Yang Yi really has no bottom line when it comes to what he says.

But he really understands traffic. Even though he was playing in the World Championships, he brought the topic to next season's NBA.

Although the Bulls' lineup looks like they can compete with the Heat, it's a bit unfair for you to judge in advance that they can't play in the Eastern Conference.

Putting aside other things, just the Big Three lineup, if they don't win the championship for two consecutive years, it may disband early.

It feels great to be together at the top, but the road ahead is also very difficult.

But no matter how absurd what Yang Yi said sounds, at least now, on the court of this stadium, Xu Yong and Durant are engaged in a scoring battle.

After the first quarter, Durant and Xu Yong both scored 14 points. Not only did they play well, but they were also very hot.

Under their leadership, the two teams tied 28 to 24 in the first quarter, with the Chinese team taking the lead.

In a 10-minute quarter, this is already a very high score.

However, for the Chinese team, their challenge has just begun.

The strongest point of the American team is not their starting lineup, especially with the development of world basketball. Even for the Dream Team, it is difficult to open the score in the first quarter in many games.

Their strongest point is rotation.

The feeling of five All-Stars going off the court to rest and being replaced by five All-Stars is the most desperate moment for the opponent.

The Dream Team won many games by winning during the transition period with substitutes, by bringing Wade on the field to make various breakthroughs and making him the scoring leader.

Therefore, in order to prevent the score from being widened too early, opponents usually have to extend the time their main players are on the court.

But you can hold on in the first half, but you don’t have the energy left in the second half.

This is also the reason why fans always felt that the men's basketball team lacked physical fitness.

That's not a disadvantage of the yellow race, it's simply that the substitutes are not strong enough.

So at the beginning of the second quarter, Xu Yong found Deng Huade.

"I don't need a break."

Xu Yong's words made the American coach, who was known for his hot temper, stunned.

"Are you serious?" Deng Huade confirmed after coming to his senses.

You have to know that Xu Yong played a lot on the offensive end in the first quarter, and his physical energy consumption was very high.

Xu Yong nodded seriously.

He originally thought that FIBA ​​games were more intense and although they were shorter in duration, they consumed a lot of physical energy.

However, after feeling the last section, he found that his physical training over the years was still effective.

Moreover, he was only on the court for 40 minutes, not attacking for 40 minutes. When he didn't have the ball, he was on the court to contain the defense and run a few times without the ball to look for opportunities.

There are many things worth learning from James, and [resting on the court] is one of them.

"If there is really a problem with my physical condition, coach, you can call a timeout to let me rest." Seeing that Deng Huade had not agreed, Xu Yong said with a smile.

Deng Huade was amused and nodded.

Xu Yong has already proven himself in the NBA during his rookie season, so if he says that, he must have an idea in mind.

The second quarter was about to begin and Thibodeau received a phone call.

It was Forman who called, and the Bulls finally finalized the key reinforcement player, O'Neal Jr.

A two-year, $10 million contract with a player option in the second year.

In fact, O'Neal Jr. only turned 32 in October this year, and he still averaged 13.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game for the Heat last season, with a shooting percentage of 52.9%, a career-high.

However, he has two big problems. The first is his performance in the playoffs last season. As the team's second-leading scorer, he only averaged 4.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game against Perkins' defense, and his shooting percentage dropped to 20%.

Players like Bonzi Wells proved their worth in one round of playoffs, and this round of playoffs brought his worth to the bottom.

Of course, the second one is the biggest problem. Since he suffered a knee injury in the 2004-2005 season, he has basically missed some games every season due to injury, especially after entering the 2007-2008 season, he can only attend about half of the games.

Although he played 70 games, the most in recent years, for the Heat last season, no one knows how much impact his injury will have.

These two issues also contribute to his value in this year's free market.

After hanging up the phone, Thibodeau couldn't help but smile.

Yao Ming, O'Neal, O'Neal Jr., Gibson who was already on the team, and Asik, another inside player he visited in Turkey this time.

It is obvious that the next season will be a one big and four small lineup, but Foreman chose to organize so many inside players, including those with heavy weight (O'Neal), flexible and defensive players (O'Neal Jr.), traditional centers (Asik), and space inside players (Gibson). There are all kinds of types.

But he can actually understand that the main problem is that Yao Ming has injury risks, and it is necessary to sign more inside players to reduce his consumption in the regular season.

Yao Ming.

Thibodeau looked towards the Chinese team's bench.

He doesn't care about other people, but Yao Ming. This is the second time the two have worked together. With the experience of their time with the Rockets, he will definitely be much more careful in using Yao Ming this time.

It was at this time that he saw the lineup of the Chinese team. Would Xu Yong not take a rest?

He was stunned for a moment, then felt inexplicably ecstatic.

In the two months since he joined the Bulls, what he has done most is studying the game videos of the Bulls last season.

Ross and Xu Yong were naturally his main focus.

Even though Rose's breakthrough is very familiar to him as an opponent, he likes it more and more the more he watches it. To say it is like a surgical knife is an understatement.

What Xu Yong values ​​most is his versatility and stable playing style with or without the ball, which shows that he has great potential to be a superstar.

However, he didn't feel much when he watched the video before, but now seeing Xu Yong not resting, he suddenly realized that Xu Yong had the most playing time on the Bulls last season, and played all 82 games.

Good boy, I love you just like this!

In a blink of an eye, the first half of the game ended with the score being 51 to 50, and the Chinese team ended the half with a 1-point lead!

Somewhat similar to 2008, the Chinese team was evenly matched with the American team in the first half, and the Chinese team was even leading in the score.

But the difference is that the Chinese team did not achieve this by focusing on the main players (except Xu Yong).

A point that is often overlooked is that among the starting five of the men's basketball team in 2008, Liu Wei and Wang Shipeng are both substitutes this time. Together with Wang Zhizhi in the interior, the substitute strength of this men's basketball team is also quite strong.

Especially Wang Shipeng, his personal condition is very good, and he shot very steadily from the outside despite being a little crazy.

The fans were very excited during this half and the ratings soared again.

This was the first time that Chinese fans felt that the Chinese team really had a chance to win.

After a short halftime break, both sides returned to the field.

The US team made adjustments to the starting lineup: Billups, Iguodala, Durant, Odom, and Chandler.

The change in this lineup compared to the effective lineup in the first half is that Billups was replaced by Rondo.

Billups' organizational and court-control abilities are also good, and the key is that he has shooting ability.

And in the first round of the second half, the entire US team was creating opportunities for Durant.

Durant finally received the ball and successfully broke into the basket, causing Yi Jianlian to commit a defensive foul.

Durant had two free throw opportunities. Xu Yong, who was standing outside the three-point line, turned his head and looked at the US team's bench.

Coach K is still quite capable.

In fact, the US team did not play well in the first half. The main problem was that they did not have a clear offensive core.

Durant was in such a hot streak in the first quarter, but he basically didn't take any shots in the second quarter.

This is actually not surprising. Not only did Old K fail to clearly define the focus of the attack, but the other members of the American team also did not realize who the boss was.

After all, we are all young and play core roles in our respective teams. Why should I help you?

But it was obvious that Old K made this clear at halftime.

This is undoubtedly bad news for the Chinese team, because Xu Yong knows how terrifying Durant is when he is at full power in the FIBA ​​arena.

“Swish!”

Durant made his first free throw.

It was at this time that Xu Yong found Sun Yue and talked to him about the defense change.

Sun Yue nodded without much thought.

Tonight's defense against Durant was devastating to his defensive confidence.

The defensive methods that he relied on for survival were completely ineffective in front of Durant, and he almost made him doubt his life.

Now that Xu Yong had taken the initiative to change, he had no reason to refuse.

Durant's second free throw also went in, and the U.S. team took the lead 52-51.

In the Chinese team's offense, Yao Ming scored a goal in the low post against Chandler, and the Chinese team took the lead again.

In the first half, the Chinese team shot accurately from outside the penalty area, and the American team did not dare to double-team Yao Ming at will.

The two sides took turns leading at the beginning of the second half, and the game was heading towards a fierce competition.

Billups advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, and that was when he noticed the Chinese team's switching defense.

As both of them played in the NBA, Billups naturally had a certain impression of Xu Yong's defense, especially what he showed in the series against the Cavaliers. He had strong confrontation, predictive ability, and elite one-on-one defense.

So he quickly signaled a tactical move to give Durant an opportunity to shoot without the ball.

Chandler was the first human wall for Durant's screen, but as soon as he stood up, he found that Xu Yong passed by him with a sideways move.

This made him doubt his life on the spot: When did my pick-and-roll become so lousy?

Odom was the second pick-and-roll, and he didn't expect Xu Yong to bypass Chandler's pick-and-roll so quickly.

But he noticed Xu Yong's footsteps.

It’s not because he is so good at defense, but because he is Kobe’s teammate!

Although he didn't understand the puppy's gait, he had never eaten pork but he watched pigs run every day, so he would be able to tell it apart immediately when he saw it.

So he waited until Xu Yong was almost there before setting up the screen.

But he still failed to stop Xu Yong's steps, because when Xu Yong faced his sudden pick-and-roll, he made a "front-body change of direction" in front of him.

The small steps that passed by made him subconsciously move his feet to provide secondary cover.

But sorry, this is not Golden State. The referee blew the whistle immediately, calling Odom's moving screen.

Durant received the ball and was about to shoot, but when he heard the whistle, he turned around and saw the referee's gesture, and reluctantly put the ball down.

Odom immediately raised his hand to indicate that it was his own problem.

Moving screen is a type of offensive foul, which involves an exchange of ball possession.

Yao Ming continued to receive the ball in the low post, but Chandler still failed to defend Yao Ming in a one-on-one situation and ended up committing a defensive foul.

The person who is best at defending Yao Ming one-on-one is Garnett. In addition to his sufficient size, he is also aggressive in defense and has a quick reaction speed.

Gasol and Pau Gasol did a good job in this regard, so they were able to limit Yao Ming well.

As for players like Howard and Chandler who like to fight head-on, they are really Yao Ming's toys.

The U.S. team advanced to the frontcourt and continued to play tactics for Durant.

But this time, Billups did not find a chance to pass the ball to Durant.

It was still a double-door pick-and-roll. This time Odom did not move the pick-and-roll. As a result, Xu Yong really passed through the two doors like a piece of paper, just as Kobe described.

Because of his rebirth, Xu Yong's talent for learning basketball skills has also increased greatly.

In contrast, Harden needed to continuously practice in formal games to slowly digest the game suggestions Kobe gave him, but Xu Yong got the hang of these things very quickly.

Durant tried to receive the ball with his back to Xu Yong, but Xu Yong simply went forward and stretched out his long arms to give him no chance.

To be honest, it is difficult for Xu Yong to defend Durant in a one-on-one situation.

You have to know that although Durant has just finished the third season of his career, he has already averaged 30 points per game and won the scoring title. Moreover, he only averaged 20.3 shots per game and his average playing time was less than 40 minutes. This is a very terrifying statistic.

What is even more terrifying than the statistics is the way he scores. His playing style is top-notch both with and without the ball, and it cannot be limited by shrinking or double-teaming.

Otherwise, why would Stern, such a shrewd man, have already regarded him as the next candidate for the league's successor before his third season was over?

Especially in the FIBA ​​arena, his shooting ability will be further amplified.

In this year of history, he averaged 22.8 points per game in his first international competition! He was not only the only player in the Dream Team to score more than 20 points, but also the only one to score in double digits.

FIBA Jordan, is not just a name for nothing.

Therefore, the defensive style adopted by Xu Yong was the same as that of his future teammate, Tony Allen, known as the "Durant Terminator".

The most important thing is to limit his catching the ball as much as possible.

This is easier said than done, after all, Durant has long arms and legs and moves fast.

But because Xu Yong was big enough and learned the puppy gait from Kobe, he did really well.

Durant couldn't get the ball, and the US team didn't have much time left to attack, so Billups finally made a sudden shot from the top of the arc.

However, when Sun Yue switched to defend him, he was able to show his talent and blocked the ball directly.

The ball finally fell into Yi Jianlian's hands, and the Chinese team once again launched a defensive counterattack. After Sun Yue blocked the shot, he rushed out like a rabbit, received the ball and made a fast break layup to score.

57 to 52, the Chinese team once again widened the gap to 5 points!

The fans at the scene are already going wild.

On the commentary side, Zhang Weiping pursed his lips excitedly, afraid that he would not be able to control himself and blurt out something in the next second.

But it’s really exciting!

Normally, by the third quarter, the U.S. team would be able to defeat their opponents in one fell swoop.

But tonight, not only did the Chinese team not fall behind, but they actually widened the score!

Beat the Dream Team?

Right in front of you!