NABC Chapter 1109 Oh, didn't I just eliminate you? Do you still have any left?
Chapter 1109 Oh, didn't I just eliminate you? Do you still have any left?
There's not much to say about the match against Angola. The game itself was unremarkable. The African champions could only put up a little over a quarter against the Chinese team's all-out attack before the game completely became garbage time.
If the Chinese team hadn't needed to play to prepare for future matches and hadn't allowed their key players, especially Lin Tian, to get back into the game rhythm, the entire second half could have been a blowout.
However, the Angolan team was quite satisfied with the arrangement made by the Chinese team.
Everyone vied to match up against Lin Tian and defend against him.
In other words, the African guys fought fairly cleanly, without resorting to any physical violence or strange actions.
Ultimately, China defeated Angola 102-54, a 52-point victory. Lin Tian's first game back with the national team was a perfect start.
Lin Tian played 23 minutes, scoring 19 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists, and 5 steals. Everyone could see that Lin Tian didn't exert himself; he was just warming up and testing his skills before finishing the game.
The team's highest scorer was starting small forward Xu Yong, who scored 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. This guy has now become the team's most promising new star. At just over 20 years old, he is just the right age to join Yi Jianlian in carrying the team's hopes for the next ten years after Lin Tian and Yao Ming have completely retired from the team.
另外阿联也有14分11篮板入帐，新人郭艾伦几次突破也让人印象深刻，这家伙拿下了7分1篮板2助攻的数据。
After a resounding 50-point victory over Angola, the Chinese team rested for a day before facing their second opponent, Australia, who was the strongest team in the group besides China.
The only slight pity is that Australia's team this time consisted of 12 players, and that not-so-cute animal missed the Olympics due to injury.
With their opponents missing their human companions, the Chinese team naturally wouldn't hold back.
However, Australia is indeed much stronger than Angola. The two sides played back and forth throughout the first half, with China only leading by 5 points going into the second half.
In the first half of the third quarter, the two sides remained evenly matched. With four minutes left in the third quarter, Lin Tiancai suddenly erupted, first hitting two three-pointers from the top of the arc, and then driving to the basket twice to complete layups.
After scoring 10 points in a row, Lin Tian demonstrated his vision and passing ability when facing a sudden double-team from Australia, delivering several assists and widening the gap between the two sides to 15 points.
In the fourth quarter, Australia continued to launch counterattacks, but against the Chinese team with Lin Tian leading the charge, their counterattacks seemed so powerless. Not only did they fail to take the lead, but with four minutes left in the game, the Chinese team launched another offensive surge.
After an 11-3 run, the gap between the two sides reached 25 points.
The Australian team then surrendered and declared the game over.
In this match, the Chinese team ultimately won against Australia by 24 points with a score of 104:80. The entire game was much more intense and difficult than the final score suggested, making it arguably the toughest game Lin Tian has played since his return.
Well, okay, we only played two matches in total.
But the resounding victory over a strong team like Australia still gave everyone a boost of confidence.
Lin Tian, in particular, immediately demonstrated his superior strength and skill when the team needed to score in the third quarter and needed him to step up, completely overwhelming Australia with a series of attacks.
But in the end, Lin Tian only had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for the whole game. Apart from his continuous efforts in the third quarter, he didn't really go all out on personal offense for the rest of the time.
The current Chinese team can win games against most opponents without him having to relentlessly attack and score.
But even that brief flash of brilliance in the third quarter was enough to prove one thing.
Our forest is back, and our king is back!
The Chinese team has now officially begun its assault on the gold medal!
After defeating the strongest team in the group, Hebei China Fortune had a smooth run in the group stage and encountered no further resistance.
After the first four group stage matches, Hebei China Fortune won all four and unsurprisingly ranked first in the group. Furthermore, Australia lost to Brazil, Brazil lost to France, and France suffered a surprising defeat to Angola.
After a series of upsets and spectacular losses by these four teams, the situation in the entire group was incredibly chaotic.
Currently, China is ranked first in the group with 4 wins and 1 loss, Australia is second with 3 wins and 1 loss, France is third with 3 wins and 1 loss, Brazil is fourth with 3 wins and 1 loss, Angola is fifth with 2 wins and 2 losses, and Great Britain is at the bottom with 4 losses.
The final matchups are Australia vs. France, Brazil vs. Angola, and China vs. Great Britain.
All four teams could face elimination or be forced into a crisis.
Northwest Shanxi is in complete chaos!
Even Australia, currently ranked second in the group, could be eliminated if they lose to France, going straight from heaven to hell.
Only China and the UK are safe in this group.
China has already secured qualification, but their first place in the group is not 100% guaranteed.
If they lose to Great Britain, and Great Britain beats them by about 70 points, they might be able to drop to second place in the group due to point differential. But even if Great Britain beats China, they will still be at the bottom of the group.
From this perspective, they are even more stable than the Chinese team.
As for how many points the British team needs to beat China, and how many points other teams need to beat their opponents for China to fall to second place in the group, no one on the Chinese side has actually done the calculations or research in detail.
There's no need for that.
The mathematical talent of us Chinese is enough for the national football team; we don't need it for basketball.
Then, the final group stage match against Great Britain took place as scheduled.
Considering Lin Tian's age and the fact that the team had basically gelled and there wasn't much room for adjustment, playing against a player like Lin Tian, who, despite being led by Luol Deng, was a terrible player whose skill level was questionable, wouldn't bring any changes to the team.
So old Nelson waved his hand.
Rotation of shifts.
The three players who played the most minutes and scored the most points in the first four games—Lin Tian, Yi Jianlian, and Xu Yong—were all sidelined and did not play in this game. During the game, Zhu Fangyu, Sun Yue, and other key players also did not play much.
In this game, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, Guo Ailun scored a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds. In addition, rookie Guo Ailun also made his first start in an Olympic game.
In his first Olympic Games starting appearance, Guo Ailun had many problems and mistakes, but he also successfully demonstrated his speed and ball-handling talent. After a series of powerful drives, he finished with 10 points, 4 turnovers, and 3 assists, shooting 4 of 13 from the field and 0 of 3 from three-point range.
Guo Ailun's first start was neither amazing nor impressive, but the talent he displayed and his age still made many people have high hopes for him.
The future number one defender in China.
The next Chinese player to enter the NBA.
The people who will pass the ball to Yi Jianlian and Xu Yong in the next ten years.
A young man who still has many problems and whose technical skills and physique are far from reaching their peak has finally officially entered the public eye after this match against the British team.
As for this match, although the Chinese team performed well despite missing three key players, their lineup and strength were ultimately lacking, and they lost to the British team with a score of 68-77.
However, they still advanced to the Olympic quarterfinals as the top team in their group with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss and a net score far exceeding that of other teams. No one cared about this loss.
Let's just give the hosts some face and not let them get completely crushed in the end.
With this match concluded, the remaining matches in this group also came to an end.
Ultimately, the most extreme scenario, such as Australia being upset and eliminated by Angola, did not occur. Australia finished second in the group, and Angola failed to create a miracle, being eliminated along with Great Britain.
Brazil finished third, while France came in fourth.
Meanwhile, the matches in the other group have also concluded, with the United States and Spain ranking first and second respectively, Argentina third, and Lithuania, a perennial powerhouse in FIBA, finishing fourth.
Lithuania has also become China's opponent in the quarterfinals.
It's worth mentioning that Spain once again chose to play dead in the group stage. Just like in the 08 group stage, they chose to avoid the strong opponents and suffered a crushing defeat to the United States by as much as 38 points. However, having experienced the previous Olympics and seen the level of the Spanish team, everyone didn't take this game too seriously.
They all knew that Spain was definitely hiding their strength and wasn't treating this match as a do-or-die battle.
Given that the Lithuanian team is no longer as glorious as it once was and its strength has declined significantly compared to its peak years, everyone believes that the Spanish team will enter the semi-finals and become the first strong opponent for the Chinese team on its road to pursuing a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal!
The subsequent quarterfinals largely proved this idea.
First, the Spanish team, who had entered the knockout stage, put on an amazing performance. They gave the Samba Army no chance, leading the Brazilian team by 15 points in the first half and winning by a huge margin of 101-70, a total of 31 points.
The 101 points in this match marked the first time the Spanish team had scored over 100 points in a single game at this Olympics.
Before tonight, the Spanish team had never scored more than 100 points, whether against Nigeria, an African team that was easy to beat, or Tunisia, the only team in this Olympics with a perfect record.
On the contrary, in the first knockout match, facing a strong South American opponent, the Spanish team demonstrated their dominance and strength for the first time.
By the end of the match, the few remaining doubts had almost completely disappeared.
Everyone is now looking forward to the showdown between the Spanish team and the Chinese team in the semi-finals.
They all believed that Spain, with its strong roster and seamless teamwork, would pose a huge challenge and test to the Chinese team.
This team is even stronger than the Spanish team from four years ago!
Compared to four years ago, the Spanish team now boasts a rising new generation: Marc Gasol and Javier Fernandez have reached their peak, Rubio, the "Golden Boy," is becoming increasingly mature and even his shooting is starting to look good. The team has also welcomed the defensive stalwart Serge Ibaka.
As for the veterans, Pau Gasol is still at his peak, Navarro is still firing on all cylinders, and other players like Rodriguez and Reyes may not be in the same form as they were 4 years ago, but the team's overall framework is getting stronger and stronger, so even if these role players decline in form, it will not affect the team's overall strength.
Many people even called this Spanish team the strongest Spanish team in history after the game!
This is definitely a top team and a strong contender for the gold medal.
On the other hand, the Chinese team did not disappoint. After resting for the last game of the group stage, they came out firing on all cylinders in the knockout stage, defeating Lithuania by 35 points and eliminating this strong Eastern European team once again.
On the other side, the United States easily defeated France, while Argentina, after a fierce overtime battle, relied on Ginobili's 7 consecutive points in overtime to defeat Australia and advance to the semifinals!
With this, the four finalists have been determined.
China vs. Spain.
USA vs. Argentina.
Both matches can be described as clashes between strong teams. Of course, that's obvious. Once you've made it to the semifinals, there can't be any weak or subpar teams. Teams that have reached this stage are among the world's top teams.
However, while everyone was looking forward to the two semi-final matchups, there were also some discordant voices.
For example, three teams from Group A made it to the semifinals, while only one team from Group B, Huaxia, made it to the semifinals. Some people said that Huaxia had an advantage in the group stage, which is why they made it to the semifinals. In an interview before the semifinals, a reporter asked Lin Tian this question.
"We're going to win the gold medal. We need to beat three teams in the knockout stage to win the gold medal, right?"
"All three of our opponents are teams from Group A, right?"
"We easily defeated the stronger and more competitive teams, completely dominating them. Does that mean our gold medals have real value?"
Lin Tian's answer was as tough and arrogant as ever.
He never knew what bowing one's head meant, let alone how to bow one's head.
The eaves are so low that you have to duck to get into the room?
Sorry, Mr. Lin doesn't know how; he just cut off the eaves and removed the ceiling.
After taking a tough stance against the media and issuing the most direct declaration of their championship aspirations, the semi-final battle between Hebei China Fortune and Spain officially began!
At 4 p.m. London time, both the Chinese and Spanish teams entered the stadium. Many of the players from both sides were old acquaintances.
For example, Xu Yong and Calderon were teammates on the Raptors for many years and had a very good relationship.
For example, Gasol and Yao Ming were teammates for many years. Although Yao Ming is now wearing a suit and appearing on the bench as a cheerleader captain, it can still be considered a relationship, right?
As for Lin Tian, he's even more familiar with the Spanish team.
They had beaten this generation of Spanish golden generation several times in international competitions. This generation of Spanish team has come this far without winning a single gold medal or championship in a world-class competition. Lin Tian is clearly the person primarily responsible for this.
Besides international competitions, the guys also interacted quite a bit in the NBA.
"Hey Mark, long time no see. It's only been three months since I eliminated you last time, and I didn't expect to have to eliminate you again so soon."
"Hey, it's been a long time. It's only been two months since I eliminated you last time. I didn't expect to have to eliminate you again so soon."
"Hey, José, long time no see. By the way, have you ever made it to the playoffs? I can't remember."
……
"Brother, can we not greet people like that?" Xu Yong couldn't help but lean over and offer a friendly reminder: "You're just offending people."
Lin Tian waved his hand and said, "Shouldn't they be afraid of offending me?"
"I'm scared," Xu Yong said with a pained expression. "I have a good relationship with Jose."
"What's there to be afraid of? Aren't you the team's leader?" Lin Tian patted Xu Yong on the shoulder and said, "Let the team trade him! A team leader should have that kind of guts. If you don't like someone, you should have the team sell them and get another star. You should have the team sell all the draft picks. That's what a real man does!"
"I've never seen you let the team buy money like this before, bro," Guo Ailun said, leaning over with his thick accent.
"I'm different, I'm the true core." Lin Tian chuckled, keeping his achievements and fame hidden.
After a long pause, Xu Yongcai clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Brother Lin is criticizing me too!"
"Huh? No way, I don't think so?" Guo Ailun frowned, thinking Xu Yong was overthinking things.
Whether you overthink it or not, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, the Spanish team didn't want to talk to Lin Tian anymore.
You kindly speak to him and greet him, and he immediately starts attacking your heart and stabbing you in the back. Who can stand that?
Let's play a match!
At least Lin Tian can keep quiet during matches.
Just a little bit. (End of Chapter)