In the previous Spurs-Rockets game, Zhou Qi sprained his knee in the last game.

At the time, it didn't seem serious, but news just came out yesterday that his knee sprain was severe, and he is expected to be out for half a year.

He will have to wait until October, when the new season's preseason starts, to return.

In other words, he is definitely out of the Men's Basketball World Cup this year.

This news is a nightmare for him and for the Chinese team.

The Chinese team only has those three centers who can play in world competitions, Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhelin and Zhou Qi, and now that one is injured, it's a big problem.

Originally there was Zou Yuchen who was a rising star, but he was seriously injured in a warm-up match a few years ago.

"Shen Zijie is not bad, and Abudushalamu can also play the four position. I think world basketball is going small and fast, focusing on shooting, which is not fatal."

It is already a fact that Zhou Qi cannot play. Tang Tian said this to give Yao Ming confidence.

And what he couldn't say was that Zhou Qi's performance in this World Cup in history was terrible, and even such memes as Yao Tou Tan Qi and Nan Ci Qi Jiu appeared.

Although with him there, these may not reappear, but from a precognitive point of view, Zhou Qi not being able to play may not be a bad thing.

Tang Tian's persuasion still had an effect.

In addition to Zhou Qi's matter, there was another matter related to the Men's Basketball World Cup.

Before this, Yao Ming had also privately communicated with Tang Tian on the selection of the national team coach.

Because it was a reform, the external pressure was very great. When the Red and Blue teams were first formed, only Du Feng and Li Nan participated in the election.

But with Tang Tian's strong recommendation, Yao Ming made a special trip to Zhejiang and invited Li Chunjiang out of the mountains.

After that, Li Chunjiang also successfully led the team to win the Asian Games championship, proving his strength.

However, because of his coaching style, some players in the team now have conflicts with him, and some players even protested that they couldn't stand it.

Yao Ming came for this matter. It is definitely a big taboo to change coaches temporarily, but problems must be solved.

"I think you have to stand up for Li Chunjiang and support him. Although his personality is fiery, it will be very useful in world competitions."

Tang Tian also gave Yao Ming advice.

Most domestic players play in the CBA. The foreign aid mechanism set up to protect players can guarantee the interests of domestic players, but the players are too comfortable.

They can't bear it with a little training, and many of them have forgotten that they are playing for the country.

Just like Gong Luming dared not to use Sun Yue at the beginning, now anyone who has an opinion can be directly rejected.

Anyway, with Tang Tian there, and the Chinese team is now at least an Olympic champion team, the confidence to not want role players is there.

Moreover, fiery coaches have been proven in the national team, not only the current Li Chunjiang, but also the previous Deng Huade, and even Fan Bin of the youth team.

If you don't scold these players, they may always float in the sky and never come down.

Yao Ming accepted Tang Tian's suggestion.

After sending Yao Ming away, Tang Tian greeted other people one after another.

After he finished his work, he stayed with Olsen and the children and did not participate in the team's training.

The next day, the team was about to leave, so he said goodbye to Olsen and the children and went to San Antonio with the team.

A familiar place, and nothing has changed since he came here last year, or even when he first came here.

This is also a characteristic of American cities. Compared with the changes in domestic cities every few years, most American cities change very little.

After arriving in San Antonio, the Pelicans arranged a training session that afternoon.

Stevens really attached great importance to this series.

However, high-intensity training is also prone to accidents, and Gasol accidentally sprained his ankle.

Although it wasn't serious and he could play in tomorrow's game, it still sounded an alarm for Stevens.

He ended the training session early.

The next day, the first game of the Pelicans and Spurs series kicked off in San Antonio.

The AT&T Center was packed.

The Spurs performed exceptionally well this year, and unlike the GDP era, Leonard and George's wings are obviously more watchable.

This has made the San Antonio market unprecedentedly hot.

Just like the joy on the face of the team owner CCX who came to the scene, the fans are full of confidence in the team winning the championship this year.

And when the on-site camera gave a close-up of the sidelines, it also captured Duncan and Ginobili in suits and leather shoes.

Two Spurs legends came to watch the game.

During the pre-game warm-up, in addition to greeting Leonard, they also ran to the Pelicans side to greet Tang Tian, Parker, and Green.

This series in front of us looks a bit like a Spurs civil war.

After the players finished warming up, the opening ceremony began, and the starting lineups of the two teams were released one after another.

The Pelicans have their regular lineup, Brogdon and Tang Tian on the outside, Green and Davis on the wings, and Gasol as the center.

The Spurs have a change in their lineup, White and George on the outside, Leonard and Aldridge on the wings, and Baynes as the center.

In the past trade deadline, the Spurs managed to trade back Baynes, an old player.

And Baynes has changed compared to his last time playing for the Spurs, that is, he can shoot three-pointers.

His 34% three-point shooting percentage is already considered quite good among big men.

This is also an important reason why Popovich worked so hard to trade him back.

Now using Baynes to match up with Gasol, Popovich is planning ahead.

Amidst the cheers of the fans, the game started quickly.

Gasol won the tip-off, giving the Pelicans the first chance to attack.

Tang Tian was locked down by George and Leonard from the start. Popovich is really ruthless against Tang Tian.

The Pelicans' first attack was finally directed to Gasol at the top of the arc.

Gasol's three-point shot was interfered by Baynes's return defense, and it was a bit too far off.

I don't know if it was affected by the ankle sprain during the previous training, but his touch didn't seem very good.

Turning around, the Spurs' first wave of attack also failed to score.

The Pelicans showed a very high level of defense from the start.

Moreover, Popovich temporarily changed the lineup, and the team's coordination did not have the smoothness it had before.

The two sides set the tone for the game from the beginning, and a defensive battle broke out on the court.

The referee's penalty scale was relatively loose, and the confrontation on the court was very intense.

Such games do not have many points, but the fans enjoy watching them very much.

A duel between experts is not necessarily a head-to-head attack.

The two teams played for half a quarter, and the score on the court was 11 to 10, with the Pelicans leading.

Perhaps because he hadn't trained much in the past two days, Tang Tian's touch was average tonight. He made two consecutive long-range shots without success, and with the restrictions of George and Leonard, he only scored 4 points.

The intense confrontation on the court continued, and it was at this time that an accident occurred on the court.

Gasol was confronting Aldridge on the defensive end, and sprained his ankle when he exerted force.

Spraining an ankle is a habit. This is obviously related to the ankle sprain during training, but the sprain was more serious, and he was directly carried off the court by his teammates.

Stevens followed with a timeout.

With the score tight, Gasol's injury is a nightmare for the Pelicans.