Chapter 411 410. From the beginning to the end of the dream
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the match between China and Australia started.

The Chinese team's starting lineup remains the same, and the Australian team's starting lineup is also the same as during the group stage: Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Brad Newley, David Anderson, and Bogut.

Bogut defeated Yao Ming to win the jump ball, and Mills advanced to the frontcourt and encountered close defense from Sun Yue.

Mills turned around to protect the ball, and Sun Yue, with his butt raised and his back leaning against him, managed to reach out and grab the ball!
Sun Yue's tall stature of 202 cm in height and 206 cm in wingspan made it impossible for Mills, who is only 188 cm in height, to handle him. He was stunned for a moment and then tried to grab the ball, but it had already been snatched away by Zhang Yang who rushed out like an arrow.

Mills hurriedly chased after him, and Zhang Yang stopped abruptly one step outside the three-point line. Mills and Ingles, who was chasing him, pounced on Zhang Yang together. Zhang Yang quickened his shooting action and took a three-point shot... but missed.

However, Yi Jianlian followed up and ran straight to the inside, jumped high in the air to grab the ball, then took advantage of the situation and dunked to score two points!
Pressure defense steals, chase three-pointers, second-chance dunks... Mills is full of questions. The Chinese team is so wild in this year's Olympics! No wonder they can beat the United States and Spain!

The Australian team continued to attack, Mills cautiously advanced to the frontcourt, and was again closely guarded by the opponent's exaggerated point guard.

This time he protected the ball well and did not make any mistakes.

Ingles pulled out to receive the pass from Mills, but was blocked by Zhang Yang as soon as he received the ball. When he turned around to protect the ball, his feet were not stable. He quickly dribbled the ball, but was still called for a traveling violation!
It's not a bad thing for him. Although he is already the outside ace of the Australian men's basketball team, he is actually just a student who has just finished his freshman season in the NCAA and has just turned 20 years old. This is his first time to play against the Chinese men's basketball team. Considering that the Chinese team is the only team in this Olympics that has defeated the Dream Team , it is normal to have such defensive intensity.

But other Australian players were particularly uncomfortable. The Chinese team's defense was too rough tonight. This was the first time they encountered this after playing against the Chinese team many times.

Not to mention that most of the Australian players were confused in these two rounds, the fans at the scene were also surprised.

The Chinese team has played like this before. In the last game against the Greek team, there was such a rough confrontation, but that was after one quarter. Tonight, the Chinese team started fighting right away!
Of course the reaction was completely different, the fans were cheering wildly!
In fact, this generation of Chinese men's basketball players has always had this kind of ruthlessness, but in the past it was more reflected in "physical actions".

The play itself... After 04, the Chinese men's basketball team's inside line reached its peak in team history, surpassing the inside line of Zhang Weiping's era in the 80s. Yao Ming entered his prime, Yi Jianlian was rising, and the thirty-year-old Wang Zhizhi was still going strong. They were all no match for the Spanish team's inside line.

But from 05 to this Olympics, the outside shooting was always a drag. The defense didn't dare to give too much resistance for fear of affecting their shooting feel. Facing the opponent's rough defense, they couldn't play well and couldn't take care of both ends.

It’s different now. After playing against the Greek team, the Chinese men’s basketball team’s outside players fully understood that it doesn’t matter if they can’t score, because they have Zhang Yang!

In that game, Zhang Yang scored 26 points with 25 shots, which seemed very bad, but if someone else shot, it would be a question whether he could get 26 points with 20 shots.

On the first rest day, the coaching staff discussed all day how to play against the Australian team. Jonas saw that the Australian team's outside players were either newcomers in their 20s or skinny pitchers, so he decided to fight in a hand-to-hand fight.

As the team advanced as the first in the group, Jonas's focus was naturally not just on the quarterfinals, but also on preparing for the semi-finals. Although he didn't know who his opponent would be at the semi-finals, the Greek and Lithuanian teams had similar playing styles.

During the past two days of preparation training, Zhang Yang looked at Jonas with strange eyes. He always felt that this coach suddenly became angry, and the content of the preparation training always seemed to be saying - we are already considering the next round of opponents.

The defense was effective at the start and the Chinese team became more determined in their style of play.

At the end of the last century, the Australian men's basketball team was the strongest team in the Asia-Oceania region. It reached the semi-finals in both the 96 and 00 Olympics, but like the German team, it also experienced a gap. However, the Australian Basketball Association was far-sighted and began sending a large number of youth team players under the age of 02 to the NCAA for further studies in 18.

The NCAA stipulates that players who have played in professional games cannot participate in the competition, but special approval was given to Australian teenagers. Bogut and Mills both have experience in low-level leagues in their country.

Of course, the reform of the Australian Basketball Association was not smooth sailing. After five or six years, only Bogut and Mills played well. Most of the players who seemed extremely talented in the youth teams could not adapt to the American basketball system. Faced with difficulties, the Australian Basketball Association chose to persist, learn lessons, sum up experience, and based on successful examples, it selected young talents with similar styles to send to the United States. Those who were more suitable for international competitions were sent to Europe, like David Anderson... The prospects were bright.

But now, the Australian team and the Chinese team can't compete for star players!
Yao Ming occasionally plays one, mainly responsible for protecting the rim; Zhang Yang is responsible for double-teaming the opponent's breaking players on the defensive end, and goes all out on the offensive end; the others are purely defensive, just throw the ball when it comes, it doesn't matter whether it goes in or not, just try your best to shoot and don't let the ball stop.

The Australian team, which was still in the "rebuilding period", had no way to fight back against this simple and rough Eastern European style of play. They were suppressed and could only watch the score gap widen little by little.

首节19比14、第二节15比13、第三节21比16、末节19比22……

The game ended at 9:55 pm.

张杨21投9中，其中三分球7中3，加上4中3的罚球，拿到24分4板3助攻1抢断。

姚明10投6中，加上5中5的罚球，拿到17分9板3助攻1抢断3盖帽。

The two led the Chinese team to a steady victory over the Australian team 74-65 and advance to the semi-finals!

The Olympic Sports Center once again became a sea of ​​joy for Chinese basketball fans.

The fans in front of the TV also heard the commentators cheering excitedly. This time the fans did not press the mute button and cheered along.

The players from Group A teams, including Lithuania, Argentina, Croatia, etc., who came to watch the scene, felt complicated when they saw the Chinese players celebrating wildly together - not even a single team from Group A made it to the semi-finals, and all were eliminated in the quarter-finals!

Everyone loses, but I am not the worst off one.

Reporters who were interviewing after the game had to wait for a long time before they got the chance to ask questions.

The reporter said to Zhang Yang, who scored the highest points of the game, "We have already refreshed our best performance in the Olympics. Our opponent in the semi-finals is the Greek team, which we have defeated before. Do you have the confidence to lead the team to defeat them again?"

Zhang Yang responded: "The situation has been opened up. We have come this far. Why not look further?"

The reporter was shocked and asked, "Do you still want to beat the Dream Team again?"

Zhang Yang: "Someone has to win. What if the Dream Team loses to Spain in the semi-finals?"

Yao Ming, Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng and others on the side all cursed at the same time. They were so excited when they heard "Someone has to win" and were about to shout "What if I see a ghost?" Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang suddenly turned in another direction, and the mountain road was full of bends... He is worthy of being Zhang San!

Although they were secretly complaining, their teammates felt Zhang Yang's relaxed and happy attitude. Their new outside core was enjoying the game!
Influenced by Zhang Yang, the teammates' mentality also changed - first in the group, reaching the semi-finals, and even defeating the Dream Team 8 in the opening game, this has far exceeded the expectations before the start of the game. There is no need to be nervous or anxious about the next games, just go out there and enjoy this moment!
In front of the TV, Kobe, Gasol and others were not in such a good mood when they saw the translated subtitles.

Kidd and Iguodala, who were watching the live broadcast with Kobe, felt that the Spanish team would be in trouble the day after tomorrow.

Sister-in-law: Damn Zhang San! If you want me dead, just tell me!

...

Before the Olympics, the Chinese men's basketball team was the most anticipated team in the country. After the first game, it became the most watched team, and it has been popular until now...

Now, the enthusiasm for basketball in the country has reached an unprecedented high, and many experts say that this year's Olympics will be the starting point of a new chapter for Chinese basketball.

When Zhang Yang heard this, he felt that it was actually correct, but the starting point could be moving forward, moving backward, or even falling downward.

He learned some pretty good news from Yao Ming - Yao Ming rearranged his surrounding business empire by changing teams and won over a group of people through exchange of interests.

If Yao Ming still wants to take charge of Chinese basketball in the future, his starting conditions will be relatively better, but what the future will be like... He, Zhang San, can only strive for victory from a player's perspective and provide a little help to Yao Ming. Otherwise, he can't do anything and doesn't want to get involved in muddy water.

After a day of anticipation from fans, the men's basketball semi-final match day arrived on August 8.

The match between the US team and the Spanish team started at 9 o'clock in the morning. The time was arranged at this point mainly to cooperate with the live broadcast in the United States.

Gasol, Gasol Jr., Navarro, Fernandez, Rubio, Calderon, Garbajosa and other Spanish basketball stars tried their best, but still failed to defeat the American team that entered the "perfect mode".

科比11投6中拿到15分3板8助攻、韦德20分4板2助攻、安东尼16分6板、保罗12分6助攻、波什11分、费尔顿14分……美国队6人得分上双，以126比109击败西班牙队，率先晋级决赛！
After watching the game, onlookers Zhang Yang and Yao Ming were once again thankful that they met the American team in the opening game.

The US team was much stronger than in the group stage against Spain and Greece. The tactical coordination was more tacit, the players' roles were more clearly allocated, and the game was also played very reasonably.

Especially Kobe's performance, his expression looked like he wanted to eat someone, but he played very reasonably. He played for 29 minutes and made 9 of 5 shots. He was efficient and had a strong impact. He scored almost all the points when the Spanish team was about to gain momentum. He made a "swish" shot and suppressed the momentum of the Spanish team.

The 17-point difference may not seem particularly large, but from the first quarter to the end of the game, the Spanish team was not given any chance.

It was 8 o'clock in the evening, the domestic prime time, and the Chinese team and the Greek team started the showdown.

If we win, we will get a medal. If we lose, we will have to compete with the Spanish team for medals. The two teams played very hard from the beginning of the game.

Jonas's preparation strategy played an important role. After the match against the Australian team, other players of the Chinese team became more skilled in executing the strategy of "leave the scoring to Zhang and Yao, and we just focus on physical combat and consumption of each other."

张杨在对位中强压‘欧洲科比’斯潘诺里斯一头，首节7投3中，其中三分球2中1，加上3中2的罚球，拿到9分，率领中国队以15比12取得3分优势。

The Greek team also learned a lesson from the last match of the group stage. They did not lose their composure just because the Chinese team also followed suit in hand-to-hand combat. They insisted on fighting to see who could outlast the other.

第二节和第三节两队比分比首节还低，分别打出了9比12和14比10的比分，三节战罢，中国队以38比34领先希腊队4分！
This score made the fans who watched the game between the US team and the Spanish team in the morning gasp. The score after three quarters was almost the same as the score in the third quarter of the other team!

After the start of the final quarter, players from both teams gathered around the outside and took a lot of shots, trying to break the opponent's double-team defense with three-pointers. However, in more than four minutes, apart from two points each from fouls in the second offense, there was no goal in the game, and the score came to 4 to 40.

As the game time was running out, the Greek team still kept their composure. They were extremely experienced in hand-to-hand combat and knew that they couldn't act recklessly at this time. Whoever lost their composure first might suddenly collapse.

However, experience is useless when faced with absolute strength.

It was China's turn to attack. Zhang Yang broke through to the right side of the free throw line under the close defense of Spanoulis. Facing the backup defense of Theodoros Papaloukas, one of the top 50 stars in the European League, and the pursuit of Spanoulis, he made an urgent stop and jump shot... and it hit!
42 to 36, China's lead reaches 6 points!
Looking back, Spanoulis faced Zhang Yang's defense and took a three-point shot with the help of a screen... it missed!
Zhang Yang and Du Feng's perfect double team attack!
In this ball, Yao Ming played a significant role. He stayed under the basket. When Zhang Yang encountered a screen, he completely ignored the opponent's power forward Antonis Fortescue's pick-and-roll and cut in, and directly expanded the three-point line to defend Spanoulis. Du Feng also ignored Fortescue and directly switched defense to block Spanoulis's breakthrough space, helping Zhang Yang create conditions to interfere with Spanoulis's shot.

It was the Chinese team's turn to attack again. Zhang Yang quickly advanced to the three-point line. Before the other nine players were fully positioned, he suddenly stepped back to grab the ball and shot a Hamblen-style three-pointer...

This ball caught the Greek team off guard, and Spanoulis didn't even have time to interfere!

The ball drew a beautiful arc and fell into the basket, and the Greek team called a timeout!
Zhang Yang scored 5 points in a row, helping the Chinese team expand its lead to 9 points, leading 45 to 36!

With a 9-point difference, the mentality of the Greek coaching staff and players was completely different from when the difference was 4 points. Everyone was visibly anxious.

It came too suddenly, and the stalemate lasted for three and a half quarters, preventing the Chinese team from gaining a clear lead. Who could have thought that when they didn't relax at all, Zhang Yang scored 5 points in just a few dozen seconds!
There are more than 30,000 people in the Olympic Sports Center, and the only ones who are anxious and impatient are the Greeks. Everyone else is excited at this moment!

The fans at the scene cheered wildly, and the Chinese players also celebrated excitedly for a while before they focused on listening to Jonas making tactical adjustments.

After the timeout, the Greek team started a fierce attack as expected. With less than 5 minutes left and a 9-point difference, the Greek team had no choice but to fight, completely losing their previous patience.

The Chinese team's playing style is mainly based on "hiding".

On the offensive end, they waste time, shoot only when they have to, and focus on reducing mistakes. On the defensive end, Yao Ming is the first to retreat...

Jonas: I am familiar with the Eastern European style of play!
With more than 4 minutes left, the Chinese team only scored two goals. Wang Shipeng made a three-pointer, Yi Jianlian made a tip-in, and Zhang Yang broke into the inside and caused a foul, making one of two free throws, and only got 6 points.

But the Greek team fought for half a quarter and only got 9 points!
The game ended at 9:52 pm.

张杨首节9分、第二节3分、第三节5分、末节6分，出战37分钟，24投8中，其中三分球7中2，加上7中5的罚球，拿到23分7板2助攻2盖帽。

姚明8投3中，加上3中3的罚球，拿到9分16板1助攻5盖帽。

Wang Shipeng scored 6 points...

51 to 45, the Chinese team narrowly defeated the Greek team by 6 points and met the American team in the final!
The moment the final whistle sounded, the whole scene was boiling!
Medal won! The Chinese men's basketball team won a medal!
The Chinese players were fully focused during the game, and after the game, influenced by the atmosphere on the scene, many of them shed tears.

They never thought that there would be such a day! They could actually make it to the Olympic finals!

Yao Ming was the most touched. He envied Liu Yudong for having the peak Hu Weidong as his teammate more than once. Now, he is not envious anymore, because he has Zhang Yang! He has the medal!

The golden outside players of the Chinese men's basketball team in the 90s in the audience envied Zhang Yang, who had an inside partner like Yao Ming...

Zhang Weiping, the guest commentator of Chaoting TV, said something at the moment when the final whistle sounded, which was selected as the headline by many online media - "This Olympics started with the Sino-US War and ended with the Sino-US War!"

...

On the 23rd, a rest day, it was Kobe’s 30th birthday, and the US men’s basketball team held a birthday party for him.

Zhang Yang, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue and others did not join in the fun, as they still had to conduct preparation training.

But they all asked their agents to send the gifts. Everyone’s agents are currently in the capital, and they all know each other.

However, the American team had a relaxing rest day and didn't even have any training. The Chinese team wasn't nervous either and the players were all happy while preparing for the game.

In the evening, Zhang Yang and others went to watch the third and fourth place finals.

There is a very hot topic today - the three most unlucky basketball teams in this Olympics.

The three teams all became unlucky for the same reason - the Chinese men's basketball team won first place in Group B.

Argentina was the first unlucky team, as they met Spain in the quarterfinals; Lithuania was the second unlucky team, as they met Greece, a team with a similar playing style and comparable strength, in the quarterfinals; Spain was the third unlucky team. If the United States had been first in Group B and Spain second or third, Spain would not have met the United States until the final... but they met them in the semifinals and could only compete for the bronze medal.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the match between Spain and Greece started.

The strength displayed by the Spanish team tonight was obviously stronger than that of the Chinese team. In the same fierce hand-to-hand combat, the Spanish team scored much more points, with more than 20 points in the first two quarters, and took a double-digit lead early on.

Although the Spanish team does not have a top-notch outside player like Zhang Yang, they have a lot of first-rate players. They use pick-and-roll tactics, with two players attracting the opponent's three-man defense and creating shooting opportunities for the wing. Their overall offensive performance is significantly stronger than that of the Chinese team last night.

In the end, Spain defeated Greece 71-56 and won the bronze medal.

It was 7: the next evening. Zhang Yang and his teammates had finished their pre-match warm-up and were about to enter the stadium. In half an hour, the final match of the men's basketball event of this Olympic Games would begin.

Yao Ming saw Zhang Yang take out a pair of shoes from his backpack and put them on, and quickly asked, "Yang Yang, do you really want to wear these to the game?"

Zhang Yang responded, "Don't worry, I wear these shoes every morning when I run. I've worn them for a month and they fit me well. They won't affect the competition."

Yao Ming: "That's not what I'm talking about. It's not good to wear these shoes on the court, right?"

Zhang Yang was surprised and said, "No? Didn't you also say that these shoes are very handsome?"

Yao Ming: “…”

A month ago, when he just arrived at the Olympic Village, he saw this pair of shoes for the first time and politely said, "They are really handsome." But Zhang San actually took it seriously?
At that time, Zhang Yang said that he would wear this pair of shoes in the last game of the Olympics. Yao Ming thought he was joking, but it turned out that he was serious!

This is the Olympic final!

Seeing Zhang Yang put on his shoes and leave the locker room without looking back, Yao Ming suddenly felt that he didn't want to play in the finals that much...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Olympic final between the Chinese men's basketball team and the American men's basketball team started.

Just like in the opening game, the Chinese players stepped onto the court with an indomitable spirit and, led by Zhang Yang and Yao Ming, faced the American team head-on.

After many games, the US team's performance was far better than in the opening game.

The same goes for the Chinese team. After many actual combat games, especially the two games against Greece, they are in good shape. Relying on Zhang Yang's comprehensive outside scoring skills and Yao Ming's super dominance under the basket, they played back and forth with the US team most of the time.

But in terms of overall offensive continuity, the two teams showed a qualitative gap.

The Chinese team had times when they had an advantage, but the American team quickly regained the advantage. At the end of the first quarter, the score difference reached 9 points. The American team went from 15-17 to 30-21, with a 4-15 run in 4 minutes, which made the Chinese team breathless.

The Chinese team narrowed the gap to 4 points in the second quarter, but in the last moments of the first half, Kobe first hit a three-pointer, then broke into the inside and passed a long two-point assist to Anthony. The US team widened the gap to 9 points again and led the Chinese team 61-52.

In this quarter, the Chinese team failed to narrow the gap and was depleted of manpower by the American team. Moreover, the American team did not rely on strategy or tactical responses, but purely on Wade and Anthony's support and Kobe's key singles.

After holding out for half the game, the Chinese team began to collapse in the third quarter...

Tens of thousands of domestic fans at the scene were upset to see the progress of the game, but they were mentally prepared. The American team was too strong and the strength gap was so huge. Although they expected the men's basketball players to create a miracle like they did in the opening game, the miracle did not happen. They had nothing to be sad about. Being able to step onto the final stage, this Olympics was already a dream for them.

Compared to the game itself, many fans focused on Zhang Yang's feet...

Every time Zhang Yang breaks through, jumps to shoot, flies for a dunk or makes a layup, no matter if he scores a goal or not, it will cause exclamations!
Even the opposing players would look at the shoes on Zhang Yang's feet from time to time.

The sneakers Zhang Yang was wearing were the same 'Zhang Yang III' style that he had been wearing in this Olympics. When he wasn't stepping hard, the only difference was the color scheme.

But every time Zhang Yang exerted force on his feet to a certain extent, the connection between the sole and the upper would spin twice!
Most of the female fans were confused. What the hell was this?

It’s different for male fans. They are too embarrassed to say it, but they all think in their hearts - I want it too!
Many fans watching the live broadcast immediately went online to check phone numbers and called the store to inquire about Zhang Yang's "new" signature shoes...

At 9:55 pm, the final whistle sounded.

101 to 125, the Chinese team lost to the American team in the final. Amidst some regrets but more excitement from the fans, they won a silver medal!
(End of this chapter)