blogombal Chapter 1125 Give me that damn ball!
Chapter 1125 Give me that damn ball!
Zhang Zhaoxu, Ding Jinhui, Zhou Peng, and Guo Ailun.
Of the four players Lin Tian pointed out, three were workhorse players.
Zhang Zhaoxu is tall and strong, Ding Jinhui, nicknamed "Bulldog," is the most spirited player on the team, while Zhou Peng is known for his defense.
Lin Tian sent these three guys up, and his goal was clearly the same: to fight the American team.
Since we can't win on offense, let's change our approach and focus on defense. Maybe it will have a surprising effect.
As for Guo Ailun, the youngest and most inexperienced player on the Chinese team, and also the one who has played the least in this Olympics, Lin Tian has only one task for him.
"Run! Whenever you have a chance, just run forward. Don't worry about anything else. If you get the chance, I'll pass you the ball."
"If you get the basketball, then don't worry about anything else, forget all the damn stuff, forget all that lousy tactics and bullshit logic, just do it! Do whatever you want!"
"I've got my way, brother."
"Call me Uncle!" Lin Tian ruffled Guo Ailun's hair, then stood up and said, "In the last two minutes, get that advantage back!"
"Yes!" everyone shouted at the same time.
"Give me that damn basketball, and I'll put it in the hoop! I'll be leading you guys, and in two hours we'll have Olympic gold medals around our necks!"
"yes!"
"As for the others," Lin Tian's gaze swept over everyone else, especially the team's key players such as Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue, and Xu Yong: "Take a good rest and make the most of these 2-minute and 20-minute halftime breaks."
"We'll be back in full force in the second half! Let's crush them!"
"clear!"
With everyone roaring in unison, the five-man team from China took to the field again.
"That was terrifying! The American team's firepower just now was truly terrifying." Yu Jia said with lingering fear during the timeout, "It wasn't just their firepower, their suppression of us was also suffocating! If we hadn't led by so much in the first quarter, if Lin Tian hadn't made those incredible shots..."
"I'm afraid we've already fallen behind."
"But our situation isn't optimistic either," Zhang Weiping said. "The last two minutes are crucial! We need to regain the initiative, otherwise the entire second half could turn into a massacre."
"At this point, Old Nelson brought out... an all-defensive lineup?"
"That's not right. It's not appropriate to field a full defensive lineup at this time. After all, we all know that stopping the American team is a global challenge; no team has been able to solve it. To beat them, you have to focus on offense!"
"Although relying on offense is also a pipe dream, it is the only way to survive. That's what we did before, and every time we beat the American team, the score was very high."
"Don Nelson is also a coach who excels at and advocates offense, so why the sudden switch to a defensive lineup?"
"The US team has brought out their starting lineup at this time!" Yu Jia also saw the US team's lineup at this moment: "Coach K is as prudent as ever. He didn't bring out any particularly strong lineup to press the advantage."
"If it were Don Nelson, he might have regretted imitating Jackson and using a small-ball lineup to finish the game and grab points. But Coach K took his most comfortable and conventional starting lineup."
Zhang Weiping hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think it's because the American team feels that maintaining their lead is more important than extending it! After all, they were already behind for the entire first half, and now that they finally have a chance, maintaining their lead is what they consider the most important thing."
But regardless of what those two old foxes, Nelson and Coach K, were thinking, the game had already begun with the last two minutes of the second quarter!
With a whistle from the referee, Zhou Peng stood on the sideline and raised the ball with both hands. Lin Tian tried to run out of the crowd to receive the ball, but before the Chinese team could even take the throw-in, the American team immediately sent two players to double-team Lin Tian!
Durant and Allen both marked Lin Tian closely, and no matter how he dodged and weaved, they didn't give him any chance to receive the ball.
Meanwhile, James was waving his arms high on the sideline to try and disrupt Zhou Peng's pass, while Paul and Howard stood on either side of the free-throw line, ready to provide necessary help defense at any time.
"Nephew!" Lin Tian shouted as he saw that he was facing a double-team and could not get open within 5 seconds. Guo Ailun was also alert and quickly ran towards Zhou Peng.
Zhou Peng immediately passed the ball, thus preventing the Chinese team from committing a 5-second violation on the inbound pass.
After receiving the ball, Guo Ailun showed no fear whatsoever. After glancing around and finding no one guarding him, he accelerated and charged straight toward the basket, his eyes fixed on nothing else.
At this point, Guo Ailun's advantage—having barely played and contributed anything before this Olympics—became apparent.
The American team was clearly unfamiliar with him, unaware of his background or style.
This led to Paul seriously underestimating his speed.
Paul never expected that this kid who suddenly came on the Chinese team would have such speed.
In the blink of an eye, Guo Ailun had already darted past Paul and charged towards the basket.
Howard did realize what was happening and tried to help defend, but unfortunately Ding Jinhui was standing right next to him. The "Bulldog" used his strengths, pulling and dragging Howard to prevent him from getting a chance to drive to the basket.
"Whoosh!"
After the crisp sound, Guo Ailun launched a lightning attack and easily scored 2 points with a layup!
"Play like this!" Lin Tian roared, "Before today, not many people in this world knew you! They didn't know your names, your playing style, they only called you Lin Tian's teammates!"
"But after tonight! The whole world will know you, the whole world will know your names!"
"Let the whole world know our names!" Guo Ailun was incredibly excited after making the layup, waving his fist and shouting, "I'm Guo Ailun!"
"You think you're so great, kid?" Paul received the ball from the baseline, faced Guo Ailun, dribbled up the court, and started trash-talking him: "I was just careless, that's all! You're not going to get past me again!"
Unfortunately, Guo Ailun was clearly a novice; he only managed to understand one "I" and one "YOU" from Paul's incredibly fast-paced English speech.
"What's that foreigner yelling about?" Guo Ailun looked at Lin Tian and asked for help.
After all, it would be impolite not to respond when a world-class star speaks to you.
"Who cares what he says? Just use whatever you're good at," Lin Tian said. "Basketball knows no borders!"
"Oh, oh!" Guo Ailun nodded, then looked at Paul and asked, "How are you?"
"???" Paul was stunned. He looked at Guo Ailun, wondering what this guy was doing. Why was he suddenly greeting people while playing basketball?
This abruptness is like being in a strip club, where a sexy woman is dancing while reciting the Gospel of John as a form of compensation.
That's so weird.
"Bro, why isn't he talking about food? Thank you so much!" Guo Ailun saw that Paul wasn't saying anything and didn't know how to continue the conversation. He only knew one routine.
"So what else can you do? Keep going, bring out some real skills, use your toughest ones! It doesn't matter if they're a little dirty." Lin Tian continued to give off-field guidance.
"He'll be angry, won't he? The things I know are a bit impolite." Guo Ailun was embarrassed.
"If you can make him so angry that he punches you, you'll be our number one hero in winning the gold medal tonight!" Lin Tian comforted Guo Ailun again.
"You should have said so earlier, bro!" Guo Ailun immediately perked up upon hearing this, and started yelling at Paul, "Fuck you! Fuck you! You are fucking idiot!"
"Are you guys crazy?" Paul couldn't take it anymore. After dribbling the ball to the frontcourt, he quickly passed it out and looked at Lin Tian.
"He just has a limited vocabulary," Lin Tian shrugged. "It's because you ignored him when he greeted you just now."
"If you're unhappy, then criticize him in Chinese too."
"I won't!" Paul said quite directly, without any attempt to hide his feelings.
"Then you deserve to be criticized." After saying this, Lin Tian lost interest in arguing with Paul, because Durant had already gotten past Ding Jinhui and was driving to the mid-range.
Fortunately, Lin Tian rushed over in time to help defend, forcing Durant to pass the ball again. The ball came to an open spot again, but unfortunately, it was Allen who was open.
It was still outside the three-point line, and there was still no one within a two-meter radius.
This time, Allen hesitated for a moment and did not choose to pass the ball again.
Half the game is over, time to test my skills.
Allen pulled up for a shot from beyond the three-point line.
The basketball flew towards the basket, bounced several times on the rim and backboard, and then stumbled into the basket.
Allen had pretty good luck tonight.
"run!"
Lin Tian didn't discuss luck with Allen or get entangled with him. Instead, he pointed at Guo Ailun and shouted, while signaling Zhou Peng to quickly pass the ball from the baseline.
Because Guo Ailun had just demonstrated his superior speed, the US team didn't let him cut alone this time. Paul quickly blocked Guo Ailun's path.
Zhou Peng didn't insist on passing the ball to Guo Ailun; instead, he found Lin Tian and handed the ball over.
Lin Tian dribbled with the same frenetic speed, and with the current lineup of the Chinese team, if they don't play fast, they might as well give up on offense altogether.
With two big men and Guo Ailun completely unable to score outside the paint, the US team simply deployed three players to double-team Lin Tian, one to prevent Zhou Peng from shooting, and Howard anchoring the paint, which was enough to shut down the Chinese team's offense.
Therefore, we must be fast and we must switch between offense and defense!
Lin Tian rushed to the frontcourt in the blink of an eye. Without any delay, he paused for a moment 2 meters outside the three-point line to observe the US team's defensive setup. Then, without hesitation, he accelerated and charged towards the basket!
Allen couldn't stop Lin Tian's all-out attack and was easily thrown behind him. Then Lin Tian jumped with all his might, raising the ball in the air with both hands. Suddenly, Lin Tian noticed a huge black shadow flying towards him from above.
At the critical moment, Lin Tian's core strength erupted completely. His arms, which had been fully extended, suddenly retracted, and his entire body inexplicably shrank into a ball. He then glided from one side of the basketball hoop to the other.
Then Lin Tian almost clearly felt a 'whoosh' sound as the figure he had just seen flew past him. After a perfect crossover, Lin Tian skillfully dodged the block, and without turning around, he simply flicked his wrist with his back to the basket.
"Whoosh!"
Lin Tian made a reverse layup!
"What are you jumping around for?" After landing, Lin Tian didn't forget to turn around and look at James, who was trying to chase him down for a block, and mocked, "Want a block? You can just say so, I can give you one."
James ignored Lin Tian's trash talk and instead ran towards the frontcourt with his head down.
53: 53!
The final 1 minutes and 14 seconds.
"We need to take the lead! We need to maintain our lead in the first half!" Paul dribbled to slow down the pace, calming everyone down and preventing them from rushing. Then, after reaching the frontcourt, he made a quick step and passed the ball to James.
James glanced at the ball at the top of the arc, then waved for Howard to come over and set a screen for him. He suddenly accelerated, almost forcibly crushing Zhang Zhaoxu all the way to the basket. Finally, he suddenly took a strange, incomprehensible step, leaving Zhang Zhaoxu completely behind in one step.
Then James burst into action and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
"The lead is ours!"
"If you can't wake up, slap yourself. Stop living in a dream world!" Lin Tian cursed, then passed the baseline ball he had just received to Guo Ailun on the other side.
"run!"
Lin Tian roared, and Guo Ailun accelerated again, dribbling the ball towards the basket.
His speed is absolutely unmatched; he's as fast as lightning.
But at this time, Guo Ailun also exposed his weaknesses.
He's fast, but he only knows how to go fast; he doesn't know how to slow down.
His breakthroughs are sharp, but he's a bit stubborn. Once he's decided on a breakthrough direction, he's unlikely to change course or alter his path, making his breakthroughs easy to predict.
Especially when facing opponents who are far stronger than him.
For example, this time, Guo Ailun was definitely fast enough, but when he was about to drive to the basket, he was surrounded by a defensive trap set up by Paul and James.
After being double-teamed by these two, Guo Ailun knew that he had no chance of scoring except by randomly throwing up a shot. But he dared not stop. He knew how fast Paul and James were. If he stopped, he would be guaranteed a steal.
At this moment, Guo Ailun still showed a tiny bit of the decisiveness that a future Asia's top control team should have.
Since we can't stop, then we won't stop!
Try your luck!
Guo Ailun glanced at the basket and, under the double-team of two players, threw the ball toward the basket in a rather inexplicable manner.
His posture and rhythm were practically indistinguishable from throwing things randomly.
"What a mess! How can Guo Ailun play like this? Pass the ball to Lin Tian!" Zhang Weiping couldn't help but complain as soon as he saw the situation.
But then, he stopped talking, completely stopped.
A figure leaped into the air, grabbed the ball half a meter from the rim, and began to slide down, clearly aiming for an airball.
Then the basketball was suddenly swung up in a huge circle and smashed towards the rim.
"boom!"
After the loud bang, London fell silent once more.
What was that just now?
An alley-oop two-handed windmill dunk?
In actual combat?
In the Olympic finals, facing the American team?
The fans in the stadium fell silent, staring in disbelief at the only Chinese player on the field who could do such a thing.
Watching Lin Tian land and fiercely throw a punch, roaring.
This alley-oop not only put China ahead again, but also deeply touched the hearts of every fan watching the game.
too crazy!
Then, perhaps in 1-2 seconds, perhaps in 5-6 seconds, the sound suddenly returned.
The quiet stadium vanished once more, replaced by a frenzy of shouts and cheers from the fans, with chants of "Caesar" and "MVP" echoing throughout the stadium.
"Well done, nephew!" Lin Tian reached out and gave Guo Ailun, who had just looked dejected, a high five. "Very imaginative."
"But……"
"No buts! This is what I'm telling you to do: trust your instincts, trust yourself, run when I tell you to run, and attack when you feel it's time to attack! It's that simple."
"Can you do that?" Gasol looked at the vulture beside him and couldn't help but mock.
"What kind of international joke are you talking about?" Ginobili didn't even look at him. "If I could do this, would I still be called the 20-minute version of Lin? Lin would just be the 3-minute version of Manu."
"You actually think the only difference between you and him is your jumping ability?" Kobe leaned in unnoticed, his face grim. "I'll pass that on to Lin."
"Are you crazy?" Ginobili scoffed. "You're just talking nonsense, why are you telling him!"
"Because it's funny to see you scared." Kobe chuckled, a sly look on his face.
Amidst the laughter and conversation, both the Chinese and American teams missed their shots, bringing the game to its final 30 seconds.
55: 55!
The outcome of the battle for the lead at the end of the first half remains uncertain for both sides.
James was still controlling the ball at the top of the key for Team USA. After compressing the shot clock to the last 10 seconds, he suddenly waved his hand, and immediately a teammate came up to set a screen for him.
This time, however, his partner was not an inside player like Howard, but the shortest player on the court, Paul!
"Change!" Lin Tian saw Paul's short but powerful screen, and his numerous small movements, as numerous as his body hairs, as he used to pull and tug at the screen. He immediately knew that Ding Jinhui would definitely not be able to get around him.
Therefore, a decision was made immediately to switch defenders.
This substitution immediately created two opportunities for the American team.
James can outmaneuver Lin Tian, and Paul can use his speed to outmaneuver Ding Jinhui.
Both of them are quite good at exploiting mismatches.
James dribbled quickly to create space, then bounced the ball to Paul.
"Coward! Haven't you recovered from the Western Conference Finals defeat yet? You don't even have the courage to challenge me anymore?" Lin Tian immediately mocked as soon as he saw James pass the ball.
"Chris has a higher success rate against your big guy!" James said calmly, without getting angry. "Basketball is never about fighting or personal grudges. Basketball is about rationality, calculation, and choosing the best way."
"I'm never rational!" Lin Tian said with a smile. "Fans don't buy tickets to see you make a irrational and pathetic choice. They want to see you dominate and get all fired up, not rationally pass the ball to an open teammate."
"That's not me!" James replied. (End of Chapter)