside the other, this gap has been narrowed to a certain extent.

If you don’t give others a one-on-one opportunity, the gap will not exist.

However, some things cannot be made up for, so the Chinese team cannot struggle with the American team. They need to play their own rhythm.

Therefore, this time, Wang Hao did not wait for Yao Ming to fall down, he broke through unexpectedly.

Duncan had just returned to the free throw line and did not notice Wang Hao's sudden outburst.

Jefferson noticed it, and even took the initiative to get closer, trying to block Wang Hao's breakthrough.Then, after colliding with Wang Hao, he obviously took a small step back because he was not as good as Wang Hao.

At this moment of opportunity, Wang Hao directly threw away Jefferson and reached the inside and scored a layup.

"Good shot, nice break."

The CCTV commentary was also very excited, after all, it was the first score of the game.

The American team attacked again. This time, after Marbury broke through, he knew not to bury himself in the attack, so he passed the ball.

Iverson broke through again after getting the ball, completely disrupting the Chinese team's defense and giving the ball to Duncan.

Duncan forced up and caused Yi Jianlian to foul. Fortunately, Yi Jianlian's foul did not allow Duncan to score the ball.

Duncan stepped to the free throw line and made one of two free throws.

2:1
Wang Hao continued to control the Chinese team's offensive rhythm and used his own threats to drive the whole team.

Wang Hao signaled Yi Jianlian to pick and roll and began to play pick and roll tactics. Only in this way can he give full play to his role.

Sure enough, as soon as he set a pick-and-roll, Marbury immediately squeezed out from in front of Yi Jianlian.

Obviously, these NBA players are more familiar with Wang Hao, and they know one thing deeply.

That is, when facing Wang Hao, we would rather let him break through than let him shoot.

However, in this case, he really broke through.

Odom tried his best to keep up with Wang Hao, and Marbury also chased behind him, even catching Duncan's eye.

Wang Hao was unhurried, found the right moment, and smacked the basketball lightly, and the basketball flew past Odom.

Yi Jianlian had already caught up with him at a rapid pace. Although his confrontation was a bit poor, his speed was really not slow.

The basketball just flew into his hands, and he was not polite. He took off directly after taking one step.

Odom turned around and wanted to reach out to interfere, but it was too late. Yi Jianlian smashed the ball into the basket with both hands.

4:1
If this ball were replaced by Wang Zhizhi, it would be either a layup or a mid-range jump shot, which would definitely not have such an effect.

The American team was still looking for opportunities in breakthroughs. Odom passed the ball inside to Duncan, and Duncan scored a layup.

However, looking back, Wang Hao responded with a three-pointer during the offense.

When returning to defense, the US team's defense was a bit chaotic. Standing in front of Wang Hao was Iverson.

In this case, Wang Hao naturally would not miss a chasing three-pointer and hit it easily.

7:4
Moreover, this three-pointer seemed to activate some kind of lifeblood of the Chinese team, and everyone was stimulated.

First it was Yao Ming's pick-and-roll, but after the pick-and-roll ended, he did not follow the pick-and-roll, but chose to stay outside the three-point line.

Wang Hao immediately put the ball in his hands, and Yao Ming did not hesitate to take a wide-open three-pointer.

The NBA's three-point line is a bit far for Yao Ming, but the FIBA's three-point line is just right.

"Shh!"

Not just him, including Liu Wei and Li Nan, they all made achievements outside the three-point line.

Especially Li Nan, as a shortcoming in the defense, keeping him in the starting lineup requires his three-pointers.

He lived up to expectations, hitting a three-pointer after chasing him and an inside pass from Yao Ming, all of which he hit.

22:14
Seeing that the point difference was about to widen, the American team became anxious and began to pay attention to the Chinese team's three-pointers.

But as a result, insider technology is empty.

Especially after Odom took a rest, Harris also replaced Wang Zhizhi on the court, and the two big insiders were in charge.

Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi successively made achievements in the interior, making the US team's game more and more uncomfortable.

Marbury actually scored three points, and Marion, who came on the bench, also took the opportunity to grab an offensive rebound and score two points.

But Yao Ming forced a foul and made two free throws. Wang Hao hit Jefferson from the mid-range, deliberately fouled and scored the ball.

This situation continues.

Wang Hao finally understood that the American team had a huge problem, which was that they had no tactical play.

In other words, there are too many stars, too many ideas, and too much chaos.

None of these NBA players are poor in quality. As long as they play, they can always produce results.

In other words, anyone can fight, but there is no consistently effective tactic.

Just like at the beginning of the game, it was originally a tactic to focus on the inside, but when it became clear that Duncan was not able to catch the ball, the tactic was canceled immediately.

This was not something the Chinese team defended, it was purely something the U.S. team gave up on its own.

In this way, the United States team is not widened by the points difference. It is actually very strange, and it also shows the strength of the United States team.

48:41
At the end of the half, the Chinese team led by 7 points.

However, they have gradually figured out the U.S. team's tactics and can just continue to block the inside.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the second half, the American team still wanted to get inside.

Even Marbury only thinks of three-pointers when he can't break through inside.

Moreover, his three-pointers today are obviously not as good as those in the last game, and the situation is even more troublesome.

Seeing that the third quarter was coming to an end, still leading by five or six points, Wang Hao began to exert his strength.

He really didn't care, and he shot three-pointers from far away one after another, and the distance was already beyond the NBA three-point line.

After Marion stepped out of the three-point line, Wang Hao started playing pick-and-rolls and mid-range pull-up jumpers.

The American team was obviously not prepared to deal with the surprise. In this case, at least someone had to double-team.

When I was in the NBA, facing Wang Hao's singles, it was impossible for one person to guard against him, and it's the same now.

In fact, Wang Hao wanted to seize this opportunity. The game was about to end in the third quarter, and coaches generally were reluctant to waste timeouts.

Sure enough, just over a minute later, Wang Hao had an 1:8 climax.

74:60
When the third quarter ended, the U.S. team was already 14 points behind, and Wang Hao felt a little relieved.

It's not that the American team has no chance at all, but it's that the Chinese team has a higher fault tolerance rate.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the American team really started to exert its strength.

It was still an attack on the inside, but unlike the first three quarters, it was really effective.

Constantly scoring goals, or drawing fouls, seems to have a very good effect.

Wang Hao also knows that in this case, it is difficult to defend, so he simply attacks.

Anyway, the double-digit point difference gave the Chinese team more opportunities, and Wang Hao would not let the opportunity pass easily.

Not only Wang Hao, but also Yao Ming is playing harder and tougher.

After all, the US team just has Duncan, and Duncan has already committed three fouls.

Sure enough, Yao Ming's toughness caused Duncan to foul four times and had to take a rest.

After Duncan, he was replaced by Merrill Okafor, this year's second overall pick. Okafor was shorter and couldn't stop Yao Ming.

Seeing time passing by and the point difference still remaining at double digits, the American team became increasingly anxious.

Larry Brown could no longer sit calmly on the bench and began to make substitutions on a whim.

Not to mention, after the young players came on the field, the effect seemed to be really good, at least they were very positive.

Wang Hao, on the other hand, went against the norm and began to press the pace.

"Don't be anxious, we are still ahead, remember to defend well and protect the rebounds."

In the mid-range position, Wang Hao faced the double-teaming of Wade and James and made another mid-range jumper.

……

91:83
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the score was fixed and the Chinese team won!

(End of this chapter)