"This is the correct way to open the national team, and the personnel arrangement of Coach Jiang in today's game is very reasonable compared with the previous games." On September 25, 2000, the Chinese men's basketball team ushered in the last opponent of the group stage, the champion of the last European Championships, Italy.

Because the Huaguo men's basketball team has ensured qualification, so in the last game of this group stage, head coach Jiang Quan also took turns to rest a number of main players, the national team's 3rd center Yao Ming, the first start in the group stage 5 games, but although it is the 3rd center of the national team, but in terms of strength Yao Ming has surpassed the other two, but he still lacks a little national team qualifications, in this Olympic Games, Yao Ming came off the bench and played 16 minutes per game, but he can contribute 9 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks of data, is the best one among the three centers of the national team, and in the game with the United States, Tom Novic even used a bag clip on Yao Ming, and after the game, the NBA championship coach also praised Yao Ming and constantly praised him for his unlimited future. It's just that the current Yao Ming also has his own shortcomings, that is, the lack of adaptability, and too many mistakes are also an important factor for head coach Jiang Quan not to increase his playing time.

In the position of the big forward, Liu Yudong was suspended in this game, and Battle, who had been a guest in the previous games, did not play as a big forward, and was replaced by Zhang Jinsong, Zhang Jinsong and Hu Weidong have been alternately starting in the position of small forward in the first few games, and this game is also a warm-up match with the South Korean team, Zhang Jinsong once again served as a big forward.

After playing a number of substitute games, Meng Xu finally ushered in the first start of the national team game, although this game will not be related to the national team's qualification, but this game is still very meaningful, because Meng Xu believes that from this game, he will become the national team's iron-clad starting small forward.

Starting the shooting guard was China's key bench Li Nan, a swingman known for his excellent shooting and his first start for the national team. In the past, in the national team with Hu Weidong, Zhang Jinsong and Sun Jun, the three major strikers, Li Nan did not say that he started, even the substitute time could not be much, after Meng Xu was recruited into the national team, Li Nan also fell from the 4th striker of the national team to the 5th, but Li Nan unexpectedly started this game, and when the head coach Jiang Quan announced the starting lineup list before the game, Li Nan was also stunned.

In the position of the defender, Guo Shiqiang is also the first time to replace Li Xiaoyong as the starter, Guo Shiqiang, who is 26 years old this year, has gradually entered the peak state of his career, but the current main point guard of the national team Li Xiaoyong is still in good shape, and I don't know how many years Guo Shiqiang will have to play as a substitute to become a regular.

Before the group stage, the goal of the national team is to avoid the strongest Yugoslavia and Russia in Group B when they enter the knockout round, but this year's Olympics is somewhat surprising that the two former Olympic champions have capsized in the gutter, although Yugoslavia has ensured qualification, but it is ranked third in the group, and Russia still needs to defeat Angola in the final round to ensure qualification, so in this case, the national team to fight for the second place in the group does not make the slightest sense. Similarly, whether it is Brazil, which is currently ranked first in Group B, or Australia, the strength of the two teams is about the same, so whether this game is won or lost, it will not have any impact on the national team's qualification, it is nothing more than to play the host Australia if you win, and Brazil if you lose. So in this game, Coach Jiang Quan also sent a lineup of almost all substitutes, and it seemed to outsiders that he was going to give up this game.

"Xiao Meng, you are the core of the field in this game, and the other four people will play around you, so if you have any requirements, you can say it now." This is a separate conversation between the head coach of the national team Jiang Quan and Meng Xu before the start of the game, although Jiang Quan's coaching ability is still far from the first-line coach of the NBA, but he is also one of the best coaches in China, so although Jiang Quan can't see the huge energy hidden in Meng Xu, he can also feel that this is a player who can be the core of the team, can make teammates better, and can also lead the team to win. Therefore, Coach Jiang Quan also wants to take advantage of this game to see if there can be any good changes in the national team after establishing Meng Xu as the core. If it turns out that Meng Xu does have this ability, then even if he fights to turn his face with some people, Jiang Quan will have to straighten Meng Xu in the subsequent knockout round. If the fact is that Meng Xu can't do it, then you can also take this opportunity to block the mouths of those people in China who have been criticizing him, look, it's not that I don't give him a chance, but he can't do it himself, and I can't blame me for not it.

"Coach Jiang, I need an interior line that can sit under the basket, Yao Ming can, and then there are a few outside lines who can shoot 3-pointers, and the same is true for power forwards, who have good movement ability and can pull out and shoot. Defensively, I think we should give up the zone defense and just use the simplest man-to-man defense, and at the same time let Yao Ming stay under the basket and not pull it out, and I will help them defend. Since head coach Jiang Quan asked him what he wanted, there was no need for Meng Xu to be polite.

In the current Chinese national team, basically all the players can shoot 3 points, even Yao Ming can shoot 3 points, but it is a pity that there is no stable pitcher among these people at all, and they are basically convulsions. Don't say Reggie Miller, not even Shaun Elliott, but think about it, how can Sean Elliott say that he is also an NBA All-Star player, a player who averaged 20+5+3 per game in his peak season, if there are a few such players in the Chinese national team, there is no need to shout anything to protect 8 for 4, just shout to get the cards.

At the same time, because of the lack of individual defensive ability, not only the Chinese team, but also the most popular defensive method in the entire international basketball world is regional joint defense, but after a few games of exploration, Meng Xu also understands these so-called joint defense, subject to the lack of single defense ability, this kind of defensive tactics that prevent the ball and not defend against people, and the joint defense is their best portrayal, not only people can't defend themselves, but the ball can't be prevented.

"Well, I promise you."

And finally after the start of this game, the performance of the Huaguo basketball team on the court was also greatly unexpected by Jiang Quan, the offensive end Meng Xu broke into the Italian team's interior again and again, as if in a no-man's land, whether it was a layup, or a break-through after the point, it was very sharp, and the national team hit 7 3-pointers in the first quarter of the game, in the first few games, the outside shooting rate has been hovering around 30% of this group of outside players, the high shooting rate of this game makes Jiang Quan a little unbelievable, 7 of 15 3-point shots, while Li Nan shot 3 of 6, with a shooting rate of 50%, and the 32-point single-quarter score broke the single-quarter scoring record of the Huaguo basketball team in the Olympic Games, and at the same time, it was very close to the half-court average score of this Olympic Games.

Unlike head coach Jiang Quan, who was excited about this group of shooters to find their touch, Meng Xu is now very clear that the ball after the serpentine breakthrough is superimposed with the bonus of the level 3 burst tactics, which is equivalent to directly increasing their 10% shooting rate, and if the 10% bonus is subtracted, their true shooting rate is around 35%, and it is quite difficult to rely on this hit rate to win.

As for the defensive end, after giving up the regional joint defense and changing to man-to-man defense, relying on Yao Ming's huge deterrent power under the basket and Meng Xu's excellent defensive ability, compared with the previous games, the defensive ability of the Huaguo basketball team has directly improved by several grades. Under this excellent defense, the Italian team, the champion of the last European Championship, only scored 15 points in the first quarter, which was less than half of the score of the Chinese basketball team. In the first quarter of the game, although Meng Xu only scored 6 points, he handed out 8 assists, in addition to 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block.

"This is the champion of the European Championships, and now there is no way to fight back against the substitute lineup of the national team?" After the start of the second quarter of the game, although the shooting rate of the Huaguo basketball team decreased, it also hit 5 3-pointers in the second quarter, scoring 26 points in a single quarter, and at the end of the half, 33-58, the Italian team was behind by as many as 25 points.

"If I just looked at the scoreline, I thought it was a match between Italy and the Dream Team, but I didn't expect our national team to be able to play this kind of mercury attack and a rock-solid defense." In the commentary hall of CCAV, Mr. Zhang Li let out a sigh at the right time.

"Yes, I think this game, not only us, but even the audience in front of the TV must not believe that this is our national team, and now we have reason to expect that our national team can go further in this Olympic Games, and we also believe that they will be able to make history." After fanning the emotions for a while, Su Qun continued: "And what brought such a big change to the national team is undoubtedly Meng Xu, 10 points, 14 assists, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks in the half, I can't find the words to describe him." ”

"Yes, here I want to quote a great man in the basketball world, although Meng Xu's data is good enough, but the data is precisely the most indescribable thing about Meng Xu's role on the court."

In the end, in the last game of the group stage, the Chinese national team defeated Italy with a score of 91-74 and successfully entered the knockout round with the third place in the group. In this game, Meng Xu also became the first player to score a triple-double in the Olympic Games, and also the first triple-double so far in this Olympic Games, with 14 points, 16 assists, 12 rebounds, 7 steals, and 3 blocks.