Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 394 Fierce Battle Against Spain (Part Two)
The ball is in hand, the person is walking.

The essence of the European basketball system lies in the teamwork between players and the ball.

Spain anticipated from the start that the Chinese team would launch a fierce attack. Their current strategy is to wear down the Chinese team's temperament, like a matador fighting a bull, constantly wearing them down and repeatedly bleeding them out with a bayonet until they finally defeat them.

Facing the formidable Chinese team, Spain adopted a slower pace, played a positional game, and proceeded methodically from the inside to the outside.

In contrast, China seemed determined to attack relentlessly regardless of the opponent's strength. The first seven minutes of the first quarter saw both sides closely battling for the score.

18:16.

It was undeniably exciting, but those within the industry were increasingly uneasy.

“Spain is maintaining its own rhythm,” Yu Jia continued. “They are playing very methodically, without the slightest panic.”

"They really are a world-class team," she concluded with a sigh.

There is also a huge hidden danger: Spain has made three substitutions, while China has not made any changes.

This also highlights the gap between the two sides' bench players. Li Nan doesn't have many options, and before Spain gets into trouble, it will be difficult for him to put more players on the court, as that would affect his own rhythm.

Half a minute had passed since the agreed-upon substitution time with Chen Fang, but Chen Fang still hadn't given the signal.

This is also a problem. From one perspective, King Chen is not satisfied with the current situation and fears that if he goes down there, Spain will launch a major counterattack.

"We must change!" Andy insisted.

A dozen seconds later, the Chinese defense committed a foul, and the buzzer sounded at the scorer's table for a substitution. Chen Fang turned his head to look and found that it was his turn to be substituted.

He paused for a moment, then lowered his head and walked down.

Andy was waiting for him on the sidelines. Before Chen Fang could speak, he said, "To motivate the whole team, you can't just be a babysitter. You're the leader, and you should do what a leader does."

"Thank you, Coach." Chen Fang realized he was worrying too much and was letting his anxiety about the unresolved situation affect him.

After Chen was off the court, Spain suddenly sped up. Victor, who replaced Rudy, and point guard Colomb, who had already entered the game, were both experienced veterans. According to their strategy, they made plays on the flanks, and after small pick-and-roll plays, they went straight into the Chinese paint, creating continuous scoring opportunities.

Yi committed another foul, his second, and Li Nan took the opportunity to substitute him, bringing on Hu Jinqiu.

Zhou Qi has also been replaced by Shen Zijie, and the court is currently being played entirely by Li Ke'er and a group of substitutes.

But Zhao Rui and Sun Minghui brought a surprise. First, Sun Minghui dribbled the ball on the wing and attacked Colomb, drawing a foul on the layup and making both free throws, tying the score at 20-20.

Then Zhao Rui, on defense, cut off Victor's dribble and sprinted forward. Although he missed the layup, he drew a foul from Spain.

Chen Fang stood up and cheered for them. Although the two shots didn't go in, they showed great spirit and boosted the confidence of the local players.

Unfortunately, the competition was too intense, and Zhao Rui missed both free throws, which drew a sigh from Yu Jia.

"Free throws under high pressure are very difficult, and it's hard to control the power of the shot. Zhao Rui has done very well." Yu Jia also offered some encouragement for Zhao Rui.

With one and a half minutes left, Spain continued to speed up the pace. Although the whole team tried their best to defend, Spain's teamwork was too dazzling. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter, China was down by five points, 20-25.

Chen Fang's face was grim; there was nothing he could do about it.

Hu Jinqiu was too nervous; he missed both of his mid-range shots, a far cry from his usual standard.

Furthermore, his problem at the power forward position is very serious; his lateral movement is too slow, and Spain's three points all originated from his position.

Li Nan was speechless and quickly adjusted the lineup for the second quarter.

According to the plan, Chen Fang was supposed to come back on the field in three minutes, but everyone was worried that if Spain widened the gap in those three minutes, it would be difficult to catch up.

Sometimes, the point difference is the source of confidence to win; the closer the margin, the more motivated you become.

Conversely, if you go too far away, you will lose your edge.

Without much thought, Chen Fang went on stage.

Let him lead the substitutes for 3 minutes, and then let the other starters return to the field to continue the battle against Spain.

In fact, this order of appearance is problematic. Chen Fang is a card that can be used more effectively when the team is at its strongest. If he is brought along as a substitute, it will only allow Spain to double-team him without restraint.

So Andy immediately communicated with Li Nan and reluctantly replaced some of the main players.

Yi, Chen Fang, Shen Zijie, Xiao Chuan, Zhao Rui.

Letting Zhou Qi and Guo Ailun rest for a few minutes is a moderate choice, but it is the best solution at this moment.

China has the ball.

Chen Fang was warmly welcomed by the Spanish team as soon as he came on. Victor replaced Rudy and was the one who was marked by the whole team.

It's worth noting that Victor, who is 206cm tall, can play both the 3 and 4 positions. He has the size of a number 4 but also the skills of a small forward. His weight of 102kg is a huge advantage when placed at the small forward position.

This is also one of the trump cards that Sergio, the head coach of the Spanish team, has in order to deal with Chen Wang.

But there was one thing Sergio didn't expect: this Spanish talent, who was eliminated from the NBA in 15, had quite a few weaknesses.

Besides his inability to finish at the rim, his mid-range and three-point shots were inconsistent, and his poor rebounding and slow movement were the main reasons he was eliminated from the NBA.

His question was already in Chen Fang's mind. He pretended to catch the ball, then suddenly swayed his shoulder and made a reverse run. After taking a step out, he stopped and turned back to the way he came.

After receiving the ball, Chen Fang dribbled to the other side. Spain's defense was solid and stable. The biggest weakness of this formation is that if a certain point collapses, it will take more time to make up for it. So, as Chen Fang dribbled to the three-point line on the wing, the person who was supposed to make up for him was still on his way.

He raised his hand to shoot, maintaining his shooting posture, and watched the net splash up before retracting his arm.

"With Chen Wang here right from the start, you never have to worry about falling behind." Yu Jia was overjoyed to see this. At the start of the second quarter, they narrowed the score to 23-25, which undoubtedly relieved the pressure on everyone.

Sergio's expression changed; he suddenly realized the problem, so he whistled, signaling Hernangomez, who plays the power forward position, to substitute.

Juanjo Hernangómez, also an outstanding new generation of Spanish talent, was selected by the Nuggets in 16. He has amazing physical attributes and excellent athleticism as a power forward. He is an ideal stretch four, and he is very motivated and rarely loses interest and focus on the game.

In 22, he also became the lead actor in the basketball movie "The Scout," while the villain was the future Wolf King Edwards.

[This movie is indeed good; at least the basketball scenes are top-notch in terms of tension. It was invested in by LeBron James, and many NBA stars appear in it.]

However, Chen Fang is not Edwards; his abilities far surpass this guy's.

When facing opponents taller than himself, Chen Fang's approach is to relentlessly attack their lower body.

Each additional movement doubles the chance of your opponent losing their balance; sometimes, they're already in disarray even before you've moved.

He played a cross-court shot from the middle, making a diagonal run to the top of the arc. Juan switched onto him, his arms like vines, firmly controlling Chen Fang.

Unfortunately, this was just wishful thinking on his part. Chen Fang continued to move, coming to a point inside the three-point line on the wing, and suddenly bounced back. The ball was immediately passed to him by Zhao Rui.

He caught the ball and immediately made a triple threat, then placed the ball between his legs, switched to his left hand, made a quick crossover with a stop-and-go, and then made a large crossover with his right hand, making Juan laugh as if he were doing the Charles dance.

With a simple change of direction, Chen Fang was already behind and to the side of Juan. He stopped abruptly, caught the ball, jumped up, and steadily made the mid-range shot.

25:25.

"This is the power of Chen Wang. Looking around the world, no one can defend against him one-on-one, not even Leonard!" The Spanish commentator was very frustrated to see Chen Wang defeat two opponents in a one-on-one match and expressed such a dismay.

The Shanghai Sports Center was already erupting in cheers. Chen Wang scored 5 consecutive points, tying the score. How heroic and powerful he was!

"Amazing! Amazing!" Even important leaders clapped their hands in praise. This competition was truly exciting to watch.

Chen Fang's sharp play prompted Spain to make adjustments. They immediately changed their formation, switching to a one-man defense and four-man coverage, with Juan continuing to lead the defense in the half and shooting guard Paulo Ribas providing backup.

This is the standard treatment for Prince Chen.

In the following rounds, even when Chen Fang received the ball, he was double-teamed, so he simply pulled the ball away for his teammates.

Yi Jianlian began to dominate possession of the ball, with Zhao Rui from the same club providing him with passes. Xiao Chuan consistently created opportunities for Yi Jianlian's one-on-one plays by making off-ball runs.

Shen Zijie mainly sets screens and picks, while Chen Fang stays alone on the weak side, observing the two defenders guarding him. Whenever he finds a blind spot in the other side's view, he moves, forcing them to focus their attention back on him.

Yi's outstanding back-to-the-basket skills once again disrupted Spain's defense. He engaged in a brutal exchange of blows with substitute center Willie Hernangomez, the sounds of their collisions even reaching the bench.

Once, twice, three times.

Yi Jianlian's signature turnaround move left Willie with no ability to jump; reaching out was his last act of defiance.

"Standing on one leg, Yi Jianlian!" Yu Jia shouted Yi's name.

Seeing the ball go in, Yi roared to the sky. He knew that today was the best opportunity to break the record, and he didn't want to miss it or have any regrets.

Scoring goals and getting points became his greatest desire.

The tide began to turn. Spain's shooting touch remained poor in the next possession. Juan's shot was disrupted by Chen Fang, and Shen Zijie, who had regained possession, immediately found Chen Fang.

Chen Fang threw the ball with great force, caught it sideways, nimbly turned around, shook off Paul behind him, caught the bouncing basketball again, and strode across the center line.

With no one watching him for the moment, he charged forward decisively, and before Juan could pounce, he used a cross step to move sideways, widening the distance between them once again.

At this moment, Chen Fang was still more than two meters away from the three-point line, but he decisively took the ball and shot. At this distance, there was no problem!

He has that confidence! "Chen Wang is advancing, past half-court, Spain is chasing and defending, going to the sideline, Juan in the paint rushes out, shakes off, oh, shoots a three-pointer!" Yu Jia's live commentary was extremely fast. When he saw Chen Fang shoot, he immediately stood up, raised his arms and shouted.

"Chen Wang's three points!"

"Ah...! Hit!!!"

"Chen Wang's shots are unerring; he made all three of his shots in the second quarter. Now China is leading Spain by five points. We've gone on a 10-0 run!"

After making the shot, Chen Wang made the Ice Shooter's celebration gesture, placing his right hand on his outstretched left forearm, looking down at the cheering fans in the arena.

Spain called a pause; they need to address a problem, the same familiar one.

A choice!

"Secure the halfway line and double-team the ball handler." After giving these instructions, Sergio began to set up the offensive tactics and substituted all the starters.

It was clear that the substitutes lacked the ability to score, which led to China taking the lead.

Spain, fielding their full-strength squad, extinguished the cheers from the stands with their very first attack, as Rubio, Rudy, and Gasol executed a brilliant combination play.

Rubio passed the ball from the top of the arc to Gasol, who had moved up to the free-throw line, setting a screen for Juan. Juan, who was guarded by Chen Fang, cut to the basket, drawing Yi Jianlian over and forcing Ricky Lee, who was guarding Rudy, to retreat to the inside to provide wing help defense for Zhou Qi.

All of this was read by Gasol. He launched his attack downwards, but then stopped and passed the ball to Rubio, who had just made an off-ball run and returned to the top of the arc.

With Rubio unguarded, he made a shooting motion, and Zhao Rui, who was switching to guard Rudy, abandoned Rudy and rushed over.

Rudy, who was in an open position, received a beautiful back pass from Rubio on the wing. He glanced at the rim and looked down to see if he had stepped out of bounds before shooting.

The ball bounced off the rim with a thud; it was a very clean three-pointer that hit the back of the rim!
30:28.

Spain quickly closed the gap to just two points.

This time, however, Chen Fang didn't want his hard work to go to waste. He took the initiative to receive the serve at the baseline, asked Zhao Rui to set a screen for him, and quickly crossed the center line before waving to his teammates to spread out.

This was an obvious one-on-one attack. Rudy stepped forward, maintaining a distance of more than three meters, to give himself enough space to react defensively.

Chen Fang pressed forward, and speaking of Chen Fang's dribbling at this point, he had already entered his third stage.

From his Rose-style dribbling in high school to his Kobe-style dribbling when he first entered the league, he now resembles Paul George more.

More suspended balls, powerful dribbling, the ball seems to stick to the palm of the hand, and the constant pocket-style dribbling makes the ball stay in the palm of the hand for longer.

Paul George is considered the league's most elegant small forward because of his beautiful ball-handling skills.

Moreover, this dribbling style has a strong offensive feel, enough to make the defender's center of gravity automatically become disordered, causing them to move up and down erratically.

With just a little effort, we can create even greater room for breakthrough!

With another step, he was already in front of Rudy. He dragged half a step, then suddenly stopped and bowed. But with a hip turn and a sideways acceleration, Rudy, caught off guard, was shocked to find that Chen Fang was already at his shoulder level.

Rudy immediately retreated and rotated his hips, while reaching out to interfere. Rudy's movements were undeniably fast, but they couldn't withstand Chen Fang's subsequent changes.

He swerved the ball sideways, then caught it in the air, lifting the basketball as he rose into the air. Rudy desperately stretched out his arm to interfere, only to find that he couldn't even reach Chen Fang's neck.

Whether this kind of shot goes in or not has absolutely nothing to do with the defender.

With a flick of the wrist and a press of the fingers, the entire movement was executed flawlessly. As soon as the ball left his hand, Chen Fang felt the ball coming.

He landed and ran towards the stands, raising his arms in a three-point gesture, and the stands responded with a roar as they saw the ball shoot through the net.

"This is godlike, an incredible ability!" Yu Jia took a deep breath and said into the microphone, "Chen Wang, who wants to win, is a godlike being."

The fact that Yu Jia could say such a thing shows how incredibly powerful the atmosphere was.

The ever-increasing cheers, the exuberant celebrations after scoring, and the historical significance of this match all contribute to the captivating atmosphere.

33:28.

China has once again widened the gap to five points.

Chen Fang's three-pointer ignited his teammates' fighting spirit, and in the following possessions, China repeatedly attacked the basket with aggressive small plays, creating dangerous situations.

Spain was like a ship in a raging storm, but the core players, led by Rubio and Gasol, showed no fear and calmly responded to the overwhelming offensive launched by Chen Fang.

Their flexible lineup maintained a high-quality defensive intensity, and neither Yi nor Zhao Rui managed to score.

Instead, Spain switched to offense, executing a sophisticated three-man fast break, with Juan finally slamming the ball into the basket.

33:30.

The second quarter was already halfway through, and while it seemed that China had the advantage, the reality was quite different.

Chen Fang's performance was already god-like, but Spain held on and didn't widen the gap, which means they could come back at any time and deliver the final blow.

Andy looked serious, and Li Nan paced back and forth anxiously.

The current situation is something they didn't expect; they didn't anticipate that Spain would be so tough.

The game continued, with China launching wave after wave of powerful attacks. Chen Fang was fouled on his drive, and his receiving of the ball was disrupted. His teammates were making desperate runs, but Guo Ailun was left wide open and missed both of his shots, which frustrated him so much that he clapped his hands.

The Chinese coaching staff, witnessing this situation, all looked worried.

Guo Ailun is the biggest weakness among the starters.

If the other party exploits his unstable projections, it could cause unimaginable problems.

The difficult decision of having two players double-team Chen Wang was perfectly resolved!
If Guo Ailun is given more space on the perimeter and the interior defense is maintained, then China will not be able to gain the advantage of playing with fewer players in certain areas.

Li Nan decisively called a timeout, which immediately dampened the excitement of the fans. The interruption was frustrating, and the stands erupted in boos.

But there was no other way; Li Nan had to call a timeout.

After rearranging the tactics, Zhao Rui replaced Guo Ailun, which essentially patched up the previous bug.

Spain's head coach Sergio seemed to have anticipated this and immediately made adjustments, taking Orio off the court and moving Juan to the number 4 position. On the forward and guard line, he added Javier Belin, a 32-year-old veteran who is 199 cm tall. His presence on the court balanced the speed of Spain's perimeter defense switching and further increased the intensity.

His entry into the game immediately solved Zhao Rui's problem. On the Chinese side, Yi Jianlian performed strongly, but apart from him, everyone else was limited in their abilities, all bark and no bite, and wasted several scoring opportunities.

Chen Fang was once again surrounded, but unlike in the previous game, he did not rely on his teammates to step up.

Instead of waiting, we should charge forward.

"Beautiful! Chen Fang is still scoring. A layup under triple coverage, an amazing shot! That moment of hang time in the air solved all the problems."

Yu Jia shouted excitedly, "No matter what dangers we face, Prince Chen will slay them with a single sword strike!"

After landing and rolling twice, Chen Fang got up on his own and struggled to retreat and defend.

The score was climbing, and by the time the final round came, it had become 48 to 45.

China still maintains a slight lead.

Chen Fang dribbled the ball quickly across half-court under Yi's screen, panting heavily, but his eyes were as bright as torches.

Belan stepped forward, Rudy began to double-team him, but this time, Chen Fang attacked first.

With a half-turn, he moved Juan around, but then immediately accelerated, weaving through the crowd to the free-throw line. Gasol had already moved in to cover, but Chen Fang spun past him with a quick turn.

Take a step forward and reach out to flick the trigger.

Almost the entire audience held their breath!

The ball was tumbling, just narrowly missing Juan's fingertips as he jumped out from the wing to block it, before it began to plummet.

It fell onto the orange basketball hoop, snapped, and then tumbled headfirst into it.

"50 to 45!" Yu Jia could finally shout it out.

Then came the buzzer signaling the end of the first half.

Chen stumbled and fell to the floor, exhaling heavily. He sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, outside the baseline, the overhead light glaring.

He squinted for a moment, then shook his head, sweat flying everywhere. Chen Fang suddenly felt many hands patting his back, very gently, very gently.

Turning my head, I saw smiles everywhere.

"Go for it, Prince Chen!"

"Lead us to the semifinals!"

"You are the strongest!"

The words echoed in his ears, and Chen Fang smiled. He stretched out his hand, and countless hands appeared, grabbing Chen Fang and pulling him up from the floor.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely win!" Chen Fang shouted to them.

(End of this chapter)