NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

Team USA!
Of course, before they were dethroned from their throne as world champions by the Chinese team, they were also known as the Dream Team.

If you count on your fingers, this year is the Dream Team.

However, all of Dream Team 4 through Dream Team 7 were defeated by the Chinese team...

Well, it wasn't entirely the Chinese team's fault. Sometimes, the Chinese team wouldn't even get a chance against the American team before the American team got beaten by someone else.

In short, the current US team no longer has the face to call itself the Dream Team, including their head coach, Coach K, whose slogan is to make the US team great again, or MAGA for short!
In order to regain face this time, the US men's basketball team and Coach K went to great lengths. They started cultivating and training young players early on, and they were even willing to lose some games in major international competitions in order to build a truly powerful and invincible team.

The US team began using new players in 04, and by the 06 World Championships in Japan, they had undergone a major overhaul, selecting 12 young players under the age of 25 to represent the US team.

At that time, USA Basketball president Colangelo made an unprecedented move, signing contracts with all players who wanted to join the national team for the first time in history.

So if you want to represent your country, then no problem. If you come to this competition, then for at least the next two Olympic cycles, you must come to every competition whenever the country needs you!
In short, Colangelo is no longer blindly piling on big names, nor is he selecting players based solely on reputation and resume. He wants to build a stable, strong, and perfectly cohesive team! He has realized that the US team can no longer simply send out 12 players and win the championship as it has in the past.

He realized that the world basketball scene is developing rapidly. In addition to the Chinese team as the ultimate opponent, there are more and more top teams in the world, and more and more teams that can compete with the American team.

They must progress, they must change.

Therefore, Colangelo withstood the pressure and used all sorts of methods to persuade a group of young people to be willing to play for the country for a long time. He also directly signed a 6-year contract with Coach K, from 06 to 12, regardless of the US team's performance.

Their head coach is Old K!

A college coach skilled at building systems and experienced, along with a group of young, energetic, and constantly improving new generation stars in the league, allows these players to play together in multiple major tournaments to cultivate their chemistry.

Then, once they have matured, they will strive to defeat the Chinese team in a major tournament and return to the top of the world!
This is Colangelo's plan and idea.

Moreover, he doesn't have much time left.

Lin Tian is about to retire. If he cannot defeat the Chinese team in this tournament, then even if the American team defeats China and wins the championship in the subsequent competitions, they will never be able to achieve true revenge!

So this is their last chance, their last chance to defeat Lin Tian, ​​to prove that they are not afraid of Lin Tian, ​​and to prove that they can defeat Lin Tian!
This idea wasn't just shared by the US team; the players thought the same way.

Having been repeatedly defeated by Lin Tian in the NBA, they now have to seize this last opportunity and make one last push!
Take down Lin Tian! Take down the Chinese team!

This American team is definitely a team seeking revenge!

Their personnel list was released quite early on.

Centers: Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh
Power Forwards: LeBron James, Amar'e Stoudemire

Small Forwards: Shane Battier, Carmelo Anthony

Shooting Guards: Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade

Shooting Guards: Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Deron Williams

Of the 12 players on the US team, 10 had participated in the 06 World Championships in Japan, with only veterans Kobe and Kidd missing out on the previous tournament.

This alone reveals the ambition of the American team.

They need to maintain stability and balance, and make these players a true unit.

Then, with the addition of Kobe Bryant, the top superstar in the NBA besides Jeremy Lin, and Jason Kidd, the most experienced player, they formed their complete 12-man roster.

The team includes players from three generations: veteran, middle-aged and young. They have top-level players in the frontcourt, forward and backcourt, and their compatibility and chemistry are also quite good!

Like the Chinese team, this American team also dominated their opponents in the warm-up matches, crushing all their rivals before arriving in the capital to prepare for the final battle.

If there's any flaw or weakness in this American team, it's their interior defense.

A player like Howard can dominate 90% of interior players, and at least defensively, he's absolutely dominant.

However, his problem is also obvious: the better his physical fitness, the worse his lower body is.

In the warm-up game between the US team and Greece, Howard was completely outplayed by Sholtzanitis.

He was completely overwhelmed by this guy's strong attacks under the basket and terrifying strength, and was knocked off balance, almost unable to stand in the paint.

In other words, Coach K eventually brought in Bosh, who was better at shooting, to play center, completely pulling Sholtschanittis out of the paint. He then used fronting and double-teaming tactics on the defensive end to contain the chubby player and ultimately win the game easily.

He was already in such a sorry state facing a bootleg version of the Greek 'Little Shark' Howard, so he'll definitely be in for a tough time against the Gasol brothers of Spain and Yao Ming of the Chinese team at the Olympics.

But there's nothing we can do. The US team's domestic frontcourt is clearly dwindling. Of the four great centers, only the aging O'Neal remains. The other three are long gone. While Garnett, in his prime, is more mobile, his lower body strength is even worse than Howard's.

Although Duncan can be considered a heavyweight center, his FIBA ​​journey has always been terrible. He was completely unable to adapt to the FIBA ​​rhythm and played terribly every time he appeared on the court.

Besides these few, who else can the US team find?
Big Ben? Rashid? David Lee and David West?

Clearly, no matter how you look at it, given the current depletion of their interior defense, this is the strongest frontcourt combination the US team can field. As for whether they'll be dominated by Yao Ming or the Gasol brothers in the end...

All I can say is that the US team's outside shooting is still quite strong, and they will most likely be able to plug this only, obvious weakness by relying on their outside firepower.

Alternatively, they could simply not field a pure center, and the US team would have to rely on Bosh or Stoudemire's shooting ability and control attributes, or even James or Anthony playing the power forward position, using a big man and four small men to increase the team's mobility, in order to defeat China!

But in any case, no matter how they play, the road to revenge for the American team remains incredibly difficult.

With the arrival of the American team in Beijing and their move into the Olympic Village, the Olympic Village and the entire city have become incredibly lively. Everywhere you look, you see foreigners of all skin colors, clothing styles, and nationalities. In the blink of an eye, Beijing has become the city with the largest foreign population in the world!

Countless athletes, coaches, support teams, and tourists gathered in the capital, making the already densely populated city even more crowded.

As time went by, the day that filled the entire nation of China with excitement, pride, and anticipation finally arrived.

August 8, 2008, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics!

The breathtaking performance, the astonishing choreography and stage design, the awe-inspiring grandeur, the rich Eastern characteristics and profound history of 5000 years of Chinese civilization, and the final, awe-inspiring aerial walk by the gymnastics prince—all these brought tears to the eyes of countless Chinese people, both at the venue and watching on television. At that moment, the belief in a strong and prosperous motherland took root and sprouted in everyone's hearts.

"You and I, heart to heart, live in the same global village..."

When Chinese superstar Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman sang "Me and You" together, the atmosphere of the entire opening ceremony reached its peak.

After the near-perfect opening ceremony performance and the deafening cheers from the audience, representatives from each team began to enter the venue!
The order of entry is based on the first letter of each country's name, while the Chinese team, as the host, will be the last to enter.

Teams entered the stadium one by one, and countries walked into the stadium one by one. The athletes waved and greeted the audience excitedly, and whenever a world-class star entered, the audience would erupt in an extraordinarily crazy cheer.

Ronaldinho of Brazil, the young Messi of Argentina, tennis legend Federer, Kobe Bryant of the United States...

As one big name after another appeared, the enthusiasm of the audience only increased, because they knew that the moment was about to arrive!
At 11:09 p.m., even though the opening ceremony had been going on for more than three hours and the girls dancing on the sidelines were exhausted, everyone went crazy when a five-star red flag appeared at the end of the field. The audience roared with the wildest excitement they had ever experienced. The girls who were originally exhausted on the sidelines burst out with powerful potential again and started dancing again.

The Chinese Olympic delegation, totaling 1010 people, included 640 athletes. Both the total number of delegation members and the number of athletes broke their Olympic records this time!
This is the Olympics with the largest number of participants in China's history! Their goals, of course, need no further explanation.

Dominate the medal standings!
As the Chinese team entered the stadium, almost every camera position immediately focused on them, continuously filming all the athletes and staff from various angles, directions, and distances.

After providing a full panoramic view, almost all the cameras once again changed direction in unison, aiming at the person at the very front of the Chinese team, head held high, holding the red flag.

This person is none other than Lin Tian!
In an instant, the entire stadium erupted in cheers, with the audience screaming Lin Tian's name wildly, which then turned into a unified roar of 'MVP'!

Lin Tian is the world's number one basketball player and the king of the 100-meter race. He absolutely deserves the title of "the world's number one athlete"!

He is no longer just a player, but a cultural icon!
It represents China, basketball, and of course, the NBA!

He has the popularity!

During the few minutes that the Chinese team took to the field, almost all of the more than one hundred broadcasters around the world focused their cameras on Lin Tian.

Facing the camera that was stubbornly refusing to leave, Lin Tian held a flag in one hand, waved with the other, and gave a warm smile.

Countless girls and gay men were struck by this, leading to loud screams and frenzy.

In those few dozen seconds, Lin Tian's smiling face was recognized by the whole world once again, and the eyes of the whole world were focused on his face!

In just a few dozen seconds, Lin Tian gained countless more fans in the blink of an eye.

After all, in the world of athletes, his face is absolutely unbeatable!

If you add to that his tall, straight figure and the air of nobility that comes with a well-fitting suit, then he's a man who appeals to all ages and genders!
Then those who didn't know Lin Tian or didn't recognize him quickly opened Baidu, Wikipedia, or other encyclopedias to search, and saw Lin Tian's physique, his invincible achievements on the court, and his madness and bloodthirstiness in fighting.

What a tyrannical young nobleman!

It's so appealing!
Even more people like him now!
But while the fans went wild, Lin Tian just wanted to curse.

He's used up all his poses.

The cameras just wouldn't move, and he couldn't just stand there dumbfounded in one position. He also couldn't hand the red flag to someone else. He had to hold the flag in one hand and make a gesture with the other, which reduced his options for actions and poses. In just a few dozen seconds, Lin Tian had used up all the poses he could think of. If the cameras didn't move soon, he would have to resort to abstract poses.

Fortunately, just when Lin Tian felt his face was about to freeze from smiling, perhaps he finally remembered that this was the Olympics and not his personal show, or perhaps he finally remembered that there were many other elements to film, the cameras on site slowly moved away, and Lin Tian finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Even he was somewhat nervous during that scene.

After all, this is a moment that truly represents the image of the entire country, which is completely different from the situation on the basketball court.

Thankfully, it's all over!
The Olympic Games opening ceremony has come to a perfect end!
The Chinese men's basketball team can rest for another day. Their opening game of the Olympics will start on August 10th!
Their first opponent is Argentina, a strong team in the Americas!
The group assignments this time were basically the same as the one Lin Tian remembered.

The only difference is that China was placed in Group A, while Iran, the other Asian team, went to Group B.

The specific lineup for Group A is as follows: Argentina, Russia, Lithuania, Australia, Croatia, and China!
Group B: Iran, USA, Spain, Angola, Greece, Germany!
Overall, the group is fairly balanced. China's Lithuania and Argentina are both strong contenders for medals, while the United States, Spain, and Greece on the other side are all recognized top powerhouses.

The groupings on both sides can be considered fairly.

Several of Hebei China Fortune's opponents in the group stage were opponents they had faced in warm-up matches, and Hebei China Fortune had defeated them all.

Their first opponent, Argentina, once defeated the United States. Argentina's golden generation, composed of players such as Ginobili, Scola, Nocioni, and Delfino, is currently at its peak!
The Argentinians have been holding back for a long time and have long been determined to give the Chinese team a head-on blow. They want the world to know: Argentina is not only good at football and tango, but also at basketball!
"The Argentine team should not be underestimated. This group of players all came from the same training camp, and they have known each other since they were 7 or 8 years old. They grew up playing together and their teamwork and chemistry are the best in this tournament!"

Before the match against Argentina, Jonas once again earnestly advised his players. He is a typical old-school European coach, and meticulousness and strictness are his trademarks. So even though he has said these words countless times, he still has to repeat them one more time before the game!
"The Argentine team, like us, also uses a two-core system, with Scola at the power forward position being their core inside player. Apart from his mediocre physical attributes, this guy has almost maxed out all his other attributes!"

"His ability to attack the basket, his footwork, his strength, his mid-range jump shot, his face-up drives, and his playmaking are all outstanding! When defending him, the most important thing is not to jump! Yi Jianlian, when you're matched up against him, remember that too, don't jump!"

"This bastard is all about feints. His footwork is definitely one of the best among all the interior players in this Olympics. Remember, let him shoot directly, don't jump! Because if you jump, it will be at least a foul! If you don't jump, he'll only score 2 points at most!"

"Then there's their absolute core, Ginobili, who's also Lin's old buddy! This guy who once led his team to defeat the US team is almost a carbon copy of Scola, with his whole body full of feints, and his physical attributes are also quite outstanding!"

"Defending against those two will be extremely difficult! But if we can contain them, we'll essentially shut down the entire Argentine attack!"

"The last one we need to be careful of is Argentina's sixth man, Delfino. This guy is a striker who goes on erratically. When Argentina is in trouble, he will come on and start a fierce attack."

"Sometimes he can pull the team out of trouble and turn defeat into victory, and sometimes he can turn the team's predicament into a dead end! He is definitely a double-edged sword!"

"In short, apart from these two guys, the rest of the Argentine team is nothing to fear! They can compete with us in tactics, positional play, and teamwork, but we're not afraid of them at all, do you understand?"

"understand!"

"Do you have confidence?"

"Have confidence!"

"our target is!"

"Gold medal!" (End of Chapter)