Chapter 931 The Worst Start of the Olympics

"There are no big changes in the Chinese team's starting lineup: center Dayao, power forward Ah Lian, small forward Ji Feng, shooting guard Wang Shipeng, and point guard Liu Wei!"

This lineup is the most used starting lineup by the Chinese team, and after a long period of running-in, it has become a very tacit understanding.

"Croatia's starting lineup is: center Marin Rojic, power forward Damir Marko, small forward Mark Thomas, shooting guard Planinic, and point guard Popovich!"

This is also the main lineup that Croatia has used to conquer the world in major competitions in the past two years. They started all five games in the group stage. Naturally, they will not hold anything back in the knockout rounds.

But when the player names are read out, you can easily find from the confused eyes of the audience that there are no well-known players in Croatia at all!

Let's put it this way, other teams such as Russia and Germany will have one or two players whose names everyone knows, so it's not like they all know each other, but if Croatia knows one, I lose!

The most famous basketball player in Croatian history was the sixth man of the year in the Chicago Bulls dynasty. In the 2008 Olympics, it was he who led Croatia all the way to the Olympic finals. Although they lost to the terrifying American Dream One, it was legendary enough. After all, not everyone can have the opportunity to meet Dream One in the final.

But that was the best performance of the Croatian national team in the history of the Olympic Games. After that, Croatian basketball fell into decline. They were away from the World Series for 12 years. This was their first return to the Olympics since the 1996 Olympics, and they It is still a civilian team, and the biggest star on the team may be small forward Mark Thomas, who is about to compete with Ji Feng. He only plays in the Spanish League, and no one on the team plays in the NBA.

On paper, they seem to be inferior to the Chinese team, even without Ji Feng.

If you have such an idea, you are totally wrong. Although this team is not well-known, it is definitely very capable. Under the training of their head coach Jasmine Lipisa, this team works well together. They have a tough style, strong defense, and are extremely good at fighting tough battles. Their efficient zone defense has made many strong teams miserable. At the last moment of the group stage, their zone defense locked up Russia, causing the European champions to lose miserably. And the European champions in 2007 Championship, had Popovich not missed a free throw at the last moment, they almost defeated Lithuania and entered the semi-finals.

Although these players are not well-known in the world, they are indeed quite capable, and they are similar to Greece to some extent. Their interior offense is weak, but their defense is top-notch, and the offensive end mainly relies on Popovich from the outside. Qi and swingman Mark Thomas, the offensive range of these two people covers the entire three-point line. They can be said to be Croatia's two sharp knives!

Their head coach, Jasmin Lipisa, is only 47 years old. He is a very young coach, but his ability is undoubted. He took over the team and led this team without big-name stars to this point in just two years. There is indeed a set.

And he once threatened to surprise the whole world before the start of the Olympics, and they even promised to reach the quarterfinals. At that time, he was ridiculed by many European media, but now, the media who ridiculed him are beginning to be optimistic about him. His team is in the semifinals.

I have to say that this world is still very mysterious sometimes.

And today, they seem to have prepared some more fantasy tactics to deal with the Chinese team!

The referee walked to the court with the ball, and the fans began to erupt around the lake. This highly anticipated battle for the top eight began!

The hot bar sitting in the commentary box seems a little nervous. The atmosphere of this game is too explosive. You can only feel this shock by sitting here in person. The jousting on the sidelines is even more terrifying than on the red carpet, and the fans' Cheering will definitely dissuade many fans with weak hearts.

But the players on the field looked okay, at least they didn't feel too nervous.

Scramble!

Dayao made a long-armed move, and the Chinese team got the ball for the first attack!

"Game start!"

"On the first goal, the Chinese team looked for opportunities on the outside. Ji Feng and Wang Shipeng passed each other hand to hand. Dayao stayed in position inside. Ji Feng passed the ball lightly. Dayao leaned on Rojic and turned around to shoot a jumper!"

"pretty!"

"Dayao and Ji Feng connected together and made an iconic turnaround jumper. Rojic's block was in vain and the Chinese team got two points!"

Coach Sun on the sidelines waved heavily. This ball is off to a good start!

But before they had time to be happy, Croatia found a chance from outside the three-point line with Popovich and scored a three-pointer from the bottom corner!

"It doesn't matter! Come on." Ji Feng applauded and encouraged his teammates. Croatia was too brave in this goal. They scored a three-pointer at the beginning. Normally no team would play like this. This is not 9012. Now they are trying to play in the inside at the beginning of the game because Not scoring from the outside hurts morale, but it is undeniable that it does boost morale.

But when Ji Feng brought the ball across half court, he found that Croatia, which had only defended man-to-man for one round, had changed its formation!

"3-2 zone defense?! What kind of operation is this!" Su Qun couldn't help but shout out when he saw it.

"Is there any problem with this zone defense?" Reba turned around and asked, following the good habit of asking if you don't understand.

"The problem is huge. This is a zone defense that focuses on defending the outside of the Chinese team. Generally, no team will use it, because now everyone is playing inside. If you do this, the inside will be empty and it will be easily penetrated!" Yang Yi explained next to him.

On the field, Ji Feng was confused at first, and then Croatia decisively came up with a big delay, very fierce. After Ji Feng took two steps back, he only scored the ball on the left side. After Wang Shipeng received the ball, it was like giving it to Dayao, but Dayao was blocked inside. He went around, and then the people who flanked Ji Feng immediately went back to defend. Wang Shipeng had no chance, and then he found that Ji Feng couldn't get the ball...

"Oops!" Yunus thought to himself, Croatia is well prepared!

This back and forth delayed the opportunity. Liu Weiqiang made a shot and Croatia attacked. The latter continued to pick and roll inside and outside, and Planinic hit the mid-range shot!

Then the Chinese team attacked again but failed, and Croatia scored another goal inside!

After a 7-2 start, Yunus felt a little uncomfortable, but he couldn't call a timeout at this moment, and he didn't have any good way to break the 3-2 zone defense.

But Croatia would not give the Chinese team time to think. They suddenly increased their defensive intensity, especially when Liu Wei was dribbling. Liu Wei didn't pay attention and violated the law again before halftime! x-on:

"SHIT!" Yunus had already begun to curse.

But Croatia continued to maintain an excellent offensive touch, and Popovich broke through and scored another goal!

9-2!

Croatia got off to a fantastic start!