I’m Really Playing Basketball

After the first game between China and the United States, Coach K, who is the head coach of the Dream Team, stepped up to take responsibility for the first time, and believed that the biggest problem of the team now is the problem of team integration, and the players have no responsibility.

But obviously, this is not the case for the American media.

Although they never thought that the American team would definitely beat the Chinese team in this game, it was quite surprising that the game ended so badly.

Although the final score difference of this game was only 13 points, let’s just say that the US team had no chance at all in the game. The US team was behind from the beginning, and then fell behind until the end. They didn’t even have a chance to fight. not a lot.

It’s such an ugly loss!

Originally thought it was ugly to be almost overthrown by Australia in Shanghai. In this game, the US team looked even more embarrassed under the pressure of the Chinese team on both offensive and defensive ends.

Under such circumstances, even if Coach K had the intention, it would be impossible for him to keep these players on the US team.

Especially some key players.

For example, Howard was defeated by Yao Ming again in this game.

"I'm not afraid of Yao Ming! This is not the first time I've said it, I'm not afraid of Yao Ming!

I will not say that the loss in this game has nothing to do with me, but a normal basketball game is not a duel between me and him, but a contest between teams, and I will not say that I didn't get too many offensive opportunities in the game, but in fact, Yao Ming took 20 shots (actually 18) in this game, while I only took 6 shots, and three of them were offensive rebounds that I grabbed myself .

I'm not a jerk, but I don't get enough respect! "

"Dwight, are you talking about not getting enough respect with the Spurs or with Team USA?"

Facing a question from an American reporter, Howard stopped answering the question after venting. He is really angry now, but he is not really that idiot.

I have to say that whether it is this year's finals or this Olympic match with the Chinese team, Howard is indeed full of resentment.

After all, he felt that he should be the best center in the league now, or at least one of them, but whether he was in the Spurs or the US team, he was not the core of the offense.

This is very uncomfortable. Anyone who knows Howard knows that he has always wanted to compare with O'Neal, and everything he does is based on O'Neal's standards, but for Howard, especially for his offense. It is true that O'Neill did not die and got O'Neill's disease.

Is it okay to use Howard as the core of the offense?

Of course it is possible. In history, the one-star shooting with Howard as the core has reached the finals. Therefore, whether you like Howard or not, there is no problem with his core strength.

And this is why he was very dissatisfied with his treatment in the first game between the Spurs and the US team. He felt that he was really strong now, and in fact he was really strong.

But on the other hand, he is strong, but he does have a fatal flaw.

And this is also his current dilemma.

Therefore, whether it is in the Spurs or the US team, Howard always feels that everyone is targeting him, full of negative energy.

"Chen and I are good friends and Zhu is teammate. I am also very grateful to the Chinese fans for cheering and applauding me. I like China and I like the Chinese people very much. However, this does not mean that I am afraid of Yao Ming."

At the end of the interview, Howard once again emphasized that he is not afraid of Dayao.

It can be seen how much pressure Howard has been after being beaten by Dayao in the two finals in recent years.

In history, most of the people who say that Yao eats, sleeps and plays Warcraft are Chinese fans, but now, no matter the fans in China or the United States, they all know Yao Ming's meme of "eating, sleeping and playing World of Warcraft".

Howard is not the character who is bullied by thick eyebrows and actively shows favor to thick eyebrows in the future. Now Howard's character is upright.

How could he bear this with his current personality?

It's just obvious that the more Howard doesn't want others to think of him, the more reporters must tear his scars. How can there be traffic if they don't tear them up often?

Of course, for Howard, this kind of semi-public dissatisfaction in the post-match press conference this time does not mean that he is not smart, but it is also a kind of coercion.

Tell Coach K and the U.S. team not to treat me as a blue-collar player. If he is a blue-collar worker in front of Yao Ming, he can only be beaten by Yao Ming. Only when he also has the opportunity to attack Yao Ming on the offensive end can he suppress Yao Ming. It’s good for him, and it’s good for Team USA.

Now that the U.S. team is defeated by the Chinese team, and Coach K just fell into the dilemma of not knowing how to employ people, Howard's speech is actually very smart.

From another aspect, this also gives Coach K an idea and a solution. Should he really be bolder and give Howard a more important role on the offensive end?

Seriously, suppressing Yao Ming is really important!

If Howard can really suppress Yao Ming, James, and Wade, they can suddenly relax, and Kobe, Wheat, Anthony, and Arenas can shoot without having to consider so many help defenses.

Although Chen Xiao and Yao Ming are both the best defensive players in the NBA, it is difficult to distinguish between them in terms of defensive ability, but it is clear that Yao Ming is the core of the Chinese team's defense.

But the question is, can Howard really suppress Yao Ming on the offensive end?

Not only suppressing Yao Ming, but also opening up 50-50, they can unleash the offensive power of the US team's outside superstars.

In short, faced with Howard's "forced ideas", Coach K lost sleep at night and kept tossing and turning in bed.

I have to say that, regardless of Howard's IQ, his cleverness is really good, and he plays this trick very well.

Look at what Coach K did to him.

Originally, Coach K's first thought after this loss was to change the team's outside personnel composition.

Now that Howard has done this, he has directly changed from changing the outside line to changing the inside line.

In this game between China and the United States, Howard's performance was the focus of the audience. In this game, the Chinese team's inside players performed well. As the backbone of the United States' inside defense, Howard will certainly be under scrutiny.

The U.S. team lost so miserably in this game, and Howard was under scrutiny. Are there any players who performed well?

Of course there is. Wade's performance in this game was very good. He made 7 of 7 shots and 5 of 5 free throws. He scored 19 points with a 100% shooting rate.

Interestingly, this data is exactly the same as Wade’s data when playing against the Chinese team in history.

Although the data is the same, the difficulty is completely different. Historically, Wade has achieved this data easily.

But now, when Wade scores this data, it really seems like he is risking his life.

Yao Ming sits under the basket, Yi Jianlian protects Yao Ming and sweeps, and Chen Xiao helps defend and sweep from the outside. It can be said that the Chinese team's current defense is indeed airtight. In addition, the offensive width of the FIBA ​​arena is smaller and narrower. The space for offensive players is small, and the defensive area for defensive players is also small, which is very conducive to defense.

Therefore, if you don't have stable three-pointers and can't open up space, it will be really difficult to attack offensively.

In this game, the US team's three-pointers were 7 of 27, and the space was definitely not open. Therefore, Wade's scoring and efficiency were all hard earned.

That is to say, Wade, that is, this Wade who has not been injured can be so strong and can break through and kill with such defensive intensity. If it were the historical Wade who played against the current Chinese team, he would definitely not be able to achieve such data. of.

Therefore, even though Kobe is the strongest player on the US team, in fact, Wade is the most threatening player in the US offense.

Not only in this game, but also in the previous warm-up games, Wade was the US team's scoring leader in every game.

On the other hand, the Chinese team really can't find a player who can defend Wade.

The Chinese team also knows this, so the focus of defense against the US team in this game is Wade. If he is not allowed to take more shots, even if he does take shots, it will be extremely difficult.

When it comes to the Chinese team's defense against the U.S. team, other players only defend on their own, or at most help, but against Wade, if possible, they can attack from a double flank.

On August 11, the second day of the China-US war, although audiences across the country were immersed in the joy of the Chinese men's basketball team defeating the American men's basketball team, Chen Xiao and the Chinese men's basketball team were still treating this situation with ease and normality. All the flattery and praise.

The players on the Chinese team have not changed, and everyone is still so relaxed, which is completely different from the American team.

For the US team, Coach K got up early in the morning to work, and he needed to decompress the team. .

"I know we lost, but I think we played well."

"I know exactly where our problem is, the Olympics have just started, we can't let go yet, we're playing a little bit tight.

And last night's game against the Chinese team, we all know that this is a game of great significance to both sides, especially for the American team who hopes to get everything back.

Plus, playing in front of their home crowd, we were under a lot of pressure.

Fortunately, although we lost the game, we withstood the storm and calmed down now. I think we can play at a higher level in the future, and we can realize our wishes. "

In addition, Coach K also returned to the question about Howard. Howard was the main reason for getting up so early today to hold a press conference.

Howard's forced speech after the game last night did have a great impact on him and the US team, as evidenced by the dark circles around his eyes.

"Dwight is a dominant player in the interior, both defensively and offensively. He has always been one of the most important players on our team. I know his thoughts. Everything we have before is in the early stages. Our previous focus was also trying to find a suitable way to play. Not long ago, I found Dwight and told him that we have found some ways and plans, and in our future games and plans, his position is very important. The key is that he will definitely get more opportunities."

Coach K's answer made many American reporters on the scene clamor.

It has to be said that whether Howard is reused or limited (only his defense), this is an extremely controversial topic in the Spurs.

After losing the Finals twice, Popovich was overwhelmed by this question. Many Spurs reporters and media experts pointed the finger at Popovich for Yao Ming when they reviewed the Spurs’ failure in the Finals again this year. There was too little pressure created during the game.

The Magic knew that playing the Heat was to consume Yao Ming. If Yao Ming was consumed, the Heat's offensive and defensive system would explode.

But Popovich just doesn't do that.

You can worry that Howard can't do it, but if you don't do it, how do you know you can't do it?

What if?

After answering Howard's question, Coach K supported Anthony again. Britney played 14 minutes in the last game and made 0 of 3, just relying on free throws to score 3 points. Although Britney was a supporting role in this game and was not suitable to take on the responsibility. Responsibility, but this performance is still quite eye-catching.

After all, although Tiantian is a role player, he is not an ordinary role player. As the most stable shooting player of the US team, his three-pointers are highly expected by the US team.

But these 0-for-3 three-pointers really narrowed the US team's already narrow space.

Therefore, Anthony did not complete the US team's strategic plan in the last game.

After the Sino-US war, Coach K, the head coach of the US team, was constantly putting out the fire.

The Chinese team, led by Chen Xiao, went to watch the shooting competition again in the morning.

I watched Du Li's game before, and this time I went to watch Zhu Qinan's game. He is the men's 10-meter air rifle champion in Athens. This local competition is favored by many people. Chen Xiao and the others are also here to witness his defense of the title. .

It's a pity that this time, Zhu Qinan unfortunately failed to win the championship and ended up finishing second.

This result made Chen Xiao and Dayao smile bitterly.

Even after Chen Xiao and others came out after comforting Zhu Qinan, some Chinese reporters teased them whether they had sucked away the luck of other Chinese athletes this year.

Of course, this is a joke. The main reason is the war between China and the United States. The players of the Chinese team shot the three-pointers too accurately.

However, although it was a joke, the cheering of the Chinese men's basketball team suddenly became the "curse" of the Olympic Village. Many delegations joked that they did not welcome the "ward rounds" of the Chinese men's basketball team.

And this has become a highlight of the Olympic Village.

After a day off on August 11, the Chinese team's game continued on August 12. At 4:30 in the afternoon, the Chinese team easily defeated Angola 118-68.

In this game, Yao Ming once again scored the highest score of the team and the game, with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists.

In addition, the Chinese team has five other players who scored in double figures.

Chen Xiao made 11 of 15 shots in the game and 7 of 10 three-pointers. He scored 29 points and 14 assists in the game. Chen Xiao played very easily throughout the game. He was either shooting or shooting. Chen Xiao didn't even make a sudden breakthrough. The fight is extremely nourishing.

The Arab League also scored 11 points and 10 rebounds in this game, Xiaozhu and Hua Zai also scored 10 points, and Wei Ge, who came off the bench, also scored 11 points.

This game was played too easily.

So much so that NBC's guest commentator Barkley exclaimed: "The Chinese team is invincible!"

Regardless of whether Barkley was bragging or just talking, the fact is that after the group stage and easily defeated Spain, the last opponent, the Chinese team won all five games in this group of death.

unstoppable!