2002 is definitely an extraordinary year for basketball, especially for international basketball, this year's men's basketball World Championship is the first competition after FIBA's expansion, in the previous World Championships, there were only 16 teams in total, but this year it was expanded to 24 teams, which is definitely an extremely important gamble for FIBA.

Obviously, this new policy of FIBA has great ambitions, just like the original expansion of the football World Cup, the expansion of any event is basically carried out after the project reaches a certain height in recognition and popularity, and it is obvious that the people of FIBA now think that the current basketball has developed well enough, at least it can support 24 teams, The biggest harm to the expansion of a tournament is naturally because of the increase in the number of teams and the fact that some teams with less quality enter the end and the excitement of the game decreases, so this is a gamble for anyone.

FIBA does not want to continue to let the men's World Basketball Championship be subordinated to the Olympic Games, and if it wants to have an impact beyond the Olympic Games, it must learn from the original Football World Championship or the Football World Cup, so that more countries and more outstanding players can join, and it is best if such an event can include the best group of players in the world, only in this way can this event truly become the highest event in the sport.

In fact, the feedback received by FIBA on this strategy has been extremely positive, because of the expansion of the game, this year's men's basketball World Championship can be said to have the largest number of stars in recent years. Like Novitzki of the German team in Europe, Parker of the French national team. Pau Gasol of the Spanish national team also has Kirilenko of the Russian national team, Peja and Divac of Yugoslavia, and then the Chinese duo Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi in Asia. A large number of international basketball superstars such as Argentina's Ginobili and Canada's Steve Nash have participated in this World Championships, of course, for international basketball, the difference between the World Championships and the Olympics is not very big, because for them these two honors are not so easy to get, but compared to the Olympics, perhaps the World Championships are slightly less difficult, which is why many international teams attach importance to the World Championships above the Olympic Games. And this year, when the superstars of the international basketball world poured out, the American team, as the host, was a little surprising.

At the World Championships four years ago, the United States was shut down because of the NBA. Therefore, NBA players have no personal insurance, and it is naturally impossible for them to represent the country without insurance, so four years ago, the head coach of the World Championships Rockets Tang Shuai can be said to have suffered a fiasco in the World Championships with a group of student troops, and it is also because of the fiasco four years ago that many people think that the gap between international basketball and American basketball is narrowing, although there was no NBA star representing the American team four years ago, but for this, those international basketball experts also chose to ignore it, It wasn't until two years later in the 2000 Australian Olympics that Zhuang Fei led the Dream Four team to sweep the world, and those experts who had been singing about American basketball shut up again, and the image of American basketball was reshaped by Zhuang Fei again.

Therefore, this year's World Championships, the whole world is looking forward to this American dream five team. Whether it is the American fans or international fans, Zhuang Fei's performance in leading the Dream Four team two years ago was so perfect, which made many people watch the World Championships to watch the American team perform, and now they are eager to watch the American team perform again, after all, basketball events like the World Championships and the Olympics need to appear every two years, in this case they are extremely hungry for the NBA stars.

It's just that when the Dream Five team was formed in the end, all the fans were a little disappointed, because they didn't see the familiar Carter, the familiar Iverson Kobe and Maddie in this team. Garnett Duncan and Webb are also gone, this team only has Ray Allen, a player who participated in the Olympics two years ago, and it can be said that only Ray Allen is still a first-line star in the NBA, as for the rest such as McFinley, Byron Davis, Andre Miller, Jermaine O'Neal, Anthony Davis, Sean Marion, Jay Williams, James Posey, Elton Brand, Lafrentz and Nick Collisson, even if Reggie Miller, who joined in a friendly cameo because it was held on his home court, Such a lineup is also unsatisfactory.

Of course, many people are a little disappointed with the dream team this time, but the prestige of the dream team is still very strong after all, especially two years ago, Zhuang Fei also swept the world with a group of young people, so they still remember it vividly, so for the United States team, which is dominated by young players, these fans who are looking forward to the dream team are still patient to continue to look forward to it.

This World Championship has 24 teams, and then the 24 teams are also divided into four groups, in the group stage is a single round-robin, that is, each team plays five games, and then the four teams with the best results qualify, and then enter the knockout round, using a single-elimination system, and this time the United States team is divided into Group D, and the United States is in the same group as Russia from Europe, China from Asia, Algeria from Africa, and of course, Puerto Rico from the Americas and France from Europe.

Although the United States is the host, this group is definitely not easy for this host, because in this group except Algeria and Puerto Rico, the other four teams are the top eight teams in the last Olympic Games, and what is even more terrifying is that France is also the runner-up of the last Olympic Games, although because of the humiliating defeat by Zhuang Fei in the last Olympic Games, this team has been in a slump in recent years, and even the World Championships are only entered through the play-offs, but even so, their strength is beyond doubt.

It's just that for the U.S. team, it seems to everyone that any group is the same for the U.S. team, and this so-called group of death is also for everyone else, and the same is true for the actual development.

Although most of the composition of the American team is a stream star, these second-rate stars have performed quite well in this World Championships. From the first game against France, the team has been in great form. Although it is also due to the fact that the French team has recently been in the stage of rebuilding confidence and redefining the core of the team, the team has been very tenacious in the face of old rivals. It's just that even though the French team resisted stubbornly, they were easily defeated by this dream team in the end.

After beating France in the group stage, although the dream team played as gorgeous as the previous two years, the strength of this team has also been recognized by everyone, and this is still a very dominant team, especially in the next group stage. This is especially true after a string of victories over Russia, Algeria, China and Puerto Rico under the leadership of new Timberwolves head coach George Carr, the American team is not as glamorous as it was two years ago, and it is not as domineering on the offensive and defensive end as it was two years ago. However, the team was still able to win comfortably, and it was extremely easy to qualify for the so-called Group of Death with a wave of five consecutive wins in the group stage.

After qualifying for the group stage, the team defeated Turkey by 20 points in the quarterfinals, that is, the round of 16, and it was because of this performance that no one thought that this team would end up with such a tragic ending

Conceco Arena, Indianapolis.

This is the home of NBA team Pacers, and one of the games that is now taking place at this stadium is the quarterfinals of this year's World Men's Basketball Championship in the United States, where the United States, who won Group D, took on Argentina, who finished second in Group B, and the winner of this game will advance to the Final Four. Before this game, basically all the international bookmakers opened the United States team to let Argentina 10 points bet, it can be said that before this game, basically everyone thought that the United States team could win this Argentina by more than 10 points, no one would have thought that the United States team was completely dragged by Argentina here.

"This Argentina is really powerful" Zhuang Fei looked at the American national team on the field that was stuck by Argentina and couldn't move and said with some emotion, this game exceeded everyone's expectations from the beginning, this game is not a one-sided game, although this Argentina lost to the German team led by Nowitzki in the first game of the World Championships, but the team has not lost in the next game, and the state is getting better and better, this team has reached the limit of its state until now. And the play of this game with the United States is even more magical, which also makes this somewhat civilian American team look a little shaky.

"Mr. Zhuang, before this game, you said that it was a tough battle for the American team, and now it seems that you guessed right, and now I want to ask you on behalf of all the fans of the American team, do you think the American team can still win this game?" In the commentary seat of the Conseco Stadium, CBS's commentator Karak Crouch asked Zhuang Fei with a trembling voice, at this time, the CBS's ace commentator has completely lost the equal attitude of sitting and talking with Zhuang Fei before the game, for CBS, their highest-rated game in the World Championships is naturally the game of the American team, and their requirements for the American team are naturally to win all the way, only if they keep winning, and keep playing beautifully, then their ratings will be higher and higher, Although the performance of the U.S. team this year is not gorgeous, but because Zhuang Fei's ratings of this World Championship are passable, but if the U.S. team loses this game, then not to mention Zhuang Fei is sitting here, even if all the players of the former Wake Forest are invited to be commentators, it is impossible for CBS to guarantee the ratings, and they never thought that the dream team would play so hard in the quarterfinals, which is a nightmare for CBS, a nightmare that is likely to lose hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, At this time, not to mention him as a commentator or a fan in the United States, even the boss of CBS is now looking at the frowning Chinese on TV in a cold sweat at this time.

It's just that to everyone's disappointment at this time, this Chinese did not say the answer they wanted.

"This Argentina is very strong, especially their overall defensive quality, this is the international arena, they have their own rules here, and the Argentine team knows them better than the United States, this team has excellent defensive movement and they are able to occupy every position on the pitch. They were able to make every player on the U.S. team have a defender in front of their shots, and more importantly. The U.S. team was in poor form tonight, especially their attacking form. On the other hand, no one on this team can stop the attacks of Ginobili and Scola, especially Ginobili, who is like a sharp knife, and he is always able to stab the American team every time they are relieved. ”

"And now it's even more important that the U.S. and Argentina don't feel good on the outside. Argentina were able to use Ginobili and Scola to score within the three-second zone, while the U.S. team couldn't score the three-second zone at all, without a striker like Ginobili on the perimeter, and no player on the inside could make a single shot under the basket. The team's three-second score relied on the most Anthony Davis' second-court rebound, and if it couldn't change that, the U.S. team would simply be able to turn it back."

Zhuang Fei finally sighed and said under Crouch's almost dead face, Argentina's strategy in this game was very successful, using joint defense to let the United States team shoot more on the periphery, and in this game the United States perimeter shooting is very bad, in this case, the United States team has no way to break Argentina's defense, Argentina led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter of this game 34-21, and even led by as many as 20 points for a period of time, and then the team has been maintaining the lead, according to Zhuang Fei's estimates. In the first three realms of this game, the U.S. team's penalty area score was at most 10 points, and Argentina's three-second zone score was definitely more than 40 points or even close to 50 points, which made the advantage of the U.S. interior height completely become the advantage of only grabbing the rebounds in the front court, and it was impossible to score in the three-second zone, so it was naturally impossible to guarantee that they could shoot this Argentina with their peripheral shots, and in addition to the U.S. team, the periphery of this game was also average, although Argentina was also a three-point shot in 2 out of 10 in this game. But the team has been able to survive through Ginobili's sharp breakaway and Scola's tenacious basket singles.

The most important thing is. In Zhuang Fei's view, the reason why the American team will be beaten by Argentina and lose the inside advantage is because the head coach of this team, George Karl, has no way to use Xiaoao and Anthony Davis, the head coach in the American team is completely playing in the Bucks, the three periphery musketeers crazy offense, this kind of offense is not necessarily feasible in the NBA, let alone in the FIBA where joint defense prevails? In the previous games, it was clear that it had a very paralyzing effect on Mr. Karl. The NBA coach has probably never taken international basketball seriously, and the new Timberwolves head coach hasn't even studied Argentina's game footage. In this case, he was beaten a big stick by Argentina, and he fell behind by 20 points as soon as he came up in the first quarter, and the opponent was still Argentina, so it was not easy to chase it back.

"Now Mr. Karl has to calm down, he needs to strengthen the interior attack of this American team, instead of blindly shooting on the perimeter, the more he needs to be calm when he is behind this score, he must know what the biggest advantage of his team is over Argentina, their interior height and strength are completely out of the opponent, whether it is Scola or Oberto is not the opponent of Jermaine and Anthony, the way to break the joint defense is not only the three-point shot but also the two bottom lines under the basket, he now needs to hand the ball to the team's two interior linesand then let the two inside lines decide the outcome of the game."

Although Zhuang Fei said the solution to the crisis of the American team in this game under Crouch's expectant eyes, it is obvious that Zhuang Fei's voice cannot be conveyed to the court, and Carl cannot know the strategy that Zhuang Fei gave him, the head coach does not study the joint defense very deeply, and at this time the head coach's thoughts must be the most chaotic time, and now the head coach believes that his best skills can be understood when he is in the most dangerous time, but understanding is understanding, but there is no doubt that this head coach is now more and more wrong, At this time, the more than 20,000 American fans in the stands were becoming more and more impatient, and even Zhuang Fei could clearly feel that his partner's breathing was becoming more and more rapid in his commentary seat.

It's just that no matter what, almost all the people present who supported the American team heard the referee blow the end of the game, the scene became extremely silent, and there was only the sound of Argentine players celebrating wildly in the entire Conseco Stadium.

This was a defeat that exceeded everyone's expectations, and it is estimated that many people will still find it unbelievable after the game, the United States team will lose? And they really lost, and it's not an April Fool's joke.

"I think this team will open a new chapter in the basketball world," Zhuang Fei said with a sigh in his heart as he finally looked at the group of Argentines. (To be continued)