Zhang Guan's breaking of the 1,500-meter world record suddenly became the focus of people's discussion. Liu Feiren's withdrawal due to injury the day before was forgotten by people. Everyone began to look forward to Zhang Guan's next Olympic championship. , the next world record.
On August 20, the Olympic Games entered the fifth to last competition day. On this day, Zhang Guan had to face three games. The men's basketball team faced the Croatian team in the afternoon, and the 800-meter middle-distance running preliminaries and the 200-meter sprint finals in the evening.
The match between the men's basketball team and Croatia will be held at 2:30 in the afternoon. Since it has entered the knockout stage, the match must be even more cruel.
The Croatian men's basketball team is a team with a glorious history. The strongest period of the Croatian team was in the 1990s. At that time, the Croatian team reached the finals at the Barcelona Olympics and eventually lost to the strongest team in history. The American Dream Team, and at that time Croatian star Podrovic even scored more than the legendary superstar Michael Jordan. It can be said that in that era, the Croatian team was the only team capable of competing with the Dream Team.
However, in recent years, the strength of the Croatian team has long been inferior to that of before. Even in Europe, it can only be regarded as a mid-range team. In this Olympics, the Croatian team finally entered the Olympic Games by relying on the qualifying round.
According to the competition rules of Olympic basketball, there will be three quotas for the Olympic Games' qualifying round, and all teams participating in the qualifying round are mixed and grouped together. European teams are in the same group as African teams and Asian teams. This is for European teams It definitely has advantages. The three places that qualified for the qualifying round in this Olympics are the Greek team, the Croatian team and the German team. All three teams are European teams. It is worth mentioning that the Croatian team defeated the German team in the semi-finals.
The national team faced the Croatian team in the first round of the knockout round, and it can be said that they drew a lottery. In terms of strength, the Croatian team is similar to the Chinese team, but in terms of playing style and staffing, the Chinese team is obviously more restrained than the Croatian team.
Croatia has always been rich in tall point guards and tall inside players. Croatia's point guards are all traditional point guards, mainly focusing on organization; while the Croatian team's inside players are also the traditional European tall and large inside players who do not run very fast. , The technique is exquisite, the movement is flexible, and the level of confrontation is average. Generally speaking, the Croatian team is a traditional European team that can no longer be traditional.
Croatia's main attack point is the inside line. As we all know, Dayao is best at dealing with this kind of traditional inside line. The other two centers of the Chinese team are also very experienced in fighting against traditional inside lines, so the national team's inside line is actually better. Advantageous.
Another point is that the Croatian team is not fast. This is not because of the drag of the big center, but because the Croatian team really does not have any fast players. The Croatian team's players are generally tall, and they don't have the high-density muscles of black people. It's normal for them not to run fast.
The national team is also not very fast, especially when retreating, there are often defensive loopholes. Facing a Croatian team that does not run very fast, both sides honestly attack from position. This is obviously the best for the national team playing at home. Things to like to see.
As for the players of the national team, they had conducted special research on every player of the Croatian team yesterday. However, Zhang Guan did not prepare much for this game because he had to prepare for the track and field competition. Coach Yunus had to give Zhang Guan special treatment.
At this time, in the viewing room of the men's basketball training ground, coach Yunus was explaining the situation of the Croatian team to Zhang Guan.
"This is Vukic. He is the only player in the Croatian team who will play in the NBA next season. The 24-year-old Vukic was selected by the Toronto Raptors in 2005, but has been playing in Spain until last season. In the middle of this month, the Raptors announced that they would sign a three-year contract with Vukic, probably to fill the vacancy after sending away TJ Ford!"
Coach Yunus pointed to Vukic’s photo and continued: “Vukic is 1.96 meters tall and is a very tall point guard. He is very good at cutting to the layup like a skilled guard. In defense, his wingspan and lateral movement speed will also put a lot of pressure on opponents."
"Like Papa Lucas?" Zhang Guan asked.
Coach Yunus thought for a while, then shook his head: "Vukic's overall view and passing awareness are far worse than Papalukas, and his shooting skills are relatively poor, and his dribbling speed is also poor. It’s not very fast, I think with your defense, you should have no problem dealing with him.”
Zhang Guan nodded, and coach Yunus pointed to another person's photo and continued: "This is Planinic, also a point guard, 1.99 meters tall, taller than Vukic. He once He was selected by the Nets with the 22nd overall pick in the first round of 2003 and has played in the NBA for many years. His ball-handling ability and passing vision are great, but his speed is relatively slow and his body is not strong. Speedy point guards can easily Break through him. I think just with your speed, you can beat him offensively. By the way, I have to remind you that Planinic has good shooting ability, so you should pay attention to it during the game."
Coach Youanji pointed to the photo of another player and continued: "This is Davor Kus, 1.92 meters tall. He is a combo guard with good shooting ability, but his athletic talent is average. He should Will be a substitute for Croatia."
"This player's name is Popovich. He is the shortest player in the Croatian team. He is 1.85 meters tall, but he does not have astonishing speed like ordinary small point guards. The Croatian team's coach probably will not send him on the court. .”
"This is probably the case for the Croatian team's back line. There is another person you should pay attention to. His name is Thomas." Coach Yunas pointed to Thomas's photo and continued: "He is 2.03 meters tall and plays small forward. , but he has very comprehensive skills and a good overall view, and has strong organizational skills, so sometimes he will even move to the point guard position. But he is the same as other players in the Croatian team, that is The speed is relatively average.”
Zhang Guan nodded: "Generally speaking, the Croatian team is a team that cannot run fast."
"You can understand that, but the Croatian team occasionally has fast breaks, but the speed of the fast breaks is really unsatisfactory. This is very beneficial to us." Coach Yunas said with a smile.
…
At this time, in the Croatian team, Croatian coach Repesa was also encouraging his players.
"Boys, our opponent is the Chinese team. This is good news for us, because it means that we have hope to enter the semi-finals. Look at the four qualifying teams in Group A, the United States Team, we will definitely not be able to beat them; Team Spain, we are also no match for them; Team Greece, we lost to them without any suspense a month ago! Only the Chinese team is someone we can defeat! We must defeat Team China, advance to the semi-finals!"
The first chapter has been delivered. My network has finally been restored. Let’s celebrate. I’ll add an update today!
(End of chapter)