Chapter 406 405. You are the ones who are afraid of losing
Kidd + Wade + Kobe, although they can't play a double team defense, the rotation defense of the three is too strong!
Zhang Yang can help his teammates create mismatches, but it is difficult for his teammates to seize the mismatch opportunities.

When it was China's turn to attack, just as Zhang Yang was about to go straight into the power play, Yao Ming pressed Howard behind him in the low post and yelled, "Yang Yang, ball!"

Zhang Yang's eyes lit up and he threw the ball into the paint.

Howard tried to go around, but Yao Ming pinned him down with his shoulder.

Yao Ming received the ball easily, then dribbled the ball and took two steps to push Howard back to the basket, turned around, and slammed the ball into the basket through Howard!
13 to 4, China's advantage once again reached 9 points!
In the offense-defense transition, Wade broke through and passed the ball, and Kidd received and passed it.

Kobe went around to a big step outside the right side of the top arc, received the pass from Kidd, and shot a three-pointer facing Sun Yue who was defending... and made it!
The Chinese team did a good job in switching and helping out on this ball, but it also indirectly proved Kidd's ability to control the game - in Kidd's view, Kobe was helped to the right position, but as long as there was space to receive the ball, turn around and jump, even if the action of raising his hand was disturbed, it was still a good shooting opportunity for Kobe.

Organizing an offense does not necessarily mean creating open shooting opportunities for teammates. It is more direct to break through and pass the ball. Understanding the shooting habits and abilities of each teammate and passing the ball to the right teammate at the right time is the real way to organize an offense.

When it was China's turn to attack, Yao Ming continued to take the lead, while Zhang Yang entered a mode of advancing across half court + running to support and coordinate.

Yao Ming continued to force Howard in the low post, and passed the ball to Sun Yue in the middle distance on the right. Zhang Yang went around to the high post and was watched by two people, so he couldn't catch the ball. Sun Yue passed the ball to the left middle distance, and Yi Jianlian passed the ball directly to the inside line and made a flying jump shot... It also went in! The score was 15 to 7!

Zhang Yang encountered Kidd + Wade + Kobe on the outside and was about to fall into an offensive crisis. Before the crisis occurred, Yao Ming took the lead in offense and made good use of Zhang Yang's containment and supporting abilities, Sun Yue's vision and ball distribution, Yi Jianlian's cutting ability, and Zhu Fangyu's outside receiving ability to maintain the offensive firepower at the beginning!
At 5 minutes and 33 seconds into the first quarter, Yao Ming received a pass from Zhang Yang at the free throw line, and then passed it to Yi Jianlian who cut in from the baseline and dunked with both hands. The US team called a timeout.

23 to 16, the Chinese team still maintains a 7-point lead!
Zhang Yang and Yao Ming played in tandem!

Howard couldn't defend Yao Ming alone, and he didn't play the role of a single-handed defender under the basket like he did in the club era.

Coach Lao K finally felt a sense of urgency. He originally thought that he could easily win against the Chinese team. A group of superstars besieging the two superstars on the opposite side was not a sure thing. Now he found that it was not the case!
Yao Ming's dominance in international competitions is even stronger than in the NBA. Without the defensive three seconds rule, he can just squat under the basket without having to go out. His defensive role is greatly enhanced while his offense is not affected.

Howard's defense had basically no effect on Yao Ming. The problem of too many fouls he exposed in the NBA was even more obvious under the FIBA ​​rules. In the NBA, it is generally difficult to commit a foul in a one-on-one defense in the low post. If you are blocked, even if you hang on the opponent, you will generally not be called for a foul. But Howard just hung on Yao Ming and was called 2+1!

It would be fine if only Yao Ming's performance exceeded expectations, but there is also Zhang Yang!
In the opinion of Coach Lao K, Zhang Yang is like a deluxe version of Anthony in international competitions. He can break through, shoot, grab rebounds, and also launch counterattacks and organize offense in positional battles. He can shoot more than one meter beyond the three-point line.

Coach Lao K feels that Zhang Yang has made significant progress compared to three months ago in the NBA playoffs!
The game is only 40 minutes long, Zhang Yang and Yao Ming take turns, and as long as the performance of the others is not too bad, it is simply impossible to defend!

If it was the NBA system, after playing one round of games, Coach K would not worry at all and would let the players play freely. With the help of a group of superstars, he could wear these two brothers down. But after only playing one game, the start tonight is indeed not good.

...

On the other hand, the Chinese team's coaching staff had a completely different reaction. The five coaches on the bench and the six coaches behind the bench, both men and women, were shouting with excitement.

The fans at the scene were so excited that they felt their throats were hoarse after only half a quarter.

The game started with the American team under pressure!

Although the US team has begun to narrow the gap, it doesn't matter. This is the first time in history that the Chinese team has had such a good start against the US team. This moment is really cool.

Jonas replaced Sun Yue and Zhu Fangyu with Liu Wei and Wang Shipeng, and made some adjustments in offensive coordination. He let Liu Wei play to share the pressure of controlling the ball, and let Wang Shipeng play early to get into shape and alternate with Zhu Fangyu.

Zhang Yang thought Jonas' on-the-spot adjustments were too conservative.

This Eastern European coach is obviously not very good at coaching a lineup with particularly outstanding players. If it is a lineup with balanced strength, even if it is weaker, Jonas will have a lot more tactical changes.

It was Zhang San's turn... He seemed a little too excited. He calmed down. The first quarter wasn't even over yet. It was better to be conservative with this advantage. If the team could still have an advantage or not fall too far behind until the critical moment, and then make a splash, it might be possible to make history.

After the timeout, Zhang Yang came onto the court and looked at the opposite side... Felton, Wade, Kobe, Bosh, Howard, with this lineup, the opponent was really serious!

The US team attacked, Wade broke through and passed the ball, Felton went around the free throw line, received the ball behind Wade, and made a layup in the elbow area.

Kobe and Bosh opened up space, and Howard cut in from the baseline to contain Yao Ming, creating perfect offensive space for Wade.

Just as Zhang Yang thought, Wade and Anthony who is still on the bench are the real main attacking points in Coach K's hands. All teams will focus on Kobe in perimeter defense. Let Wade and Anthony take the lead in attacking and let Kobe be responsible for defense, which is the better solution.

It was very simple to get Kobe to accept such an arrangement. Zhang Yang could think of two ways. One was to first publicize in the media that Kobe was the top player of this Dream Team, and then tell Kobe the benefits of doing so. He then wrote a blank check within the team, saying that all the key shots would be given to Kobe. With the strength of the Dream Team 8, they could not play many key shots. The other was to say that Jordan played like this back then.

18 to 23, the US team narrowed the gap to 5 points.

The Chinese team attacked, Zhang Yang continued to play one-on-one against Wade, Wade stuck very closely to defend his shot, Zhang Yang broke into the inside with a poor rhythm, passed the ball to the wing, Wang Shipeng received the ball and shot a three-pointer...which hit the rim and went out.

Looking back, Bosh took advantage of Yi Jianlian's double-teaming and ran to the corner to receive the pass from Wade, but his three-point shot missed.

The ball bounced far, beyond Yao Ming's reach. Howard took off and grabbed the offensive rebound before Yi Jianlian. He stepped into the basket and flew to dunk... but was slapped down by Yao Ming.

Yi Jianlian, who was chasing behind, grabbed the ball, raised it, and passed it to Zhang Yang.

In one season with the Rockets, Yi Jianlian corrected a lot of his minor flaws. From the perspective of developing inside players alone, the Rockets' training staff is indeed excellent.

For example, when it comes to rebounding, when Yi Jianlian first entered the NBA, he liked to dribble the ball no matter if he got an offensive rebound or a defensive rebound, which often led to him losing second-chance opportunities on the offensive end and making mistakes on the defensive end and having the ball stolen.

Bad habits in this regard have been corrected. Yi Jianlian's shooting percentage and turnover rate in the basket have improved a lot, and his passing is not as slow as before. After he grabs the rebound, the team's offense and defense transition will no longer be affected by him, and the connection is smoother.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that he plays a functional player role. What he has to do is simple, so the training staff can have more time to help him polish the relevant details.

Zhang Yang received the pass from Yi Jianlian in the first moment. He kept his moving rhythm and launched a counterattack. He controlled his speed very well. Yao Ming also participated in the offense-defense transition.

Yao Ming at the World Championships two years ago had no ability to follow fast breaks. Now, after losing 8 kilograms, he is no longer able to follow up with fast breaks, catch the ball, dribble behind his back and dunk like he did when he first entered the NBA.

But as Zhang Yang intentionally controlled his speed, he followed behind Yi Jianlian. When Zhang Yang stopped suddenly outside the three-point line and Yi Jianlian sprinted on the left to tie down the opponent's retreat formation, Yao Ming, who was following up in the middle, received the ball one step outside the free throw line and went straight into the three-second zone!
Yao Ming didn't dribble the ball. He held the ball and took three steps, preparing to make a flying dunk. After blocking Yi Jianlian, Howard, who was coming back, was completely unable to withstand the rushing Yao Ming.

Just when the fans at the scene had begun to cheer wildly, Howard slapped Yao Ming in the face and knocked him to the ground!

No one expected this scene. The players and referees were stunned, and even the fans' screams were a beat late.

People who often do bad things know that when they do something they know is a bad thing, they will be particularly excited. Howard was very excited at the moment, and someone helped him sober up.

After Howard knocked Yao Ming down, before he could even stand up straight, he saw a slap in the face. He didn't even have time to react before he was knocked backwards to the ground.

The other members of the Chinese team also reacted and everyone rushed towards Howard.

It was also because the Chinese referees on the court and the Chinese men's basketball coaching staff on the sidelines were experienced. The three referees each held off one player, and a dozen coaches on the sidelines hugged several players to prevent them from rushing forward.

The fat boss also rushed forward and hugged Zhang San, shouting loudly, "If you fight again, you will be suspended." He finally stopped the little brother.

The three American players who were watching nearby and the American players on the sidelines who were watching the riot on the opposing bench were all stunned.

It is easy for athletes to get carried away during competitions and help their teammates first regardless of right or wrong, but the specific situation depends on the specific circumstances.

Like the bad boy army in the 80s, who would dare to take action against them except the New York gangsters and Salt Lake City gentlemen?

Since the Chinese men's basketball team has Zhang Yang, Coach K didn't make much other preparations for the game, but this morning he showed the American men's basketball players a video of a brawl between the Chinese men's basketball team. The American men's basketball players were stunned by the scene - what kind of team is this? All players are Laimbeer?
A few years ago, the Chinese men's basketball team and the Lebanese men's basketball team had a fight. The fight lasted for about 10 minutes before the Lebanese men's basketball players escaped from the court under the cover of the Chinese coaching staff and security personnel.

After the game, the Chinese men's basketball players ran to the hotel where the Lebanese men's basketball team was staying and cordoned off the area. The American head coach of the Lebanese men's basketball team called the police.

In the end, out of the 12 players in the Chinese men's basketball team, one was suspended, nine wrote self-criticisms, and two were robbed by their opponents, so they could only wander around and couldn't find a chance to intervene.

The only one who was suspended by the Basketball Management Center was guard Zhang Cheng, because he picked up the iron frame of a billboard on the sidelines and smashed it at the Lebanese players. The Basketball Management Center could not cover up this case even if they wanted to, because the fighting methods were too violent.

Fortunately, those people have basically retired and are not in this Chinese men's basketball team.

However, in the game between the Chinese men's basketball team and the Puerto Rico men's basketball team three years ago, Yi Jianlian was bullied, and Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, Li Nan, and Du Feng chased a group of people from the opposite side and beat them up. The video of this fight was much higher definition than the one seven or eight years ago.

All four of them will play tonight! And there's also a bad boy named Jack! The reactions of the other members of the Chinese team at this time don't seem to be good either!
And Howard's shot was too unreasonable. He just committed a flagrant foul when he couldn't defend it?
If Howard played on the floor and was bullied by a violent dunk and lost his mind and committed a flagrant foul, it would make sense.

But Howard himself is the kind of player who likes to use his physical fitness to bully those shorter inside players who flow on the floor... When the opponents are all villains, Howard's teammates seem so rational.

Fortunately, Yao Ming got up by himself at this time, and the anger of the Chinese players was relieved. Kobe stepped forward to block Yao Ming and asked, "Are you okay?"

Yao Ming shook his head, waved to his teammates, and walked to the bench.

The blow he received looked scary, but it was actually just a slap in the face and he fell flat on his butt. What he was worried about now was that Zhang Yang would be sent off, and then his good start tonight would be over.

Yao Ming is fine, but Howard is still lying on the floor... The conflict was settled, the US team's head coach K has called a timeout, and the referees gathered together to discuss.

Howard was extremely excited after doing something bad, but he was slapped by Zhang Yang and his whole body was shocked. Then he saw a group of people from the Chinese team pressing towards him with expressions as if they wanted to kill him. The referee almost couldn't stand it, and he fell to the ground and didn't dare to move.

Few people can realize that they have problems. Howard is obviously not one of the few people with outstanding character. At this moment, he hates all the teammates of the US team who did not help him fight...

The referee made a quick decision, first giving Howard a personal foul, but not sending Howard off the court, and then gave Zhang Yang a technical foul.

The U.S. team got 1 free throw and the Chinese team got free throws and throw.

There are obvious differences between the fouls in the Olympics and those in the NBA. There are no flagrant fouls, only physical fouls and technical fouls.

Neither of these two fouls will result in a player being sent off for accumulating two fouls, but both may result in a player being sent off once. Whether or not to send a player off will be determined by the referee based on the circumstances.

Both personal fouls and technical fouls are counted as personal fouls. If these two types of fouls accumulate to 5 times together with ordinary fouls, the player will be sent off the court.

If a player who has been sent off for 5 fouls is substituted in while there are other players available, he will receive a technical foul and be ejected; if there are no other players available, the player who has been sent off for 5 fouls will be substituted in and will receive 1 technical foul but will not be ejected.

On the American team's bench, Old K saw the referee's gesture and wondered what he was expecting. This was their home court, and it was their players who provoked the conflict.

On the Chinese team's bench, Jonas breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to criticize his players for not staying calm, he heard one of the coaches, Guo Shiqiang, say, "Well done."

Jonas couldn't understand most of the Chinese, but he could understand some specific sentences, such as this one, which did not need translation.

Even though he was ruthless, he knew that he couldn't lecture her at this time. He thought that this conflict would strengthen the team's cohesion. He began to make personnel adjustments, replaced Yao Ming, asked the team doctor to check him carefully, and let Yao Ming rest...

...

After the timeout, both teams made personnel adjustments.

Jonas replaced Liu Wei, Zhang Yang, Wang Shipeng, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi.

Old K replaced Felton, Wade, Anthony, Bosh and Okafor.

Anthony and Wang Shipeng took free throws respectively.

Zhang Yang and Felton watched and chatted on the sidelines.

Zhang Yang: "Boss, you reacted too quickly. You stopped me so quickly. I wanted to hit you a few more times."

Felton: "Are you really not afraid of being suspended? If you continue to fight, a fight might really break out and you will definitely be the first to be ejected."

Zhang Yang: "That doesn't matter. We are not afraid of losing. It's you who are afraid of losing. You are more afraid of being banned than we are."

Felton: "Fuck Jack!"

American players + referees who understand English: Can you please speak in a low voice when talking about such terrible things?

In international competitions, Chinese referees actually dislike officiating the Chinese men's basketball team's games the most.

The players who grew up watching the inside and outside players of the 1980s and 1990s, are no longer as good as they were back then. The heights reached by these two legends, Zhang Weiping and Hu Weidong, are difficult for other Chinese players to reach except Yao Ming and Zhang Yang, not even Wang Zhizhi or Yi Jianlian.

But he has a bad temper and imitates others, and is even more angry!
However, Zhang Yang's words did intimidate the players of the American team, including Felton, who secretly called him shameless, but they could only admit that there was nothing wrong with what he said.

In this game, the Chinese team was barefoot, while the American team was wearing shoes!

Anthony and Wang Shipeng both made free throws.

25 to 19, the Chinese team led by 6 points and continued to attack.

Yao Ming was substituted, and Zhang Yang's offensive space was further compressed. When he passed the ball to the wing, his teammates would be in position to defend immediately. He chose to make a strong shot under Wade's confrontation... and missed!
However, Yi Jianlian grabbed the offensive rebound!
Yi Jianlian missed the next jump shot, but caused Anthony who came in to defend to foul, and got two free throws, all of which he made!

Looking back, Wade went straight to the basket, dunked with the European step and caused Wang Zhizhi to foul, but he missed the free throw. When it comes to free throws, he often makes his coach anxious.

It was China's turn to attack again. Wade knew that Zhang Yang would choose to shoot from the outside, so he just stayed close to him. Zhang Yang could only trust his feel and stepped back to shoot a three-pointer... but missed.

Yi Jianlian made a contribution again, grabbing the offensive rebound again. Wang Zhizhi pulled away tacitly, Yi Jianlian threw the ball to the bottom corner, and Wang Zhizhi received the ball and made a three-pointer... It hit!
30 to 21, the score difference came to 9 points!
Lianmei’s performance boosted Zhang Yang’s confidence!
In order to prevent him from breaking through, Bosh and Anthony focused their attention on the high position. Okafor was guarding the rebound alone under the basket, defending one against two. Even though he had to deal with Wang Zhizhi, a strong man weighing more than 120 kilograms, he was unable to stop Yi Jianlian from grabbing the rebound!
Zhang Yang, who is decisive and unhesitating in shooting, shot even more recklessly. In the last 4 rounds, he took all the shots. His teammates under the basket gave him confidence and his performance improved. He made 4 of 2 shots and scored 5 points. In addition, Yi Jianlian grabbed an offensive rebound and passed the ball to Wang Shipeng. Wang Shipeng received the ball and made a three-pointer, causing Felton to foul and made 1 of 3 free throws. The Chinese team scored 2 points in the last 4 rounds!
But on the defensive end, without Yao Ming, the Chinese team failed to defend at all in the last four rounds against the American team with Wade and Anthony on the field. The American team made all four shots, one of which was Anthony's step-back three-pointer. After the first quarter, the American team kept the score at 4 to 4. With Yi Jianlian's outburst and grabbing three offensive rebounds, the team kept the score difference firmly in single digits!

However, although they failed to widen the score gap, when the intermission began, both the fans and the Chinese players were extremely excited.

Facing the American team, they were still ahead! And they were ahead by such a big margin!
It mainly depends on three people.

张杨单节9投5中，其中三分球5中3，加上2中2的罚球，拿到15分3板3助攻。

姚明4投3中，加上1中1的罚球，拿到7分2板2助攻。

易建联2投2中，加上2中2的罚球，拿到6分5板1助攻1盖帽！

Moreover, under the leadership of Zhang Yang, the teammates did not have the mentality of worrying about gains and losses when they finally took the lead against the strong European and American teams. They had only one thought - to play against the Dream Team, to give it their all, and if by some chance they won, they could brag about it for the rest of their lives!

(End of this chapter)