章節 18: Chapter 17 The United States Men's Basketball Team Made History, The Huaxia Men's Basketball Team Also Wants to Make History
In the 2002 FIBA World Championships, the United States' "Dream Five Team" made history with their worst performance to date at home in Indiana:
Sixth in the world.
The humiliating result saw many NBA Superstars commit to compete in the 2003 Americas Championship.
The "Dream Six Team" easily assembled an impressive roster: Duncan, Allen Iverson, Jide, Ray Allen, little O'Neal, Brand, Carter, Bibi, Kenyan Martin, Richard Jefferson, Nick Collison.
They swept through the Americas Championship qualifiers.
But at this time, the Host, Greece, suffered a horrifying terrorist attack, with threats of continued actions to follow. A large number of the "Dream Six" members announced their withdrawal. Necessity forced the United States to fill the roster with many first- and second-year players.
Among them were the "class of '03's" LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and from the "class of '02," Amare Stoudemire and Carlos Boozer.
These players had talent and would become the backbone of the NBA in the future.
But for now, they were rookies, with little experience on the court, and they were facing FIBA basketball rules, different from the NBA's.
Furthermore, the head coach chosen for the United States was Larry Brown, known for his reluctance to use rookies.
When the results of the warm-up matches were released, the American media were pessimistic, dubbing them the "Nightmare Team." Even these venomous members of the American media probably didn't anticipate the "Dream Six" performing so absurdly:
In their first group match, they put on quite a show, losing to Puerto Rico 73-92. This marked the first time a United States team had lost an international competition since the inception of the "Dream Team."
However, these defeats didn't serve as a wake-up call. Their second defeat followed, this time to Lithuania. By the end of the group matches, they finished fourth in their group with three wins and two losses, barely qualifying for the next round.
This result set off the American media.
The outraged Americans suggested they skip the flight back and swim instead, given they had lost everything down to their underwear.
However, they soon realized:
Finishing fourth in the group might not be the most embarrassing moment for the United States Men's Basketball Team this year, as they would likely fall in the first round of the quarter-finals.
According to the tournament rules, upon reaching the "quarter-finals," groups A and B would face off alternately. The best-performing teams from each group would play against the worst of the other, and so forth.
This meant that the "Dream Team," fourth in group B, would face Italy, the top team in group A!
At this World Cup, Italy was the runner-up.
This wasn't down to luck, but to their sheer strength.
Argentina stood no chance against them in the group matches.
The real cause of concern for American fans was:
In two previous warm-up matches, one ended with the "Dream Team" losing by 17 points, and in the other, they narrowly escaped a "double defeat" thanks to Allen Iverson's large "three-point shots." The opponent wasn't anyone else but the Italian Men's Basketball Team!
They had a significant psychological advantage over the "Dream Six Team."
Moreover, being fourth in their group already imposed immense psychological pressure on the "Dream Team."
The "quarter-final" match even alarmed David Stern, who personally came from New York to supervise the event.
Previously, he had overseen the "Dream Six" battle Lithuania for the bronze at the Olympics, where the "Dream Six" overcame the pressure and defeated Lithuania, securing third place.
But this time, David Stern didn't bring luck to the "Dream Six Team."
There were multiple reasons:
The original "Dream Six" had beaten Spain, the top of group A, and had accumulated a certain amount of confidence. But this time they faced Italy directly, with no time to adjust.
Another point was that the Spanish Men's Basketball Team played in an American style, which was more in the "Dream Six" Team's comfort zone. Marbury only exploded during one match in the Athens Olympics, which was against Spain.
Against European and South American teams, this year's "Dream Six" was simply outmatched.
78 to 69.
David Stern watched with his own eyes as the "Dream Six Team" lost the knockout game by 9 points.
The "Dream Six Team" continued to make history, this time with their worst Olympic performance:
Top eight!
Meanwhile, the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team was also preparing for the quarterfinals, and Su Wan missed the outcome of this match. But as soon as practice ended, he received the news from the staff:
"Dream Six" lost!
This meant that if the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team also lost in the quarterfinals, they might face the "Dream Six Team."
Given the current situation, where Lithuania, Puerto Rico, and Italy had all pulled off surprises, who's to say the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team couldn't make a splash and leave behind a classic story for bragging in more than a decade:
The basketball superpower of the United States, you know about the "Dream Team," right? Back in the Athens Olympics, they were wailing after we beat them!
But it's useless, the more they wailed, the more excited I became, and the more excited I was, the harder I played!
Of course, that was just a fleeting thought.
More glorious than defeating the "Dream Team" would be improving the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team's best Olympic record!
And now, the opportunity to make history was right before their eyes:
The quarterfinal match, with the third-placed Huaxia Men's Basketball Team from their group up against the second-placed Puerto Rico from Group B!
This should be the most favorable opponent for the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team out of the remaining seven teams in the quarterfinals.
Because one year later, without Su Wan, the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team faced Puerto Rico twice, laughing last in one game and narrowly losing by a single-digit score in another. This showed that the strength of the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team and Puerto Rico was quite evenly matched.
However, the Puerto Rico team that played Huaxia Men's Basketball the following year didn't have their ace point guard, Alonzo. — He was the key to Puerto Rico's victory over "Dream Six," scoring 24 points against the "Dream Six Team" and shaming a host of NBA stars on the perimeter.
Therefore, whether or not they could limit Alonzo would greatly determine the outcome of the match between the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team and Puerto Rico.
And naturally, the heavy responsibility of defending Alonzo fell on Su Wan's shoulders.
After training, Del Harris also specifically spoke to Su Wan: "Kid, I'm going to arrange for you to defend their point guard star tomorrow. He scored 24 points against Dream Six. If you can contain him, I think you'll definitely cause quite a stir in the United States."
This "Silver Fox" was quite sly indeed.
He actually thought of feeding him "Chicken Soup" and "Red Bull."
Luckily, Su Wan, a veteran of the corporate world, had eaten his fill of "big pies" drawn by bosses in the past and was no longer hungry for them.
Harris's talk didn't excite him; instead, it made him want to laugh:
"Del, first and foremost, I am a Huaxia player; only then am I an NBA player!"
He got the priorities wrong, how could his chicken soup be right? — Also, not quite right, as Western values generally place personal interest above organizational honor.
Thinking this way, Del Harris didn't get the "Chicken Soup" wrong; he simply didn't understand what "Huaxia national conditions" meant.
Su Wan didn't want to argue about the two sets of values.
But for him, the true sentiment in his heart at the moment was:
To achieve the best Olympic result in the history of the Huaxia Men's Basketball Team!
Beyond that, he had no other thoughts.
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