Chapter 409 408. Rewrite the most regrettable game!
As Zhang Yang made the free throw amid the MVP cheers of more than 3 fans at the scene, the score difference became 121 points, 114 to 7, and the US team called a timeout!

There were more than 50 seconds left, and given the individual abilities of the American players, theoretically there was a chance.

But most of the American players were stunned tonight, with no fighting spirit at all, and the memories of the upset attacked them crazily...

At this time, a statistic was posted on the big screen at the scene - Zhang Yang has scored 43 points tonight, surpassing Yao Ming's 04 points in the 39 Olympics. His national team debut set a new single-game scoring record in team history!

The veteran players of the first two Dream Teams, led by James Weian: Arroyo (Puerto Rico) exploded against us and got the highest score in team history, Jasikevicius (Lithuania) exploded against us and got the second highest score in team history, the entire Argentina team exploded against us... Zhang San did it too!

After the timeout, the US team wanted to make a quick attack. The ball was passed to Kobe. Facing the siege of Zhang Yang, Sun Yue and Yi Jianlian, Kobe did not pass the ball. He took the blame and shot a one-on-three shot... He leaned back too hard and the shot missed the rim. Yao Ming pushed Anthony away and received the ball.

Kobe didn't score, and the other players on the US team were completely desperate. Anthony's tactical foul on Yao Ming was just a formality, and K didn't even plan to call a timeout.

Yao Ming walked to the free throw line and made both free throws amid the hoarse cheers of the fans, bringing the score difference to 9 points.

With the remaining time, Kobe threw a three-pointer not far from the center circle. The shot was quite accurate, but the shot was too far away and the force was difficult to control. It hit the front of the basket and bounced out of the frame. Yi Jianlian protected the defensive rebound and the US team did not commit any more fouls. Zhang Yang did not continue to play after receiving the ball and advancing across half court, and he used up the remaining few seconds.

At 11:56 pm, the countdown to the game ended.

张杨28投14中，其中三分球10中6，加上10中9的罚球，拿到43分3板4助攻2抢断1盖帽。

姚明16投11中，加上10中9的罚球，拿到31分16板4助攻5盖帽。

Led by the two, the Chinese team unexpectedly defeated the US team 123-114 and won the opening game of the Olympic men's basketball event!

When the final whistle blew, the players and coaches on the Chinese team's bench, who had been unable to contain themselves, rushed into the court and celebrated with Zhang Yang and Yao Ming.

The fans at the scene also went crazy, cheering loudly even though their voices had long been hoarse.

Zhang Yang and Yao Ming are more excited than ever at this moment. Defeating the American team in the Olympics is a better feeling than winning the championship and being elected FMVP!

On the other hand, Kobe was furious; Kidd regretted accepting the invitation to participate in the competition. He should have found an excuse not to come like Garnett did.

Of course, there is a group of people who are numb. They have seen such scenes many times...

...

This night was a sleepless night for Chinese sports fans.

Although Zhang Yang's return to the national team has made the Chinese men's basketball team the most anticipated team in the Chinese Olympic delegation, after experiencing the national football turmoil, the Houston building collapse and other events, domestic sports fans are still very rational. Their expectations for the Chinese men's basketball team are just to advance to the quarterfinals, break into the top four and play in the semifinals, and they have never even thought about winning a medal.

As for whether they can win the first game against Dream Team, they never even thought about it, they just hoped to lose less.

The commentators of Chaoting TV were already discussing the future when the US team took the lead after Zhang Yang was replaced halfway through the third quarter.

I didn't expect to win!
Yao Ming put on a brutal performance of 30+15+5, and Zhang Yang broke the team record in his national team debut. The former provided the bottom line and the latter raised the ceiling. Together with the life-and-death performances of Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi, Sun Yue and others, they defeated the Dream Team !

What Yao Ming said in the post-match interview touched the hearts of the fans - "Maybe Yang Yang will think that I have no ambition, but what I feel at this moment is that even if I retire from the national team immediately, I will have no regrets in my national team career."

Fans also feel that after this game, even if they lose all the subsequent games, and are unlucky not to beat Germany or Angola and not make it to the quarterfinals, the Chinese men's basketball team's journey to the Olympics will not be considered a failure!
However, fans also felt the difference between Zhang Yang and Yao Ming in the post-match interviews.

Zhang Yang said in an interview: "No matter who the opponent is, whether I have an advantage or a disadvantage in strength, I step onto the court to win. I look forward to defeating every opponent and striving for the best result until the day I feel I should leave the court."

Some people also think that this is just a difference in mentality caused by the age difference between Zhang Yang and Yao Ming. Who hasn't had a time when he was young and handsome?
Zhang Yang just turned 6 in June, so it's normal for him to have infinite expectations for the future.

At this time, a big germ jumped out and said that one day Zhang Yang would also be smoothed out by that group of corrupt people.

Naturally, someone came out to refute this statement, and then, the usual quarrels in the sports world...

The game ended at nearly midnight, and netizens' discussions and arguments continued until dawn...

It was already past 3 o'clock when Zhang Yang returned to the dormitory and washed up. He then slept until noon.

Jonas has no training scheduled for the afternoon as they will play against Spain at 4pm tomorrow. Several main players were very tired last night, especially Yao Ming. At this time, rest is more important than tactical training.

The main thing is that they got off to a good start. Next, they only need to beat Angola or Germany to secure a place in the top eight. If they win both games, they can compete for the third and second places. After defeating a strong team, the Chinese men's basketball team no longer has any pressure on its performance in this Olympics.

If we are really lucky and get second place, then we will have a chance to make it to the top four.

However, it doesn't mean that the men's basketball players will be fine if there is no training. People from the Basketball Association, Basketball Management Center, and Men's Basketball Olympic Committee smelled the grudge and came to offer condolences and guidance.

In the early hours of the morning, netizens were already very enthusiastic about the discussion. After daybreak, after the mainstream media's extensive coverage, the popularity of the Chinese men's basketball team's upset of the Dream Team became truly apparent.

For such a big event, the media wanted to interview players from every country participating in the men's basketball tournament... and they actually did so after dawn.

Yao Ming was about to inform Zhang Yang that someone from above had come, when he suddenly received a text message saying that he had gone to watch a game with his parents. He called Zhang Yang back... but his phone was turned off.

Yao Ming was extremely envious when he saw that Zhang Yang already knew who was coming but didn't want to give that group of people face and just left.

But he can't be as free and easy as Zhang Yang. If Zhang Yang is unhappy, he can just overturn the table. He bypasses the Basketball Association and the national team, and his business is still booming. Now he joined the national team and led the team to defeat the Dream Team in his first show. His reputation is rising. He can ignore those people. As long as he doesn't openly oppose him, those people can't do anything.

He is different. He had offended a group of vested interests by insisting on changing teams before... Of course, he did this on purpose. When he was rearranging his business empire, he pulled in those who supported him. Now he has to take care of the face of this group of people.

I felt envious and frustrated, but I also felt even more frustrated because I had to help Zhang Yang find a reasonable excuse to deal with those people.

However, if Yao Ming had the chance to help Zhang Yang, he was very happy to do so. Defeating the American team was one of his biggest dreams after joining the national team, and Zhang Yang helped him achieve it!

Zhang Yang did not lie. He accompanied his parents and younger brother to watch diving and table tennis competitions. Wherever he appeared in the stadium, the camera would be focused on his family. Wherever the four of them went, they attracted more attention than the athletes in the live competition.

Even the athletes came to them and took photos with them.

Zhang Chen felt very uncomfortable, but Yang Jing and Xiao Wukong had a very good sense of the camera and sat very upright facing the camera.

Zhang Chen finally understood where his eldest son's eye-catching personality came from... Daughters take after their fathers and sons take after their mothers. The ancients were right! After a relaxing afternoon, Zhang Yang returned to the dormitory cafeteria in the evening to eat. He saw the little giant who looked like he had no hope for life when there were no people outside the team.

Seeing Zhang San finish three bowls of rice and two large plates of vegetables in one breath, the young man had a good appetite, and the little giant felt even more tired.

Yao Ming underestimated the enthusiasm of those who wanted to take advantage of the popularity and share the credit. He spent the whole afternoon smiling and smiling. Although he was not tired physically, he was mentally exhausted. He even had a question in his mind: Will I really become a member of that group in the future? Will I become like that?
Among those people, there are also some who were young men full of vigor and vitality on the basketball court. After years of working in politics, only a stench remains.

He couldn't figure this out now, so he could only think about it slowly later.

After a day of rest, on August 8, the third basketball competition day arrived.

There are 6 basketball games every day, with intervals between men and women. The day before yesterday was the men's game, yesterday was the women's game, and today it is the men's game again.

At 3: in the afternoon, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the stadium. There were many athletes who came to watch the game the night before, and there were even more tonight!
Many athletes who like to watch basketball games regretted not watching the historic moment the night before when interviewed.

Several players from the Spanish team also ran over to congratulate Zhang Yang and Yao Ming for defeating the American team.

Gasol has also defeated the US team. In the 02 World Championships fifth and sixth place match, he led his team to a 81-75 victory over the US team to sixth place.

The reporter specially invited Yao Ming and Gasol to take a photo together. On the one hand, both of them have dominated the inside line of the US team, and on the other hand, they were the two centers with the best performance on the first game day the day before yesterday.

At 4 pm, the game between the Chinese men's basketball team and the Spanish men's basketball team started.

Zhang Yang's mentality for the game today was the same as the night before, trying his best to win, but not having any expectations, not putting too much pressure on himself, just doing it and getting it done.

To them, the Spanish team entering its golden age is no different from the American team; both are teams that are much stronger than them.

But the situation after the start of the game was not the same as Zhang Yang had expected... After losing the jump ball, Yao Ming dominated the basket on the defensive end, blocked 3 shots at the start, and led the team to shut out the Spanish team in the first 5 rounds!
The performance of the little giant shocked Zhang Yang, but he was not stunned or panicked. Instead, he excitedly threw himself into the offense. He launched three counterattacks in five rounds. Yi Jianlian followed up and slammed the ball once. In the other two times, Zhang Yang first counterattacked and shot a three-pointer at the beginning, catching the Spanish team by surprise. Then, in the counterattack in the fifth round, he stopped and started quickly to deceive the opponent's retreating forward, broke into the inside and made a layup under the close defense of golden boy Rubio, causing Rubio to foul and stop the Spanish team!

In two positional attacks, a goal was scored. Yao Ming beat Gasol in the low post and turned around to make a layup.

The score started at 9-0, and Zhang Yang still had a penalty kick that was not executed!
Entering the timeout, Zhang Yang, after his excitement, suddenly remembered that what he was playing now was the "most regrettable game in the history of the Chinese men's basketball team" that he regretted so much in his previous life!

In the original time and space, the Chinese team played very well in the first quarter of the opening game of the Olympic men's basketball event, tying the American team 29-29. However, after entering the rotation lineup in the second quarter, they could not make any shots from the outside. Although they prevented the American team from scoring 20 points in the second quarter under the leadership of Yao Ming, they only scored 8 points and collapsed at halftime.

After the crushing defeat to the US team, a day later, the Chinese men's basketball team faced the Spanish team and once again displayed strong defense, venting all their unwillingness to lose to the US team on the Spanish team. It seemed that in one quarter, they defended the Spanish team to only 10 points in a single quarter. They led the entire regular time until the last round, when the Chinese team still had the ball... Then Rubio stole the ball and counterattacked to equalize the score, and the team was dragged into overtime, where they collapsed and lost the game.

Here, after defeating the American team, the strong competitive spirit burst out by his teammates, Zhang San, was even more intense than before!
After thinking about this, Zhang Yang recalled the Spanish team's performance at the beginning, and found that he should not be nervous when facing the world's top ten players... The Spanish team won the 06 World Championships and ranked first in the world.

Was it because after seeing them beat the American team the night before, we attached great importance to them, which eventually turned into pressure?

He didn't know exactly how the other party's mentality had changed, but it was a good thing anyway!
They are full of fighting spirit tonight, everyone is playing hard on defense, the other side is nervous, let's get them!
After the timeout, Zhang Yang made the free throw and China's lead reached 10 points.

After that, the Chinese team's scoring performance was not as strong as at the beginning. The Spanish team's retreat after the timeout, positional warfare, inside double-teaming and outside joint defense all improved a lot.

But the Chinese team defended better!

In the following time, the Chinese team scored 18 to 9. After the first quarter, the Chinese team led the Spanish team by 28 points with 9 to 19!
The Banana Boat members watching on the sidelines looked confused.

James: "Do you think the Chinese team is too strong or the Spanish team is too weak? Didn't the Spanish team slaughter the German team 92-59 the day before yesterday? Why are they so weak today?"

Paul: "The Chinese team is not that strong, it's just Jack and Yao who are strong. We have reviewed the game. If we reduce those unnecessary singles and unprovoked fouls..."

Paul fell silent after saying this, and James also fell silent after listening. Two-thirds of those 'unnecessary singles and unprovoked fouls' were contributed by the two of them, and the remaining one-third was contributed by Howard.

Wade summarized what the two said and said, "The Chinese team has Jack and Yao, and is considered a first-class team in the Olympics. It is not weak, but not particularly strong. The Spanish team may just look luxurious. They slaughtered the German team, and it may be that the German team is weaker. The powerful players of the German team at the end of the last century retired one after another after 02, leaving only Nowitzki."

Anthony and Bosh nodded repeatedly: You are right! Don't leave the brainwork to us.

In the morning, the US team beat Angola 135-77, venting their emotions about the upset the day before. The day after tomorrow they will play against Spain. The Banana Boat members volunteered to watch the match between China and Spain to get some information about their next opponent.

Although there are videos and live broadcasts to watch, the experience of watching the game live is more intuitive.

Why didn’t Kidd and Kobe, who have more experience in the game, come to the scene? The two brothers just lost to the Chinese team the day before yesterday, and they were embarrassed to come to the scene for fear of being photographed.

In the second quarter, Spain's offense finally recovered a bit, scoring 17 points in a single quarter and lowering China's score to 18 points, keeping the score close and preventing the gap from widening.

At the end of the first half, the Chinese team led the Spanish team by 46 points, 26 to 20.

After the halftime break, the Spanish team finally adjusted and scored 25 points in the third quarter, but their defensive performance in this quarter was not as good as in the first half. It was not that the defense was bad, but Zhang Yang scored 11 points in a single quarter. When his teammates only scored 9 points in total, he raised the Chinese team's score to 20 points and withstood the Spanish team's counterattack.

Trailing by 51 points at 66 to 15 after three quarters, Spain's counterattack momentum was cut off after the intermission.

By the end of the quarter, most of the Chinese players had a noticeable decline in physical strength. They fought too hard in the first half, and there was a trend of decline in the third quarter, especially Yao Ming, who only rested for 4 minutes in the first three quarters. Of course, he played a very crucial role. If Yao Ming hadn't been protecting the basket, the Spanish team might have scored more than 25 points in the third quarter.

Fortunately, the other team didn't play very well either. The two teams fought each other in the final quarter. The defense was messy and no one could defend the other. The score in the quarter was 27 to 25.
The game ended at 5:53 in the evening.

张杨首节8分、第二节5分、第三节11分、末节4分，拿到28分6板4助攻1抢断。

The second highest scorer... Liu Wei! He made 4 three-pointers and scored 19 points and 3 assists in a single game.

Yao Ming was mainly responsible for defense today and scored only 14 points, but had 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks. In the first half, he created a no-fly zone under the basket alone, which made the Spanish team lose their temper.

Led by these three players, the Chinese team defeated the Spanish team 93 to 76!

If there were no extremely special circumstances, they would have advanced to the quarterfinals by winning both group matches!
Besides, Angola and Germany haven't played yet... Zhang Yang has an idea. Maybe, is there a chance that they can get first place in the group and meet the 4th place in Group A in the quarterfinals? In that case, reaching the semifinals is not just a matter of probability...

On the other hand, after watching the game, the Banana Boat members came to the conclusion that they could win against the Spanish team no matter how they played.

If they had not lost to Greece in the semi-finals the year before, they would have definitely beaten Spain in the finals.

(End of this chapter)