The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 523 - 224: Redemption City_4

Chapter 523: Chapter 224: Redemption City_4

At the Hawks, he also couldn’t escape this fate, but he was luckier this time, having played 70 games.

Su Wan was powerless in this regard.

Yao’s injuries stemmed from gaining weight, so when he was gaining weight for the second time, Su Wan persuaded him to stop, and the results weren’t bad. This season at the Lakers, he played 72 games, only missing 7 due to injuries, the rest were for rotation rest.

Yi Jianlian...

The more fiercely he played, the more he got injured, what could he do?

He could only say one thing:

"Keep it up!"

As for Sun Yue, Su Wan didn’t even want to look.

With both of them on the team, Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team was finally able to start practicing the core Olympics strategies.

Yao Ming was now used to playing the "triangle offense," and Su Wan also had the conditions to play this strategy, but the problem was that the other people on the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team didn’t understand how to position themselves in this strategy, so it had to be Su devising his own methods to help Yao attract double teams, trying to give him chances to go one-on-one under the basket.

This strategy yielded not bad results in training games.

But then, it seems the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team’s guards couldn’t stop Su Wan anyway.

Su Wan could play however he wanted...

So whether the strategy was actually effective still needed to be tested against stronger opponents.

Unfortunately!

There were no more warm-up games to play.

If they wanted to test it, they would have to wait for the group stage to start.

Now all Su Wan could do was let fate decide.

Even though domestic fans were all eagerly anticipating him and Yao Ming, two NBA champions, leading the team to earn medals.

Actually, Su Wan was very aware this was the most hopeful era for the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team, yet as years went by, the hopes were diminishing, dreaming of winning medals was like talking in one’s sleep.

Soon, August 10th arrived.

As the host, Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team was placed in Group B, which included Spain, the United States, Greece, and Germany.

Originally, the ultimate gold and silver medalists were also in Group B; it could be said that they enjoyed no privileges as the host.

Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team’s first match was against the "Dream Team."

This year’s "Dream Team," dubbed the "Avengers," aimed to erase the humiliation of the 2004 Olympics and 2006 World Championship; they really rolled out their top players:

Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Michael Red, Dwyane Wade, Tayshaun Prince, Chris Bosh, and Carlos Boozer.

Young and old generations were all present, and the lineup was very reasonably composed with shooters, breakthrough players, defensive stops, and offensive sieges being highly exceptional.

The only thing lacking was under-the-basket ball control.

But with this "Dream Team’s" athletic talents, they didn’t need any under-the-basket siege, they could simply play "small ball"!

Here it needs to be said:

The "small ball" concept isn’t a profound idea.

This theory had already been taking off in the NCAA since the ’90s, but because NBA players had stronger individual abilities, some open spots that appeared in the NCAA were no longer open in the NBA, plus there were few good shooters who were good at defense.

The most critical thing...

There was no epoch-transcending shooter like Stephen Curry!

Frankly, the most successful star of the "Small Ball Era" was Stephen Curry with the Warriors.

Other teams had shadows of "small ball," but it was definitely not pure small ball they were playing.

For example, the Celtics who won the championship in ’24 were a very typical example of "Magic Ball Strategy," Shaquille O’Neal even went to their team to shoot three-pointers.

The Nuggets who won in ’23 relied on Murray and Jokic’s "two-man game"!

The Bucks who won in ’21 employed the "One Star and Four Shooters" system and the step-under strategy.

...

It can definitely be said that the "small ball" trend was whipped up by Stephen Curry entering his prime in the league, leading many fans to try to imitate it, but they all found their teams lacking a Stephen Curry. Then as Curry gradually declined from his absolute peak, what "small ball" left to this league was a deeper understanding of space projection, and higher demands for speed in the team’s offensive and defensive transitions.

And in these aspects, actually, the NCAA had already begun to emphasize them.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t say Europe and the NCAA are the "cradles" of basketball tactics.

Rather, the NBA is the place where tactics are the most backward.

Mainly because the superstar’s abilities are too strong, using tactics would actually limit their performance.

This was also a very important reason.

The greatest strength of the "small ball" playing style is that it can fully exhibit a player’s athletic abilities and physical talents.

This year’s "Dream Team" was particularly suited to this tactic.

But when the actual game started, all the fans watching this match were stunned.

Because the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team was in no way inferior to the American "Dream Team."

Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue, and Su Wan along with Yao Ming successively contributed blocks, directly making the "Dream Team" too scared to attempt breakthroughs.

Kobe stepped up to stabilize the situation, and Su Wan returned the favor.

By the end of the half, Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team was at a "fifty-fifty" stand with the "Dream Team." freēNovelFire.com

But as the game continued, Yao’s physical fitness became a problem, leaving Su Wan somewhat "unable to support alone."

Eventually, the game ended, and the Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team still lost to the "Dream Team" with a score of 82 to 108.

Despite losing the debut, in the subsequent group stages, even against the ultimate "runner-up" Spain, Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team took all the games and ended up advancing to the quarterfinals as the second of their group.

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