The last opponent of the Chinese team in the group stage is the Italian team, which is also a strong European team, the winner of last year's European Championships, but in this Olympic Games, their performance was mediocre, the first four group games, they only defeated the weak New Zealand team, currently one win and three losses, due to the record against each other is not superior, even if they win the Chinese team in the last game, it is impossible to qualify, therefore, their fighting spirit in this game is not too high.

In this game, the Chinese team still focuses on Yao Ming, Ding Hongxing escorts, and others are interspersed with running, always ready to receive passes and shoot in the open position, this set of tactical play is already very mature.

This style of play can give full play to Yao Ming's ability, but it can retain Ding Hongxing's strength, so that the Chinese team always retains the biggest hole card that has not been played, and it is enough to win one or two points in a game, so that the low-key American team will not be wary of them.

The U.S. team over there won three or forty points or even more every game, and they naturally didn't notice the existence of the Chinese team, and only Tomjanovic attached great importance to the Chinese team, but he couldn't make the superstars of the U.S. team vigilant.

In the game against the Italian team, Yao Ming once again scored a game-high 32 points, and Ding Hongxing cut an ordinary 20-point triple-double, of course, this ordinary is also relative to him, and others can't get even one such data even if they participate in three or four Olympic Games.

In the end, the Chinese team defeated the Italian team 102-85, won four consecutive victories in the group stage, and successfully qualified for the second place in the group, the other two teams were France and Lithuania.

China's opponent in the knockout round is Yugoslavia, who finished third in another group.

Yugoslavia is a traditional powerhouse in international basketball, they have won the World Championships even more times than the United States, and they have beaten the United States several times, but their results in the Olympics are much inferior to the World Championships, and this Olympics is no exception, they did not play well, only finished third in the group, and met the strong Chinese team, of course, in their opinion, the Chinese team is still much easier to deal with than the American team.

However, after the start of the game, the Yugoslav players found that the Chinese team was not easy to deal with, especially Ding Hongxing, after he made several consecutive shots after the opening, and attracted the Yugoslav team's defensive center of gravity to him, he began to pass the ball to Yao Ming, Yao Ming began to turn over the river and the sea under the basket, when Yugoslavia put the defensive focus on Yao Ming again, Ding Hongxing began to strengthen his personal offense again, this is to press down the gourd and float the scoop, it is difficult for the Yugoslav team to effectively limit the attack of the Chinese team.

There are a lot of Chinese fans on the sidelines of this game, almost turning this place into the home of the Chinese team, most of them are Chinese and international students in Sydney, they are ecstatic to see the current Chinese team so strong, they are ecstatic, the whole game, they are sparing no effort to cheer for the Chinese team, most of the time, they are singing "Singing the Motherland", among these fans, Ding Hongxing's family and some of his friends are of course also there, whenever they see Ding Hongxing's outstanding performance, will shout Ding Hongxing's name loudly and cheer for him.

The support of the fans, so that the Chinese team is more and more courageous, soon, they have established a advantage of more than ten points, the Yugoslav team also fell into the same predicament as the Lithuanian team, every time they want to chase the score, as long as Ding Hongxing exerts his strength, the score difference is opened again, this feeling of not being able to catch up is very uncomfortable, the Yugoslav team's enthusiasm for the game was gradually exhausted, and finally, the Chinese team defeated the Yugoslav team 93-80 and successfully advanced to the semifinals, This is also the first time that the Chinese team has reached the semifinals in the Olympic Games.

Yao Ming and Ding Hongxing both scored more than 20 points, Yao Ming scored ten rebounds, and Ding Hongxing also had thirteen rebounds and twelve assists, scoring a triple-double again.

The other three teams in the semi-finals are the United States, Australia and France.

The semi-finals will see the United States take on France, while China will face hosts Australia.

Since the Olympic Games are held in Sydney, Australia, the Australian team is also very much looking forward to the men's basketball competition of the Olympic Games, they even covet the gold medal, and they began to do some tricks when they were grouped, their opponents in the same group were obviously weaker than the teams in the other group, and in the end, they finally managed to win the group, and in the game, there were also some controversial decisions, and these decisions were in their favor, which allowed them to enter the final four.

Especially in the quarterfinals, their opponent was the Lithuanian team, the Lithuanian team has always had a clear advantage in the game, but every time the Lithuanian team wants to get up, the whistle will always sound in time, and in the end, several main players of the Lithuanian team can only sit on the bench due to too many fouls, and the Australian team has also been given many free throw opportunities.

In the end, the Australian team won the Lithuanian team by the slightest point, they won two free throws in the last second, with these two free throws to kill the Lithuanian team, after the game the Lithuanian team was very angry, protested, but on people's turf, the game is over, what is the use of protesting?

Before the game, Jiang Xinquan gave the players a preventive shot, so that they should pay attention to their actions in defense, and not be seized by the referee to blow their unwarranted fouls, especially Yao Ming on the inside, he supports the Chinese team's defensive system, if he fouls too much and goes off the court, it will have a great impact on the Chinese team's defense, in that case, the Chinese team will be very difficult.

The Chinese media is also very concerned about this game, and they also have various tricks for the Chinese team, among which some media mentioned the Australian team's off-the-board moves, especially the referee's care for the Australian team, hoping that the Chinese team can be on guard.

Of course, Chinese fans are still very optimistic about the Chinese team, the Australian team has no advantage in strength in front of the Lithuanian team, but the Lithuanian team is the defeated player of the Chinese team, so isn't it easy for the Chinese team to defeat the Australian team? The Chinese team must be able to beat the Australian team easily, right?

But after the much-anticipated match began, Chinese fans quickly discovered that the match was not as simple as they imagined.