Chapter 181 Quarterfinals Draw

The day after the Chinese team finished its group matches, all the group matches ended, and the rankings were released.

Group A: China ranked first with 6 points from three wins, France second with 4 points from one win and two losses, Spain third with 4 points from one win and two losses, and Australia fourth with 4 points from one win and two losses.

Group B: The United States ranked first with 6 points from three wins, Serbia second with 5 points from two wins and one loss, Cameroon third with 4 points from one win and two losses, and Lithuania fourth with 3 points from zero wins and three losses.

Group C: Slovenia ranked first with 5 points from two wins and one loss, Greece second with 5 points from two wins and one loss, Japan third with 4 points from one win and two losses, and Argentina fourth with 4 points from one win and two losses.

According to the rules, the top two teams from each group, plus the two third-place teams with the best records, would advance to the quarterfinals.

China, France, the United States, Serbia, and Slovenia all advanced to the quarterfinals.

However, the three third-place teams in the groups all had the same number of points.

In this case, according to the rules, the total net score of the teams in the group was compared.

In the end, Cameroon ranked at the bottom of the third-place teams in the three groups due to its crushing defeat to the United States, and Spain and Japan finally advanced to the quarterfinals.

The moment the final result was released, the entire Japanese nation was in an uproar.

The Japanese team advanced to the Olympic quarterfinals, creating their best Olympic record!

"I'm speechless for a moment."

Lin Yi squeezed out these words after watching the result for a long time.

"Do you know what's most developed in Japan?"

Tang Tian asked with a smile.

"Anime?"

"..."

"Is Tokyo a little hot?"

"..."

Tang Tian couldn't help but flick Lin Yi's forehead again.

Lin Yi was probably a dead fat宅 (zhai - otaku) before he time-traveled!

"Brain, the Japanese pay great attention to detail."

Tang Tian continued.

Putting themselves in the weakest group, the probability of a large score difference in the other two groups, especially the group with the United States, was very high.

Then, as long as they lost less in their own group, and then tried their best to win one or two opponents, they would have a high probability of advancing to the quarterfinals.

The current situation was that Japan won against the declining Argentina, and one win was enough to enter the top eight.

If it were the previous rules, where the top four of the six teams advanced to the quarterfinals, Japan would not be able to enter regardless of how the groups were divided.

But now, with this division into three groups, and then using the rule of taking the two third-place teams with the best records, their probability of advancing was directly increased by a level.

So, the Japanese are really good at these details.

In any case, the Japanese team had made it to the quarterfinals.

According to the previous rules, the first place in each of the three groups and the second place with the best record would be placed in one group.

Then, in the quarterfinals, Group D would consist of China, the United States, Slovenia, and Serbia, while Group E would consist of Greece, France, Spain, and Japan.

The quarterfinals would be drawn by lot, and opponents who had played against each other in the group stage would not play against each other again.

So, taking Slovenia as an example, its quarterfinal opponents would be either France or Spain.

Before the drawing ceremony, the leaders of many teams, including China, expressed a desire to draw their own lots for the quarterfinals.

It was obvious that they had all seen through the Japanese team's tricks.

Because the response came from many teams, FIBA agreed under pressure.

As a result, before the start of the quarterfinals, representatives of each team appeared at the drawing site together.

The drawing was not open to the public. If the teams didn't request it themselves, no one would know how much fairness there was in it.

The United States team was the first to draw lots, because Serbia, which was in the same group, was also in Group D, and all four teams in Group E could be drawn.

The representative of the United States team was James, and the team he finally drew was France.

This matchup was exciting, especially for the French team's coach, Michel Gomez.

Last year, the French team was blocked by the United States from the top four, and they lost miserably. After a year of hard work, it was time for them to take revenge.

Along with this drawing result, another quarterfinal matchup also appeared.

Because Slovenia could only choose between France and Spain, and France was drawn away, they automatically faced Spain.

The second team to draw lots was the Chinese team, and the person sent by the Chinese team to draw lots was Lin Yi.

Originally, Yao Ming wanted Tang Tian to go, but Tang Tian passed the task to Lin Yi.

Since arriving in Tokyo, Lin Yi had been thinking about playing against Japan. Now that Japan had entered the quarterfinals, whether he could draw them depended on his own luck.

Lin Yi was a little nervous when he went up to draw. The leaders of the Greek and Japanese teams were also nervously tense.

The absolute dominance shown by the Chinese team in the group stage was suffocating. The more they didn't want to encounter the United States team in advance, the more they didn't want to encounter the Chinese team.

After stroking the two balls back and forth, Lin Yi finally took out the ball containing the result.

The ball was opened by the staff, and the result inside was released.

Japan!

The Chinese team's quarterfinal opponent was the Japanese team!

Lin Yi shouted excitedly when he saw the result.

The representatives of other teams thought he was excited because he had drawn the weak Japanese team.

After all, having been placed in the weakest group, the Japanese team, who advanced with one win, was the weakest.

However, only the members of the Chinese team knew what Lin Yi was really excited about.

This guy finally got his wish!

Japanese team coach Lamas turned pale in an instant.

They had started early, scheming in every possible way, but in the end, they still encountered the Chinese team in advance!

Their Olympic journey was basically ended in advance by Lin Yi's draw.

The Japanese leader next to him patted Lamas on the shoulder, saying that they had already achieved their goal by advancing to the quarterfinals, and the following games would depend on fate.

Lamas gave a wry smile. That was what he said, but after so much effort, such a result was still frustrating.

After the Chinese team finished drawing, Serbia automatically faced Greece, and all the quarterfinal matchups were released.

United States vs France, Slovenia vs Spain, China vs Japan, Serbia vs Greece.

"How about we win by 30 points?"

After returning from the draw, the members of the Chinese team were more excited than the last, and Ding Yanyuhang spoke directly.

"40 points, we must win by 40 points to count as a win!"

Guo Ailun shouted, stirring up trouble.

"Don't talk about 30 or 40, let's make it 50, no, since it's 50, let's make it 58."

Lin Yi, the chatterbox, would naturally not miss out.

The locker room burst into laughter.

Lin Yi, this guy, was still a炮黑 (pao hei - hater)!

"Don't get too carried away, prepare well for the game."

When the members were almost hyped up, Tang Tian, as the boss, opened his mouth to remind them.

This was also what he had to do now.

After reminding them, he saw Li Chunjiang coming to the locker room, and he directly stopped him at the door, and then went to the door to chat about things.