Chapter 194 The Final Battle is Approaching

Dongcic felt that this sentence sounded familiar, as if he had heard some teammate say it in the NBA.

However, his thoughts were in a mess at the moment, and he couldn't remember it for a while.

After thanking Tang Tian again, he turned and walked towards the player tunnel.

Although he had lost, whether it was defeat or success, he had to be with his teammates.

Watching Doncic's leaving back, Tang Tian finally looked up at the scoreboard.

Next up was the final.

In all likelihood, they would face the American team again.

It was just that this year would be even more difficult than last year.

The Chinese team had become stronger than last year's team after the addition of Lin Yi and Zhou Qi.

But the American team was the same, even stronger.

Not only had James and Davis, who hadn't come last year, arrived, but the American team's bench had also become stronger.

Jimmy Butler and Irving, who hadn't come last year, were both here, and to strengthen the interior, the American men's basketball team had even naturalized Towns.

Before entering the NBA, Towns had represented the Dominican Republic in the London Olympics in 2012.

But now he had been naturalized into the American men's basketball team.

From this, it could be seen how much the American team wanted to win this time.

That night, the other semi-final match between the United States and Serbia started at the arena.

The Chinese men's basketball team also appeared on the sidelines to watch.

The American team attached great importance to this game, sending out their strongest lineup from the start: Curry and Durant on the outside, Leonard and James on the forwards, and Davis at center.

However, the Serbian team was in great form at the start, frequently attacking the American team's interior, leaving Davis somewhat isolated and helpless.

It was obvious that Popovich had underestimated the Serbian team's interior.

Especially Jokic, whose body fat seemed unstoppable in FIBA games.

Perhaps Popovich had been in the United States for too long and had almost forgotten that he was Yugoslavian.

But once he realized it, he put Towns on the court, directly using Towns and Davis in the interior.

This immediately strengthened the American team's interior strength, and Jokic's performance in the interior was very constrained, forcing him to play further and further out.

But his outside shooting was not consistent.

This was also the limitation of big men. Although they had developed three-point shooting skills under the background of the small-ball era, few could kill the opponent with it.

Not every interior player had the shooting talent of Bonner and Okur.

Serbia became more and more passive as the game went on, and the point difference had been widened to more than 20 points by the American team at the end of the third quarter.

However, the American team also had problems with rotation later on. They only had three real interior players, and some problems appeared with their physical fitness.

This was perhaps the only weakness of this American men's basketball team.

However, the strength of the outside and forward lines still allowed the American team to win the game 100-80 and successfully advance to the Olympic finals.

The Chinese and American teams, after the Rio Olympics and the China World Cup, met for the third time in the finals of a world competition.

Although there had been some twists and turns, the final result was still as fans expected: the Sino-American war was about to begin!

Moreover, both teams were at their strongest, making this match particularly eye-catching.

After the match was confirmed, fans in both countries began to cheer on their respective social media.

"With Tang Tian in this state, plus Lin Yi, I think the Chinese team can still win this year!"

"We must win! Durant, James, Leonard, Curry, who isn't Tang's defeated opponent?!"

"Last year, our center position was the weakest, but this year we have Lin Yi and Zhou Qi, so our interior is not inferior to the American team. We will definitely win!"

"Come on, defeat the so-called strongest American team, and tell them that the loss a year ago was not because they didn't have all their players, but because they really couldn't beat us!"

"The Chinese team will win!"

……

"We have no excuses anymore. If we can't win this year, maybe the NBA really needs a reform!"

"The Chinese team was able to win last year because they were the host and because of the magical three-point rain at the end, but they won't have that kind of luck this year!"

"Our interior was too bad last year, but this year we have Towns and Davis, while the Chinese team only has rookies Lin Yi and Zhou Qi. We will beat them badly!"

"I hope the national team can go all out from the start and not give the Chinese team any hope!"

"We must win. This is the last chance for the Dream Team. They can definitely do it!"

"America will win!"

……

Because they were the strongest two teams, and even more so because it was the Olympics, the emotions of fans in both countries were significantly higher than at last year's World Cup.

With the war imminent, Li Chunjiang arranged a training session on the morning of the day before the game.

He felt the pressure from the players' performance.

Lin Yi, who had always been a chatterbox, was uncharacteristically quiet during the training session, and was working hard.

Even Abudushalamu and Fang Shuo, who usually loved to talk, were also buried in their training.

People only use actions to cover themselves when they are nervous, which shows that every player is under a lot of pressure when facing this strongest American team.

Li Chunjiang saw this, and after the training session, he gathered the players together and announced that the video class originally scheduled for the evening was canceled.

He let the players go out to relax, but for safety reasons, they were not allowed to leave the Olympic Village. They could do anything else.

This decision was well received by the players.

Since the Olympics started, they had either been competing or preparing for the competition, and the accumulated pressure was indeed making it difficult to breathe.

After dinner that night, they strolled around the Olympic Village in twos and threes.

The facilities in the Tokyo Olympic Village were still very complete, with cinemas, billiard rooms, gyms, supermarkets... everything you could want.

There were even hotels, and you could occasionally see athletes going in together, which was quite humane.

The men's basketball players soon separated. Tang Tian, Lin Yi, and Ding Yanyuhang were together, preparing to go to a movie to relieve the pressure.

*Glory Road* was still showing, but they didn't know if it was playing in this cinema.

"Brother Ding, one for you."

As soon as they reached the entrance of the cinema, Lin Yi whistled at Ding Yanyuhang.

It turned out there was a *byt* box at the entrance.

"Don't mess around!"

Ding Yanyuhang immediately waved his hand. With the finals imminent, he didn't want to lose his strength before the game.

Lin Yi laughed out loud when he saw this.

Just then, the advertisement wall on top of the box moved, and a Durex advertisement appeared on it, with Tang Tian's handsome and strong figure very eye-catching.

Lin Yi was stunned when he saw it.

He turned to look at Tang Tian, but Tang Tian had already pulled Ding Yanyuhang away.

Although he had retired, Tang Tian was still taking Durex advertisements. The scene of a real person standing in front of the advertisement was a bit awkward.

Lin Yi laughed and chased after them, but just then, he found that there were some people they knew in the cinema.

Davis and Durant.

Like them, the tall guys could be seen at a glance in the crowd.