What happened to "Dream Six"? The American basketball team fell into a "difficult moment" - the headline on the front page of Sports Weekly, "NBA superstars showed off their dreams on the court, and reporters from various countries began to defect on the sidelines" - Italian newspaper Figaro "The United States must face the new pattern of basketball" - Los Angeles Times "The "dream team" lost all face, and American basketball is no longer "god"" - The stars of the British Sun and NBA came to Italy to prepare for their performance journey, everyone wore brand-name shoes, Nike, Adidas, Jordan, Ruizhi, and1, can all be found in these players - there were Wende's shoes, but Huaben did not play and did not show his face. That would have been better for Hua to avoid criticism, as the Italian media questioned whether the U.S. men's basketball team was here to play or to promote sneakers.

Just four days later, the players of the U.S. men's basketball team were so distraught that they almost fled the beautiful city of Turin. When they came, thousands of fans welcomed them, but when they left, only a few people came to the airport to bid farewell to the men's basketball team, and no one asked for autographs or group photos, and the treatment was very different.

Before entering the airport, reporters from all over the world caught the players and asked all sorts of embarrassing questions:

"What about the entertainment industry in Turin? Gentlemen, can you introduce us to a good strip bar? ”

"Our girl said you've been calling them, what's going on? Are you here to play ball or to pick up girls? ”

"What does Italian food taste like? We still have a lot of fine wines that you haven't tasted, so why not leave them for a try? ”

"The next time you come to Italy to play, please wear football boots, so that fans will pay more attention to sports companies, which manufacturer's football boots do you like?"

The reporters seemed to have agreed, did not ask about the things on the court, and chased after each other to ask questions from the aspect of life, as if to better disgust the men's basketball players.

Still, nothing made them sick more than the result of the game.

After two consecutive defeats in the warm-up game, the U.S. men's basketball team encountered an unprecedented crisis, and there are many reasons for losing to the Italian team in the first game: we are not familiar with the rules, we do not cooperate tacitly, and we do not pay attention to the opponent, but what is the matter with the second loss to the German team?

The Germans also seem to want to disgust the NBA stars, and Nowitzki, the boss of the Mavericks, turned out to be a substitute, and the main players are all players who play in European basketball. German coach Ponitz said after the game: "Dirk is the best player in Germany, but he has been away from international basketball for too long, he is not used to all this, he needs some time to sharpen, and besides, don't you think he is better off the bench? ”

Nowitzki was a great player, a tall and accurate shooter who is best suited to international basketball, scoring 24 points in 22 minutes and walking from the outside, showing off the Germans' long-range bombardment capabilities to beat the United States 85-74. Iverson was the only U.S. team to score in double figures, with 17 points, and everyone else was out of par.

The eyes of the fans will not be deceived, the American team did their best in this game, Iverson, Marbury, Wade and others broke through frantically, but they are not good at distributing the ball, and they often make mistakes once they encounter a bag - unlike the NBA's double bag, the German team prefers a three-person bag! Duncan and Smalls fought the inside, and even Anthony and Odom, two lazy men, rushed inside to grab rebounds, but they still lost, losing to team basketball.

Brown's grumpy temper was displayed in front of the players, and he blamed everyone, which was to no avail, and could only backfire.

Although the men's basketball team does not have many All-Stars this time, everyone is the boss of the team, Marbury, Iverson, Duncan, and those with 20 million contracts needless to say, Anthony, Wade, James, and Okafor are not cultivated as the team's future stars? They have lived in praise since they were young, and the head coaches who came to the NBA also treated them with courtesy, and Brown scolded when they came up, how could they stand it?

Except for Duncan and Billups, the rest are all unruly, Brown scolded once or twice, it's okay, scolded a lot, the players began to boycott him, turning a blind eye to what he said, how to play the players themselves, if you have the ability, you will press us all on the bench, this is not the NBA, fans all over the world are watching you.

After the plane took off, Hua Ben sat next to Brown: because Serbia and Montenegro were in the midst of war, there were not many people from Italy to Serbia and Montenegro, and this was a first-class cabin, so there were a lot of empty seats, so Brown deliberately found a place with a lot of vacant seats to sit down, and the flight attendant did not say anything.

Seeing Huaben coming, Brown smiled a rare and asked, "Is your diarrhea better?" The old coach put his hope on this former favorite general, and he believed in the players he brought out.

Wabbon smiled and got straight to the point: "Larry, what do you think about the first two games?" ”

Lao Shuai flicked the information in his hand and said: "It's terrible, it seems that our opponent is stronger than I imagined, of course, if we deal with it seriously, I think we can get the final gold medal." After a pause, the old man suddenly sighed and said, "Ben, this summer, in fact, my life can be very wonderful." ”

Hua Ben saw that Brown took the game seriously and planned to return to his seat, his goal has been achieved, it doesn't matter if he loses the warm-up game, as long as he can make the American team pay attention to the game, he doesn't want to wait for Athens to officially start and he has to accept a defeat, it would be too embarrassing, he didn't come to Athens to win the bronze medal. He was just about to leave when Brown changed the subject again, leaving to listen to him.

"I became the NBA's championship coach, and, if you stay in Detroit, I think we're going to have more championships — forget it, don't talk about that. You know, Ben, now I'm the only coach to win both the NCAA and the NBA, and I've got the honor. Brown turned his head to stare at Warburn, "But that's not enough, you know, Chuck (Daley, the godfather of the Bad Boys) and Rudy (Tom Jakovic, the head coach of the Rockets) are both NBA and Olympic champions, and I'm a lot worse than them." But that's just an outsider's opinion, I don't think I'm worse than them, Ben, this Olympics is a chance, I only have this chance, the NCAA, the NBA, the Olympic triple crown, that's what I want. ”

Hua Ben wanted to speak, but Brown interrupted him and continued: "I don't know why you are missing the battle in front of you, I respect your opinion because you are the best guy I have ever seen. But I know you don't have diarrhea, because Cheryl brings you a lot of food into the room every day, and others may not have paid attention, but I have been paying attention for a long time, and I think if you do have food poisoning, you can't eat so much. You know what I mean? ”

Waben patted Brown on the shoulder and said, "From the next game, I'm getting better from food poisoning." ”

The plane roared from Turin to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and Montenegro, and now the situation in the country is dangerous, and the Balkan Peninsula is full of inspiring contradictions, and there is a possibility of division at any time. However, when the NBA players walked out of the airport, they were greeted with much more enthusiasm than they did in Italy.

Unlike Italy, a football powerhouse, Serbia and Montenegro have strong basketball and many fans, and the country has also achieved a lot in this sport, not only has they sent a lot of talent to the NBA, but also often won international competitions, such as the Diamond Cup that has just ended, and the champion is Serbia and Montenegro.

Before the warm-up tournament began, the United States was the favourite to win the men's gold medal at this year's Olympic Games, while Serbia and Montenegro were seen as the only opponents of the United States. Hua Ben knew that there were many upsets in this Olympic Games in the previous life, and the gold medal was finally won by the quiet Argentina, the United States, which had the highest voice, was only the bronze medal, and Serbia and Montenegro were even worse, and they did not even qualify for the group.

Of course, there are many variables in this life and the previous life, first of all, because of their own influence, the United States suffered two consecutive defeats in the warm-up game, and the overly optimistic coaches and players have sobered up. The Serbian and Montenegro team did not have Mirisic in his previous life, this kid made beautiful women in the United States because of finger surgery, and there was no Divac.

As soon as they left the airport, the players were surrounded by enthusiastic fans, and unlike the pseudo-fans in Italy, Serbia and Montenegro were the real kingdom of European basketball. Similarly, the most popular player on the U.S. team is Hubben, who Mirisic calls 'eternal captain'.

"Thank you for playing with Darko and thank you for loving his growth!"

"Ben. Wallace, tough guy, welcome to Sebhei! ”

"50+20, playoff overlord, captain forever!"

Wajben smiled and waved to the fans around him, Mirisic came to pick him up, and when he saw him come out, he used to help him carry his luggage. With the Pistons, Waeburn didn't advocate letting rookies do the dirty work, but Mirisic and Patin volunteered to do it.

Today, Mirisic is dressed quite handsomely, with dyed blonde hair, a neat Armani suit, a white shirt with a gold tie, and an earring on his left ear, which looks sunny and chic with his handsome appearance.

"Welcome to Serbia and Montenegro, Captain, we will greet you well, rest assured, I will help you avenge in two days, Italians, right? I've seen them unpleasant for a long time, haha. Mirisic said with a big grin that they were also playing warm-up matches, and in contrast to the United States, they won two games in a row and packed Turkey and Croatia home.

Then Cheryl also walked out with her luggage, Mirisic's eyes lit up, she ran over, stretched out her burly and powerful arms and shouted, "Welcome, Cheryl, is this your luggage?" Come, I'll help you carry it, my strength is very strong! ”

Cheryl smiled sweetly and said to Mirisic, "Thank you, but remember to call me sister." Do you want to help me with my luggage? It's good, the back ones are all mine, help me find a car to move up, I originally wanted to hire a porter, so you saved me a lot of money. ”

Behind Cheryl, an airport van appears full of large and small boxes, the fruits of her shopping in Turin. If she had to count them, she wouldn't be the last to show up.

Mirisic was embarrassed.

After a day of rest at the hotel, the U.S. men's basketball team challenged them on Serbia and Montenegro on the home court the following night. It was a match known as a preview of the Olympic final, with both sides fielding their strongest lineups, with the United States trying to prove their supremacy by beating Serbia and Montenegro, and Serbia and Montenegro going to win three in a row to show their determination to win the title.

The starting lineup on the American side is center Ben. Wallace, power forward Duncan, small forward Anthony, playmaking guard Iverson, scoring guard Marbury.

The starting lineup on the Serbian and Montenegro side is Cabakapa who plays for the Suns, Mirisic at power forward, Radmanovic at small forward, and Igor at shooting guard. Rakosević, the playmaker is Dejan. Bodi Loga.

(To be continued)