The rest is just noise

84 to 75

The men's basketball team narrowly defeated Yugoslavia.

Bodiloga, who has attracted much attention, made 8 of 12 shots from the field and scored 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

For Bodiloga, this performance can only be regarded as adequate, but it is far from meeting the outside world's expectations of him.

After the game, Bodilloga said: "We still have a few games to play. This game is just the beginning for us and the Chinese team. We will meet again sooner or later."

Louis gradually discovered that the contradictions in Yugoslavia were not as sharp as he imagined.

The reason why Bodiloga's tactical status is too low and his number of shots is low stems from the egalitarianism of the coaching staff.

The essence of this egalitarianism is also to maintain a semblance of peace between the Serb players and the Black players.

This is a good thing for men's basketball.

If Bodiloga cannot be used as the absolute core, Yugoslavia will not be able to perform at 100%.

A Yugoslav team that cannot fully unleash Bodiloga's strength does not have the strength to compete for the championship.

After another day's rest, the men's basketball team faced the weakest opponent in Group B-Angola.

In Louis' previous life, the African brothers have always been the experience babies of men's basketball on the world stage.

The 96 Golden Generation and the Yao Era relied on them to win games, and the Yi Era also relied on them to retain the last bit of dignity.

Angola, like all African teams, has the same problem.

First of all, the physical condition of their players can be said to be second only to that of the United States, but their talent is wasted for various reasons. Furthermore, African players generally have problems with ballooning and poor discipline.

The game against Angola was the easiest game that Louis coached in this Olympics.

Qi Chengyan counterattacked with two steals, helping the men's basketball team quickly establish an advantage.

Subsequently, Liu Yuqing and Hu Weidong's three-pointer from outside made the suspense disappear.

All 12 players on the men's basketball roster played in the entire game and scored 111 points, defeating Angola and winning three consecutive group stage games.

While preparing for the group stage, Louis also watched every group stage game of the US team.

As he expected, the American team's absolute advantage still lies on the flanks.

In the Dream Team back then, the US team had a dominant forward and interior line, but now, the older generation of interior lines are no longer able to compete, while the new generation of interior lines are not so suitable for FIBA ​​competitions.

Hank Gathers is a typical example, a star in the NBA and an excellent insider in FIBA.

Others, such as Vin Baker, Antonio McDyess, and Alonzo Mourning, generally have more or less problems. They are either strong offensively and weak defensively, or the style of the basketball leader is not dominant, or the size is too small.

In FIBA, it is easy to be overpowered by big centers.

Kevin Garnett is the most balanced, but in the NBA, he is used to swinging between the four and three positions.

During the Lakers' four consecutive championships, he either served as Barkley's power forward or Duncan's power forward, sometimes swinging to small forward.

Of course, Louis would also let him play center, but most of those came from the 1996-97 season when he teamed up with Barkley. After Duncan arrived, Garnett was fixed at the fourth position.

In other words, the American team's most talented insider, the most versatile insider, and the most talented insider are not used to the center position.

The interior line lost its dominance, and the back line also made Rudy Tomjanovich anxious.

Gary Payton and Jason Kidd are both players with unstable baskets. When placed in FIBA ​​games where zone defenses are common, their breakthrough threats plummet and their shortcomings of poor shooting are amplified.

Of course, the team has many hidden dangers, but the US team also won three consecutive group stage victories like the men's basketball team.

After all, the overall strength is still there. If they want to overturn, they not only need the Americans to play a bad game, but also need their opponents to be in a hot state.

The next opponent of the men's basketball team is Spain.

Louis looked at the Spanish team's roster and discovered two familiar Spanish players, Carlos Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa.

Today’s world basketball landscape is dominated by one super player and two strong players.

The U.S. team dominates, followed by the Chinese team and Yugoslavia.

But the explosion of basketball talent in the world at the beginning of this century will soon change this pattern.

Just like this Spain, it seems to be just an ordinary European team now, but in a few years, when that man named Gasol leads Spain's golden generation to the stage, the existing pattern will be broken.

Louis believes that with the current strength of the men's basketball team, it can completely defeat Spain through hard power. Therefore, all he needs to prepare is for the players to train well and sleep well.

During the Olympics, Louis implemented curfew regulations.

This is consistent with the philosophy of Jiang Xingquan, the leader of the men’s basketball team.

As the most watched group of people on the Chinese team, neither Louis nor Jiang Xingquan want the men's basketball players to mess around in the Olympic Village like athletes from other countries.

Louis checked Chengyan's room and found that he and Liu Yuqing were assigned together.

When Louis arrived, Qi Chengyan was joking with the second brother's helmet distributed by the organizer.

Louis looked at the helmet that was no longer usable after being pinched by Qi Chengyan speechlessly, "How old are you to still play with this?"

Qi Chengyan joked: "Coach, I also want to find someone to experience it, but doesn't the team leader prohibit us from playing around?"

"Stop blabbering, turn off the lights and go to bed. Tomorrow's game is very important."

Louis went from room to room to make sure everyone was asleep before going back to rest.

September 23

In the fourth game of the group stage, the men's basketball team faced Spain.

In the first quarter, the men's basketball coaching staff was so frightened by the Spaniard's touch that they broke into a cold sweat.

Spanish team veteran Alberto Herreros SF hit consecutive three-pointers.

At the beginning, the men's basketball team trailed by 10 points.

In the second quarter, Louis adjusted the lineup, taking down Wang Zhizhi, who had poor touch, and Yu Tiancan, who was constantly being used in pick-and-roll military training, and replaced him with Yao Yueban, letting Kang Chengbiao partner with him, and then paired with Du Shuai, Liu Yuqing and Liu

great.

At the same time, Louis expressed the highest respect for Herreros, who was in explosive condition - asking Kang Chengbiao, who had previously been very effective in defending Bodiloga alone, to bite him from the outside.

Like Kang Chengbiao, the Chinese Green who plays from the 1st to the 4th position and is as difficult as a mad dog on the defensive end is an excellent candidate for a fight.

If Louis wants to completely restrict the opponent's outside perimeter, he will use Qi Chengyan. But if he wants to mess with the opponent's mentality, Kang Chengbiao is the most suitable.

Decades of coaching experience convinced Louis that it was meaningless to use top defensive players to match up with a shooter who was explosive in the opening game. It would be better to find a dead pig's skin and meat to disgust him.

Kang Chengbiao is definitely the most unpopular player in the entire Chinese team.

He has a machine gun mouth and an extremely strong body. He likes confrontation and making small moves. He also has an innate sense of smell for the blind spots on the court. Therefore, when he uses dirty moves against Herreros, the referee often does not notice.

.

"He is indeed a man who can defend Bodiroga alone!" Louis gave Brother Biao a thumbs up from the sidelines.

Herreros misfired.

Subsequently, Yao Yueban, who was only 20 years old, stood on the highest stage of the national level and completely dominated the Spanish giant Roberto Dueñas C.

This Duenas is by no means an ordinary person. He was selected in the 1997 draft, but has never landed in the NBA. He has played in the European leagues throughout his career. He is a European white bear with a handy job and tough defense. Even more so tonight.

He showed the best form of his career, defeated Yu Tiancan, and used confrontation to knock Wang Zhizhi out of control. Unexpectedly, he was restrained by a college student.

Yao Yue first used a pick-and-roll with Liu Wei in the first half, flicked out of the three-point line, and used a long-range three-pointer to punish Duenas.

Later, in the low-position confrontation, Yao Yue half showed his dream dance steps, small sway, big sway, half-turn, step, small hook and hit the board.

As long as Yao Yue holds the ball, Spain will lose points.

He can't defend him, and he can't save half of the basket. Even if it's a head-to-head one-on-one defense, Yao Yueban has enough skills to destroy his defense.

It is also a giant tower of 220 cm level, but Yao Yueban's flexibility makes Duenas look like a gigantism patient.

It can be said that the collapse of Duenas' defense was a key node in Spain's momentum from prosperity to decline.

Every Spanish player trusts Duenas to defend the penalty area for them.

Duenas did almost succeed.

He overcame two of the three Great Walls by himself, but finally fell in front of Yao Yueban.

Yao Yue, who came off the bench, completely destroyed Duenas, scoring 22 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks, helping the men's basketball team come back to win before halftime, and laid the foundation for a 26-point victory over the opponent.

"Coach Lu, what do you think of Yao's performance?"

"What's so surprising about this?" Louis asked jokingly, "From 1998 to 2000, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft was waiting for him. He locked the No. 1 pick for three consecutive years. What kind of talent is this? This kind of performance is important to him.

It is a matter of course, you should get used to Yao like this as soon as possible, he is greater than you think."

This game can be regarded as Yao Yueban's battle to become famous on the international stage.

The Chinese team thus achieved four consecutive victories, with the last game remaining in the group stage.

Even so, the men's basketball team still has not secured first place in the group because their last opponent in the group stage is the dark horse of Group B, the Canadian team, which also won all four games.