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Chapter 207 Unprecedented Prestige, Absolutely No Freedom (Second Update Across the Day!)
American fans will never forget the scene of the Redemption Team being defeated twice by Qin Yue single-handedly at the Beijing Olympics.

For many American fans, it was from that moment that Qin Yue's image gradually replaced Jordan's in their minds.

When the idea that the Redemption Team only lost to the God of Basketball at the Beijing Olympics became rampant—in the past two years, Qin Yue on the international stage is to American basketball what Faker is to the mid laners of the LPL in the future, a god who can only be looked up to.

On the evening of September 13, the highly anticipated FIBA ​​World Championship final was held at the St. Wendac Olympic Stadium in Constantinople.

In this World Championship, the American team, which gave American fans a diamond-like hope, continued with their previous starting lineup—Chandler, Odom, Durant, Rose, and Billups.

The starting lineup for the Chinese team is led by the Republic's twin towers – Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu, Sun Yue, and Qin Yue.

During the pre-game jump ball, when the Republic's Tyrannosaurus Rex saw Chandler's strong and powerful muscles...
Qin Yue noticed that Yao Ming, who had previously looked listless, suddenly became extremely hungry, as if he hadn't eaten for days.

Yao Ming doesn't know if American basketball is really in decline. Is it really impossible for American basketball to find a center who can even play a slightly decent game? If Howard can barely be considered his opponent in Yao Ming's eyes, then in Yao Ming's long-held perception, Chandler is probably no different from the punching bag that Mayweather uses for training.

In the jump ball, Qin Yue won possession for the Chinese team.

In the frontcourt, after creating space in the half-court, Qin Yue easily passed the ball to Yao Ming, who was already in a low position.

Chandler's darkest hour has arrived.

No matter how good Chandler's reputation is in the industry these past two years, he can only be beaten when facing Yao Ming in the low post.

He turned around and hooked his hand around hers.

Yao Ming scored the first two points for the Chinese team, just like in training.

Instead of paying attention to the other four players on the American team, Qin Yue went straight for Durant.

That night, the referee in charge of officiating the match was Karl Jungbrand, an old friend of Qin Yue.

Qin Yue knew very well what defensive moves Jungbrand allowed him to use.

However, unlike Anthony who was isolated and helpless two years ago...
Since Durant is the sole core of this US team, the offensive resources he enjoys on the court are significantly greater than those he had two years ago.

On the wing, with screens from Chandler and Odom, Durant successfully shook off Qin Yue's defense and hit a pull-up jumper despite Zhu Fangyu's help defense.

Qin Yue knew that Durant like this couldn't be shut down.

But as long as Durant pays a sufficient price on offense, Qin Yue believes the Chinese team can fully accept his scoring.

Of course, the goal is to reduce Durant's offensive firepower.
Qin Yue also needs to punish Durant when it's China's turn to attack.

Therefore, in the first quarter, in addition to focusing on passing the ball to Yao Ming and letting Yao Ming dominate in the low post, Qin Yue would try to switch Durant to his side whenever he had the chance, and resolutely execute the point guard play in front of him.

In front of the television, this might be the episode where LeBron James has shown the most support for Qin Yue in recent years.

Because if Durant really leads this US team back to its peak in this World Championship...
As the leader of the Dream Team in the previous two tournaments, James is destined to be repeatedly criticized by the American media.

Although, according to James himself, the 06 Dream Team was led by him, Wade, and Anthony, while the leaders of the 08 Redemption Team were actually Kobe and Kidd—considering that the two defeats of the US team were mainly due to Kobe's old age and the poor performance of Carmelo Anthony and Wade, in James's view, American fans should not attribute the failures of the Dream Team in the past two major tournaments to his young age at that time.

However, Durant's outstanding performance in this World Championship will inevitably lead American fans to compare him with James.

For LeBron James, who will be teammates with Kevin Durant next season, the fear of his brother suffering hardship and driving a Range Rover is undoubtedly the most accurate reflection of his current state of mind.

Fortunately, at the end of the first quarter, the Chinese team led 29-24.

James is no stranger to Qin Yueqiu's unrestrained performance on the court.

Because Qin Yue can take advantage of his shooting range to shoot from the relatively short three-point line in FIBA ​​games, it will inevitably make it much more difficult for the defense to guard him.

In addition, Curry, who was never trusted by Coach K as a member of this US team, was also a major flaw of this US team.

Qin Yue comes from the future.

He knew very well what it would look like if Curry had an explosion in a FIBA ​​game.

Unfortunately.
Coach K placed more trust in Westbrook during the roster rotation phase.

In addition, in order to curb Qin Yue's scoring on the court, the US team successively sent out Iguodala and Gay to increase the average height of the forwards and guards in the subsequent games. Throughout the first half, the US team, which clearly had the winning trump card, did not give Curry even a minute of playing time.

Qin Yue and Yao Ming did not tolerate the US team's behavior of having ace players but not using them.

At halftime, the Chinese team, which held a clear advantage in the field, led 57-45.

Durant's performance in the first half lived up to the expectations of American fans.

在队友的助力下，杜兰特半场12投6中，其中三分球8投4中，罚球4罚4中，总计拿到了20分4篮板。

However, against a Chinese team with Qin Yue and Yao Ming, Durant's individual performance was clearly insufficient to turn the tide of the game.

With Qin Yue in charge of passing and controlling the game's tempo, the Chinese team only made one mistake in the first half.

This means that the US team is simply unable to execute their favorite transition offense on the court.

Without fast breaks and transitioning to half-court offense, this US team lacks a reliable second scoring option besides Durant.

Whether it's Rose or Westbrook, whom Coach K prefers, their effectiveness will be greatly reduced on the international stage.

Because FIBA ​​does not have a three-second rule, Rose and Westbrook would face Chinese players who were always over seven feet tall whenever they drove in.

Most critically, because Chandler picked up three fouls in just the first half, the US team had to bring in Love to play center in the second half.

This further reduced the height of the US men's basketball team's interior defense and completely freed Qin Yue from his constraints.

Indeed, although Chandler gave the impression in the first half that Yao Ming was constantly attacking the paint, when Chandler was helping defend the rim for Team USA, he was the only player on the team who could contain Qin Yue in the paint.

In the second half, with the US team no longer having its last line of defense, Qin Yue immediately began to call out each of the US team's forwards on the court.

Furthermore, after each order was placed, Qin Yue would always defend his good friend.

On the court, after squeezing into the paint against Iguodala's defense and easily scoring two points, Qin Yue jokingly said, "Your defense is far worse than Brown's."

Then, in the next possession, he knocked Odom away and slammed home a dunk. Qin Yue laughed and said, "Your defense is less than a tenth of Brown's."

On the sidelines, watching the American forwards who had been labeled "not as good as James" by Qin Yue, Coach K had no choice but to risk sending Chandler, who had three fouls, back onto the court.

Then, Chandler, who quickly accumulated fouls, didn't even realize he had committed his fifth personal foul before he was ejected from the game, as FIBA ​​requires five fouls.

"Looks like I was overthinking it." Yao Ming said to Qin Yue when Chandler was ejected. "American basketball is really not good anymore."

In fact, if Coach K had commanded the team properly, Qin Yue believed that the American team would have had a real chance of defeating the Chinese team.

However, until the fourth quarter, Coach K didn't seem to remember that his American team had a player named Stephen Curry.
Throughout the game, Durant scored a team record 38 points, burning himself out and becoming the only saving grace for the US team on the night of the finals.

However, the scoreboard showed the score between the Chinese and American teams as 102 to 90.

赛后，秦岳以场均42分11篮板7助攻3封盖1抢断的优异表现，毫无悬念地当选了世锦赛最佳球员。

"American basketball has shown us progress under the leadership of 'KD,' but it clearly needs to do better to defeat that god on the international stage."

During the interview, Durant took responsibility, saying, "We let him score 50+ points (54 points) again in the game against Team USA, and I failed to deliver a performance that matched his, which was the main reason we lost."

Compared to his shattered dream of redemption two years ago, USA Basketball President Colangelo, who was already mentally prepared for a loss this night, said in an interview: "This summer, with many superstars unwilling to play for their country, I think 'KD's' performance has fully demonstrated that American basketball is still at a world-class level."

Led by Qin Yue, the Chinese team has won the world championship for two consecutive major competitions.

This not only gave Qin Yue a further boost in his personal popularity, but also made him the only GOAT in the FIBA ​​arena in the hearts of many fans.

"It's obvious that with Qin Yue, we are number one in the world, while without him, we would likely only be a second-rate, or even a third-rate, team," Yao Ming said at the press conference.

Perhaps at this moment, Chinese fans might think Yao Ming is being modest.

But time will tell.
Yao Ming's humble assessment at this moment is incredibly valuable.

After the final, Qin Yue took the initiative to find Curry, who had a very unpleasant experience in this World Championship.

"Don't be sad. Next time there's a big tournament, remember to give your head coach a TV. That way you won't have to be a substitute anymore," Qin Yue joked, patting Curry on the shoulder.

In the US team, there has always been a seniority-based system.

For example, Qin Yue's memories of the Paris Olympics.

If Curry hadn't already built up enough prestige in his past career, he might not have even had the chance to prove himself later on, based solely on his poor performance before the semifinals.

In 1984, even a relatively inexperienced Jordan was still brought to tears by then-USA head coach Bob Knight and ordered by Knight to apologize to the entire team. ①
Qin Yue knew very well that even if he played for the US team in his rookie season, he would likely be sent to the corner to smoke and obediently do the dirty work and hard work for the other superstars on the court.

In fact, in Qin Yue's memory, the reason why Chinese basketball was criticized by fans for its seniority system in later generations was mainly because he played too poorly.

After all, in competitive sports, especially team sports like football and basketball, seniority is often an important way to maintain the stable operation of a team.

……

The World Championships have ended.

Qin Yue, who did not stay in Constantinople for a moment, was soon taken to China by his major sponsors.

As the greatest athlete in Chinese sports history, this is undoubtedly an outrageous thing.

Qin Yue, who wanted to return to China every summer, was never able to enjoy a peaceful and tranquil vacation. Instead, he was treated like cattle by his sponsors.

Furthermore, Qin Yue, who causes a sensation wherever he goes in China, has absolutely no personal freedom or private space.

Although Qin Yue knew this was the price he paid for his fame.

But just thinking about the rest of my life, the thought that even going out to buy a jianbing (Chinese crepe) would attract a crowd of onlookers...
Qin Yue then involuntarily entered a state of self-isolation.

In October, Qin Yue, having ended his bull and horse career and the years he spent being stared at like a panda, officially returned to Auckland to prepare for the new season.

As arranged by Mike Malone, Qin Yue will not participate in the team's preseason training camp this year, so he will continue to enjoy a decadent vacation before the new season begins.

One of Qin Yue's main tasks next is to comfort and help Maria Sharapova, who was unfortunately eliminated in the first round of this year's US Open, prepare for next year's US Open.

Why only one of them?

During the photoshoot for the new cover of Sports Illustrated, Qin Yue had the good fortune to meet Elizabeth Olsen, who was then in the prime of her youth.

This is not a goal that Qin Yue can achieve in the short term.

To win over the strict and disciplined Ao Mei, Qin Yue is destined to use every trick in the book during this period.

Meanwhile...
As teams begin their preseason training camps
Before the new season even started, an unexpected earthquake shook the entire league.

……

PS: Second update across the day, please subscribe and vote!
①: The 1984 Olympics became one of Jordan's most painful memories, because it is said that Knight used very harsh language and many words that are not allowed to be used at the time.

(End of this chapter)