Chapter 1638 The Top 16 Are Revealed, Half the Dead Zone?
With a score difference of only 4 points, the Chinese team encountered the biggest difficulty since the start of this World Championship.
After the whistle blew, Director Zhang sighed heavily in the commentary box. They almost, almost flew away from their history-making victory in the group stage.
Both sides played very fiercely throughout the game. Just look at the scores. This is the first time that China has not scored more than 90 points in the group stage, and the process is also very thrilling. Turkey has been in the lead in the first three quarters, except for the season peak. In addition, the rest of the Chinese team did not perform well, and they did not even score a point in the first half.
If Ji Feng hadn't suddenly burst out at the last moment and made three consecutive unreasonable three-pointers to take the lead, and used a steal at the last moment to end Turkey's hope of shooting, forcing Turkey to foul and send Ji Feng to free throws, the outcome would still be uncertain. .
In the words of ESPN, Turkey showed incredible resilience. They were the first team to cause enough trouble for the Chinese team.
Even though Turkish basketball has always had a low reputation in the world and has never participated in the Olympics, they have also won the championship title at the European Championships. It can be seen that there are no underdogs in Europe. It is not just talk.
Turkey does not have any particularly big-name players participating in this competition. The team's most famous star is Turkoglu, who has made a name for himself in the NBA. However, he is no longer in his prime this season. He struggled particularly with the Raptors last season. The average data per game was cut in half, and the big deal that the Raptors had spent a long time failed, which directly caused Bosh to leave.
Speaking of the fact that the Heat formed the Big Three, Turkoglu also played an indispensable role in this. If he hadn't destroyed Bosh's mentality in one season, the Heat might not have been able to get the three giants.
Haha, just kidding, Turkoglu is not that important in the Raptors, and he can't influence Bosh's choice, but when he returns to the national team, Turkoglu is the one brother who is the only one, and Turkey is also because of his There were two battles with China and Greece. Although they lost both games, Turkoglu averaged 19 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds per game in the two games. The data is still very impressive.
But if you lose, you lose. After losing this game, Turkey won 2 out of 5 games and ranked fourth in Group C, barely qualifying. The third place in this group is Greece, with 3 wins and 2 losses, and the same number in second place. It is Russia with 3 wins and 2 losses. They relied on the relationship between victory and defeat to get second place, while China won all 5 games and took first place in the group!
Before the game, even those who were optimistic about the Chinese team would not have thought that the group stage would be like this. Not to mention previous games, it was generally difficult for the Chinese team to break through in the group stage. Even if Ji Feng returned to the team and enhanced its combat effectiveness, other The team is not given for free. There are three European teams in this group, which is the most among the four groups. In addition, without the giant inside player Dayao, many people think that no matter how good the Chinese team is, it will overturn. Two games, that’s pretty good to be honest.
But after 5 games, the facts are in front of us, and people have to believe it.
The Chinese team with Ji Feng showed strong strength, not only winning all 5 games, but also winning by about 15 points except for the last game. It was the team that won the most easily except the United States.
You can imagine what a shock this caused in the country!
Especially Ji Feng, who averaged 42.6 points per game in 5 games, easily won the group stage scoring champion, and was about twice as many as second-ranked Durant. As the leading scorer in the United States, Durant averaged 42.6 points per game. 21.7 points. Not only that, Ji Feng also won the assists title with 8.5 assists per game. The 6.4 steals per game created the highest average in the history of the World Championship group stage. The 7.8 rebounds per game was also the highest average in the history of the World Championship group stage. Highest.
Such a dominant performance made the Chinese media go crazy. For a time, the "God of Chinese Basketball", "Savior of Chinese Sports" and other extremely disgusting titles came one after another.
And the name Ji Feng has completely surpassed the Heat's Big Three and James, becoming the most popular name at this time.
James: "MMP!" I've even changed teams and I still can't beat you!
And Ji Feng himself is also crazy about attracting fans. Now he has surpassed the US team and has become the most popular star among local Turkish fans, even surpassing local star Turkoglu. His handsome appearance and coquettish playing style have made him the KING of the World Championships. .
It's no wonder that the Los Angeles Sports News couldn't wait to print the title: "World Championship Belongs to Ji Feng!" after the group stage ended.
Of course, this statement is still too early. In addition to China, the top two teams in the other two groups, the United States and Lithuania, also won 5 games. Among them, the United States, which attracted the most attention, was not affected by the absence of the big-name stars in the team. Brazil , Slovenia, Croatia and other strong teams have lost by a wide margin, once again showing the world the strong foundation of the American team. The United States, led by young people, is still the biggest obstacle to the Chinese team on the way to winning the championship.
Fortunately, because China won the first place in the group, and due to the grouping relationship, the two teams are not in the same half zone, which means that China and the United States will not meet before the finals.
"Ji Feng! We must meet in the finals and compete against each other then!" Curry couldn't wait to call Ji Feng after qualifying. Because of American coquettish habits, they stayed together in a luxurious five-star hotel. The accommodation conditions in the presidential suite are one level better than those of other teams, so it is really not easy for them to meet Ji Feng.
Except for Ji Feng who harassed a bunch of old K when he first went to the training place in the United States, he didn't meet many of them for so long.
"Oke Oke, of course I have no problem here. I'm just afraid that you might suddenly get upset. Haha, if you lose unexpectedly before the finals, you can go back and have fun!" Ji Feng said with a smile on the phone.
"Hey, except for Lithuania and Argentina, our half is weak, but you guys, be careful not to overturn." Curry said.
On September 3rd, all the group stage matches of the World Championships ended, and the top 16 were born. According to the rules, the top 4 in Group C will fight against the top 4 in Group D, as well as the top 4 in Group AB, plus According to the division rules, the top 16 matchups are as follows:
Top half: Serbia-Croatia, Spain-Greece, China-France, Slovenia-Australia.
Bottom half: United States-Angola, Russia-New Zealand, Türkiye-Lithuania, Brazil-Argentina.
It can be seen that compared with the lower half, there are more strong teams in the upper half, especially European teams, which occupy 6 places. Australia is also a strong team, while in the lower half, the existence of Angola and New Zealand is a big gift package, and The early meeting between Argentina and Brazil was beyond people's expectations, which is why Curry said that China's road to promotion will be difficult.
"Are you weak? I think you guys are quite strong. Don't look down on the teams in our group. We here are all chickens and dogs." Ji Feng said.
Different from the outside world's opinion, Ji Feng feels that this division is really good. It is filled with a group of famous but mediocre teams, especially France. He will let these mercenaries know about it in the next game. What is a national team!