Chapter 192 A Battle for Survival

After Tang Tian stole the ball, he sprinted all the way down the court.

Ponitka did his best to chase and defend.

He was probably the only one on the Polish team who hadn't lost his fighting spirit.

But Tang Tian was too fast. He couldn't catch up even with all his effort, and could only watch Tang Tian sprint.

Tang Tian rushed to the three-second area in the frontcourt and soared into the air, slamming the ball into the basket with a windmill dunk.

The point difference had reached 25 points!

Taylor stopped shouting, and the Polish team's bench was silent.

After those two failed inbound plays, the Polish team's morale had reached rock bottom, with no chance of rebounding.

Taylor's intention was to regain morale for the second half, but now it was counterproductive, and the second half was basically unnecessary.

In the end, the Polish team played without any fighting spirit in the second half, and the Chinese team also bloodbathed the Polish team 82-50, ushering in their first victory in the World Cup.

Tang Tian played only three quarters in his national team debut, contributing 19 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals.

Ding Yanyuhang had 15 points, Yi Jianlian had 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks, Abudushalamu had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, Zhai Xiaochuan had 8 points and 5 rebounds, and Wu Qian had 6 points.

After the game, fans also ushered in a big carnival in forums and on Weibo.

"Polish coach Mike Taylor: We have a great chance of winning."

"Laughing to death, those two inbound plays in the first half by the Polish team were just suffocating!"

"Kulig's undercover identity is confirmed, a Chinese center!"

"Poland is really hilarious, the team's top player, Lampe, didn't play because he was going to play in the CBA in the new season, and Kulig is such an undercover, Taylor: I'm too difficult!"

"And Ponitka and Slaughter, these two guards combined for 5 of 25 shots, almost didn't knock our rims crooked!"

"They successfully caught our attention! I know them!"

"I think Taylor is also坑 (keng, a pitfall), he called a timeout after an inbound pass error, and then made the second pass, without even changing the passer and tactics!"

"Actually, it's okay, to put it bluntly, being weak is the original sin in competitive sports, Kulig's mentality was obviously broken at that time."

"Awesome! This is the strength of the Chinese team, a Chinese team with Tang Tian is evenly matched with the American team!"

"Must win the championship!"

……

Because in the afternoon game, Argentina defeated Nigeria 87-72.

Considering the head-to-head record, whether Argentina can beat Poland in the last game or not, they have already locked in the first place in the group.

And the last group game between the Chinese team and the Nigerian team will directly become a situation where whoever wins advances.

Or rather, the last group game is a life-and-death battle for the two teams.

Considering the performance of other teams in Asia and Africa, the loser of this game may lose not only the top 16, but also the Olympic qualification.

Because according to the new World Cup format, the team with the best result in each continent directly obtains the Olympic qualification.

On the Asian side, the Iranian team unexpectedly defeated Brazil and has basically locked in a spot in the top 16.

And on the African side, Cameroon is in the same situation.

So this game is too important for both sides, it is no exaggeration to say that it is the difference between heaven and earth.

But the Chinese fans are in a good mood.

In the battle with Poland, the Chinese team played like a world-class strong team, which gave them ample confidence.

Nigeria is stronger than Poland, but they also lost to Argentina by 15 points.

And the Chinese team now has Tang Tian, and is completely different from the team when they played Argentina before.

So they are full of confidence that the Chinese team will win in two days.

Time flew by, and in a blink of an eye, it was the day of the game between the Chinese team and the Nigerian team.

There were still more than three hours before the game started.

Tang Tian had a video call with Olsen.

Towns was basically fine, but for safety reasons, they would wait until Tang Tian left before coming.

Without any worries, Tang Tian took a taxi to Wukesong early.

When he arrived, he made an unexpected discovery. Yi Jianlian had already arrived at the arena at some point, and had already started shooting practice.

Looking at Yi Jianlian, whose clothes were mostly wet, Tang Tian also felt a lot of emotion in his heart.

Speaking of which, because of his suggestion, Yi Jianlian changed his style of play and became a rare 3D inside player in the league, and is still the starting power forward for the Nets.

But in fact, suggestion is suggestion, and Yi Jianlian's ability to survive until now has a lot to do with his own efforts and self-discipline.

Not to mention anything else, it is rare to be able to start in the NBA at the age of 35, let alone still be able to fly and dunk.

Yi Jianlian saw Tang Tian coming during a break in training, stopped training, and walked over with a smile to say hello.

He was grateful to Tang Tian. If it weren't for Tang Tian, he might have faded out of the NBA long ago.

The two greeted each other, and then started their own training.

Both of them practiced three-pointers.

After practicing for a while, Tang Tian found that Yi Jianlian's touch was very good today.

It should be noted that this was Yi Jianlian before the head-touching.

It seems that as the game deepens, his condition is gradually improving.

After they trained for more than an hour, the other members of the Chinese team also arrived at the arena one after another.

Seeing that the two big players of the team were already sweating profusely, they didn't say anything, lowered their heads and followed suit to start warming up.

Self-disciplined people are often able to make the people around them become self-disciplined as well.

After some more time, fans arrived at the arena one after another, and the Nigerian team also came as a team.

Their expressions looked relatively relaxed.

Nigeria is a relatively poor country. It is said that for this World Cup, the Basketball Association borrowed money from the team's NBA players, Aminu and Okogie.

But this does not affect their mood.

Football is more popular in African countries, and the basketball atmosphere is generally average.

There are fewer fans, and they don't have as much pressure on them.

When the training was almost over, reporters from both sides interviewed one after another.

"Of course we want to win, we want to get the national team into the Olympics, so that we can expand the influence of basketball in the country."

Aminu, Tang Tian's former teammate during his time with the Pelicans, and also the leader of this Nigerian men's basketball team, replied after a reporter asked a question.

In addition to Aminu, Chimezie Metu, the future rising star of the Nigerian men's basketball team, and also a second-year player for the Spurs, also accepted an interview.

"We are playing basketball in our own style, we are united together, trust each other, and this will make us unstoppable."

When asked about the key to the game, as well as his own advantages, Metu replied.

It can be seen that he is still very confident about tonight's game.

"Which players do you know on this Chinese team?"

The reporter asked Metu.

"Tang, we all know him, he is the best basketball player on this planet."

As a second-round pick, Metu didn't have many opportunities to play for the Spurs last season, and spent most of his time in the Development League.

But Tang Tian came from the Spurs, and his strength is there, he must know him.

"Then?"

"Then? That's it."

"Yi Jianlian and Ding Yanyuhang, they are all NBA players, don't you know them?"

"I haven't heard of them."

Metu thought for a while in his mind, and then nodded to confirm.