Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 123 World Youth Championship Military Training Spain

Sergio Scariolo, head coach of the Spain U19 team.

As a meritorious coach of Spain, this handsome old man with slicked-back hair is reminding the starting players in a serious tone.

"Number 21 is their main scorer, Gregory, so be extra careful when guarding him."

"Feliz, help defend Gregory."

"West Malaysia, their interior is not strong. We attacked hard at the start and forced them to compress their defense."

"Barrero, you are our main scoring point, go attack their flank."

"Killian, do a good job of the second line of defense and don't let your opponent get past you easily."

"Kids, this is our first game, I won't allow failure."

"Don't worry, coach," everyone assured.

As players from both teams came on the field, the referee also came to the center of the field.

This is a very small stadium, and the surrounding stands can accommodate no more than two hundred people. But even so, there are not many people sitting in the stands.

In terms of atmosphere, it is no different from a training match.

But this is the quietest stage before a professional player steps onto the big stage. Every star starts out as an unknown figure and becomes a household name.

Chen Fang stood by very relaxedly, his opponent today, Gregory, was right next to him.

The two were the same height and body shape. Chen Fang took a look at them and asked, "Do you know English?"

"Yes." Gregory was surprised, but answered politely.

"Then we have something to talk about today!" Chen Fang smiled.

"As you wish." Gregory replied without showing any weakness.

The referee nodded to the two jumpers, indicating that the ball was about to be thrown.

Hu Jinqiu looked at the big black man in front of him. They were the same height, but the other was very sturdy and strong. On his dark face, there were two big eyes with distinct black and white flashing, staring at him fiercely.

"Beep!" With the sound of a whistle, the ball was thrown up.

Sima touched the basketball one step faster and passed it backwards, but Feliz immediately grabbed it and got the ball.

The national youth team quickly got into position, and Feliz advanced across half court and began calling for a pick-and-roll.

Xima pulled out in the area between the top of the arc and the wing. Feliz broke through to the free throw line with the ball, and Xima followed. Zhao Rui and Fu Hao were half a beat slow to react.

Zhao Rui wanted to assist in defense, and so did Fu Hao, but the targets were reversed.

Feliz keenly noticed this tacit understanding error and made a bold ground strike, passing the ball ahead of time.

Xima, who had already moved down to the short corner area, which is the area parallel to the baseline, caught the pass and made a short throw to score the first point for Spain.

Chen Fang reminded: "Take care of your own people!"

Although Fan Bin did not give the captaincy to Chen Fang, Chen Fang took on this responsibility consciously.

Zhao Rui dribbled the ball across half court, and Chen Fang stood on the wing waiting for tactics. He first took Gregory to the elbow area, then set a screen for Hu Jinqiu, allowing Hu Jinqiu to pull out to the free throw line.

Zhao Rui immediately passed the ball to Hu Jinqiu and went to the other side to take the player away.

At this time, Chen Fang passed the ball to Hu Jinqiu, and the latter immediately made a delay to block Gregory.

Chen Fang dribbled the ball outside the three-point line and shot directly without anyone guarding him.

Hit the target every time you strike.

3: 2.

Chen Fang also scored the first point for the national youth team.

Spain's ball was passed quickly, and Feliz seemed to want to test Zhao Rui's speed. The two sprinted to the wing along the sideline before stopping.

Feliz passed the ball to the outstretched Killian, and then passed it hand-to-hand again to the top of the arc.

Just when Zhao Rui and Shao Yinglun were about to chase and defend respectively, Kylian came down very quickly and shook off Shao Yinglun in an instant, but Feliz had already passed the ball.

Killian received the ball and rushed in, forcing Fu Hao to assist in defense. At this moment, he hit the ground and passed the ball to Xima.

The latter was left unattended and made a standing two-handed dunk, scoring two points.

Seeing this scene, Fan Bin shook his head slightly.

Just from these two attacks, it can be seen that Spain's tactical quality is a level higher than that of the Chinese national youth team.

This kind of high-position screen and pass is smooth and flowing, but his own players are always a beat slow when switching defense.

Chen Fang waved his hand, asking everyone to calm down. He took the initiative to ask to hang alone near the center line.

Both teams adopted a 32-high zone defense, and both were wary of the opponent's outside shooting.

Chen Fang did not let Hu Jinqiu come up to set a pick-and-roll for him. Instead, he used his speed to shake off Gregory's defense. Chen Fang continued to dribble the ball while the opponent's defensive player was defending him. He turned around and tried to break through with great force.

Chen Fang's breakthrough squeezed the Spanish defense and immediately left his teammates with open space.

After attracting two defensive players, Chen Fang passed the ball back to Hu Jinqiu who was standing at the free throw line.

The latter scored two points with a very stable mid-range shot.

The entire national youth team has two consensuses.

1. One-third of the liquid cannot be added.

Second, Hu Jinqiu’s mid-range shot cannot be missed.

In all tactical drills, Fan Bin always emphasized that the first pass should be given to Hu Jinqiu, but how Hu Jinqiu got the open space became a matter of probability.

It is obvious that Chen is trying to solve this difficult problem.

In Spain's next round of offense, they scored again through inside pass. Three consecutive inside attacks also indicated that their main theme was scoring in the inside.

Looking back, Chen Fang and Zhao Rui cooperated on the outside. After attracting double-teaming, Chen Fang passed the ball to Zhao Rui, who took a shot in a wide-open space.

Unfortunately, he didn't get in. Zhao Rui clapped his hands in frustration, but Chen Fang shouted, "You'll definitely get in next time!"

"Okay!" Zhao Rui raised his arm in response.

The two teams began to show their respective advantages. Xima's strength lies in his speed and strength, which completely crushed Fu Hao. His activity area extended from the three-point line to the penalty area. Once Fu Hao followed him out, he could not retreat.

If he doesn't expand, Xima can create damage through layups in the elbow area and free throw line.

Forward Barrero's open-cut jump shots were successful many times, and the two of them teamed up to mess up the national youth team's inside line.

However, the Chinese national youth team's outside line also made Spain unable to resist.

Whenever Chen Fang had the ball, he would attract double-teaming. His passes were often quasi-assists, and Hu Jinqiu and Zhao Rui both got good opportunities to shoot.

Six minutes into the first quarter, the score was 17:15 and the National Youth Team was leading by two points.

Fan Bin made the first adjustment.

He replaced Zhao Rui with Sun Minghui and at the same time took off Fu Hao and asked Zeng Fanri to replace the big black guy.

Yang Kai replaced Shao Yinglun.

The starting lineup continues to retain two scoring points: Chen Fang and Hu Jinqiu.

Fan Bin’s goal is very clear, which is to keep the score close.

Spain also responded by replacing Gregory with Gomez and Kylian with the younger Yeri.

Coach Scariolo’s idea is simple: to maintain pressure in the interior while consuming No. 21’s energy as much as possible.

Both coaches had their own calculations, but they ignored Chen Fang's attitude.

Chen Fang has fully understood the situation in Spain. If he wants to go off the court to rest, he has to let the score widen, otherwise Fan Bin's substitution of him will become the second quarter.

Yeri was very active. He wanted to intensify the situation for Chen Fang as soon as he came on the court, but he didn't know that Chen Fang was looking for him to attack.

After a defensive foul, Chen Fang went to the sideline to ask for the ball, and after getting the ball, he waved to his teammates to pull away. In this case, let me give you some military training!
Facing Yeri's eagerness to try, Chen Fang first used a cross step to shift the opponent's center of gravity, and then used a drag step to pull up for the ball.

Yerry stretched out his hand to interfere, but Chen Fang had already made his move, as if waiting for him. When Yerry touched Chen Fang's arm, he immediately shouted and sat down on the ground.

The linesman saw it clearly and blew the whistle immediately.

At this moment, the ball just went into the net and the referee made another gesture indicating that the goal was valid.

3+1.

Scariolo shouted angrily, expressing his dissatisfaction with the referee.

There was suspicion that No. 21 was faking a fall, but the ball did hit his hand, and the referee upheld the original decision.

Chen Fang stood at the free throw line and easily made the free throw.

21: 15.

The National Youth Team leads by 6 points.

Looking back, Xi Ma took advantage of Zeng Fanri and scored 2+1.

It was Fan Bin's turn to be unhappy. He thought Xima had elbowed him and complained to the referee, thinking that No. 11's action was too big and why was he allowed to do that?

The referee also ignored it and instead gave Fan Bin a verbal warning.

This is the difference in treatment between famous coaches and ordinary coaches. Fan Bin was pulled back by team leader Wu.

Seeing Xima make the free throw and narrow the gap to 3 points again, Fan Bin got angry.

"Beat him, beat him hard." Fan Bin shouted at Chen Fang because the nature of his performance was treated differently.

Chen Fang did not slack off at all.

He cooperated with Hu Jinqiu again. Spain had become extremely wary of the two of them, and all their attention was on Hu Jinqiu. Unexpectedly, Chen Fang made a jump step with the ball, squeezed away Yeri who was following him, and rushed into the penalty area.

As the last line of defense, Xima immediately stepped forward to protect the rim, but saw No. 21 jump up, swing the basketball with one hand and hit him in the face.

An inverted C flying in the sky.

Terror and helplessness instantly flooded into my mind.

In the eyes of the people around him, Xima stood there stupidly and was destroyed by No. 21, both himself and the frame.

The height of Chen Fang's bounce and the inertia of his rush were like a grenade fired from a gun, which directly killed Xima.

After landing, Chen Fang stood at the baseline, raised his arms and roared at several cameras.

At his feet, Xima still had his hands raised, standing there in a daze.

He didn't react until his teammates pulled him up.

Everyone on the National Youth Team's bench stood up, with Fan Bin standing at the front and applauding loudly.

"Nice button!" He felt his blood boiling.

My goodness, which coach doesn’t love a player like this? He will take revenge when he says he will, without even a millisecond of delay.

"Substitution!" Scariolo was angry. This Yeri was impossible to defend.

Gregory came on again and warned Chen Fang: "You won't be able to score that easily."

But his words were met with Chen Fang's sneer.

If you wanted me to beat you, you would have gone down long ago.

As if to verify his words, Chen Fang held the ball at the top of the arc facing Gregory. After a series of shakes, he took a small jump step and passed him cleanly.

Seeing No. 21 rushing in again, Barreiro, who was standing at the free throw line, stepped forward to block it, but felt a gust of wind blowing past him.

Chen Fang turned around and passed right in front of Barrero, then took a jump step to avoid the opponent's help defense, jumped high, and made a mid-range shot to score two more points.

Seeing No. 21 suddenly go crazy and score continuously, Scariolo didn't care about anything else and called a timeout directly.

25: 18.

After the timeout, Spain changed its formation and started to contain Chen Fang with one on four.

However, Chen Fang began to use his strong mobility to repeatedly get rid of Gregory's sticky defense and even gave two assists to his teammates.

At the end of the first quarter, the Chinese national youth team led Spain by 29 points with 20:9.

Chen Fang was panting after finishing his job. He sat on a chair and listened to Fan Bin's arrangements.

"Zhao Rui replaces Chen Fang, Zhao Yanhao replaces Sun Minghui."

He said to Chen Fang: "Have a good rest."

Lin Mo couldn't help but praise: "Well done!"

The second quarter started quickly. Without Chen Fang, Spain's strategy deviated, but their good tactical qualities allowed them to start chasing points.

But continuing Chen Fang's mental state, the two Zhao combination did not show weakness. Instead, Hao Ge made two three-pointers in a row, catching Spain off guard again.

As time went by, the entire second quarter was a game of you attack yours and I attack my own. Fan Bin had long known that his team could not beat the opponent in defense, so he piled up offensive players frantically, making it clear that he was going to play a head-on game with Spain.

Chen Fang sat quietly on the bench throughout the second quarter. The longer he rested, the longer he would have to play in the second half.

Sure enough, when Fan Bin saw that the score was tied, he still did not let Chen Fang play.

At the end of the first half, looking at the situation of :48:50, two points behind, Fan Bin smiled.

Back in the locker room, Fan Bin began to make corresponding arrangements based on the performance in the first half.

"They are not strong on the perimeter, so we played a 41 zone defense in the second half. Chen Fang, you will float outside by yourself and control the opponent's point guard."

"In the third quarter, we widened the score. This Spanish team is not strong. We need to disrupt their mentality. We need to score continuously and the whole team should show the momentum to decide the outcome in one quarter!"

After a long wait, Fan Bin finally saw hope of winning. If they could defeat Spain, the situation would be very good.

"Chen Fang, is there any problem?" Fan Bin rarely asked in the team meeting.

Chen Fang stood up and answered confidently: "No problem, one session!"

"Good!" Fan Bin didn't say anything about military orders, he just clapped and cheered.

"Everyone else, go back and shoot, keep your touch." Then he looked at Chen Fang and motioned for him to stay.

When no one was around, Fan Bin asked, "Do we need to come up with a strategy?"

It was rare for the coach to ask the players for tactical coordination, but neither of them was surprised.

Chen Fang shook his head: "Spain can't defend me."

"Okay!" Fan Bin felt relieved.

During the two months in the country, the National Youth Team mainly practiced several tactics of "four protecting one" to prevent the opponent from targeting Chen Fang.

Fan Bin was not afraid of being laughed at, he just placed all his bets on Chen Fang.

With or without Chen Fang, the strength of the National Youth Team is like heaven and earth.

Watching Chen Fang go out, Fan Bin sat down and finally had time to drink some water. Team leader Wu, who had been silent the whole time, said, "Our best result was seventh."

"Take it step by step!" Fan Bin replied in a deep voice.

"Ah."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

To beat Spain, it all depends on the third quarter.

And if we really win, the domestic attitude will change immediately.

The offensive and defensive dynamics are different.

　It's November now, the typhoon is coming, and the temperature has dropped. Please keep warm! I worked too hard in the last stage of October, and I can't continue at this intensity! My hands are almost stiff when the weather gets cold! Please understand!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)