Chapter 526 The decisive battle begins
"The players on the American team are not that strong. This is not the Olympic lineup you have here." Yang Mo's retort was extremely powerful, but he was the only one in the world who could say this. After all, although the players on the American team were not top-tier, they were at least first-tier in the NBA.
"Then get your little ones ready. We won't show sympathy to children on the court." Kevin Durant said arrogantly, "Team USA has lost the world championship before, but since 2008, it will never happen again."
"Everything is said in basketball."
Yang Mo dropped the ball and stopped arguing with the American team. Instead, he returned to the team's hotel and held a team meeting. The American team wasn't particularly strong at the moment. They had too many point guards, but only two true big men: Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love. While these two were excellent rebounders, the Chinese team had plenty of inside players, more than enough to wear them down. Furthermore, these two were typical NBA centers, not necessarily well-suited to the FIBA system.
"Boys, now we have reached the finals. We have hardly encountered any decent resistance along the way, which proves that we can defeat all strong enemies. The American team is not scary, and their players are just so-so. So, I hope you can play the original tactics in the last game." Yang Mo patiently gave psychological counseling to these children. He was afraid that they would be afraid of fighting and run away when they heard the name of the American team.
But the facts surprised him a little. None of these young men born in the 1990s were cowardly. Instead, they were all full of fighting spirit.
"Don't worry, boss. We'll absolutely go out there and give them our all. I don't treat them like stars. On the court, we're just opponents, and we'll just give them the crap." Guo Alun, from Liaoning, spoke with a Northeastern accent, but his spirit was genuine. He was barely eighteen, but he trained incredibly hard. While training in New York, he was recognized by the Knicks coaching staff as one of the two hardest-working players. He was also one of the three players who consumed the most Knicks' nutritional meals. As a result, in just under two months of training, he'd built up a ton of muscle, giving him considerable strength for a point guard. Against the veterans of the national team, he even outmuscled two small forwards with his sheer strength.
"Yeah, Boss, we 90s generation aren't afraid of anyone. We're just a bunch of eggs, so why should we be afraid of shit?"
"Fight them!"
"Fight till the end!"
Yang Mo hadn't even mobilized them yet, and these guys were already about to riot. Seeing this, Yang Mo shook his head and smiled bitterly. He'd underestimated these young guys. Compared to the old guys, these young guys' morale was indeed much stronger. But, this is what basketball players are like. In the finals, how can you not show the courage of a gladiator? If you're timid, you might as well give up as soon as possible.
"Very good, your morale surprises me. I underestimated you." Yang Mo slammed the table and became excited. "I can tell you frankly that the level of the American team this time is not much different from that of Spain. They mainly rely on the breakthroughs of several point guards on the outside, such as Westbrook, Derrick Rose, and Eric Gordon. Shooting is concentrated on Steve Curry and Kevin Durant. In addition, the three small forwards like Rudy Gay, Iguodala, and Granger are actually not very useful. They are just defensive laborers. Odom is even more useless. The only ones who will be a little difficult are Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love in the interior. These two guys are good at grabbing rebounds. We must not let them blow us up on the rebounds."
"Boss, I will fight for the rebound with all my strength." Li Muhao said loudly.
"You, can't. You're too green and can't handle being hit." Yang Mo flatly rejected his proposal. Winning was one thing, but ruining the national team's hopes was definitely not what he wanted. He didn't want to repeat the Knicks' experience with so many injuries in the playoffs. "Zhang Zhaoxu, Yi Jianlian, you two, take the lead and fight them relentlessly. And Zhong Cheng, you have great strength, so as a small forward, you have to be there to fill in and fight them. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" The three people answered in unison, their morale high.
"Leave Durant to me. I'll also fill in for the other two. Xiao Guo, Xiao Chen, your physical abilities aren't much worse than the black guys. Just keep up with Rose and Westbrook. It's okay if you can't defend them. I'll be there to help on offense." Yang Mo easily assigned the perimeter plays. In his view, even though the US team's strongest players were perimeter players, the key to victory lay in the paint. After all, that was the FIBA rule: whoever got the rebounds won.
After assigning the tasks, Yang Mo had them carefully watch a video of the American team to see how they attacked and defended. Overall, the American team's tactics were still simple and crude, mostly relying on one-on-one defense, using their physical advantages to create turnovers, and then suddenly launching a defensive counterattack.
This strategy might work against other teams, but it's a dead end against China. Because China has Yang Mo, they can't force a steal. And when it comes to defensive counterattacks, if Yang Mo is second to none, who else dares to claim first place? Just think of those ? Those are all Yang Mo's leftovers.
Yang Mo was analyzing the US team's tactics, while Coach K was analyzing the Chinese team's. As an NCAA college coach, he was very familiar with the Chinese team's tactics. It was a replica of Georgetown University's. After all, the creator of the tactics, Coach Stein, had been at Georgetown for nearly twenty years and had mastered that iron-blooded defense.
The Chinese team had mastered this tactic to perfection. While their individual players weren't particularly strong, their combined strength was unwavering. The Argentinian players couldn't even penetrate the paint the entire game. Of course, the American players' penetration wasn't comparable to the Argentinian players', but...did the Chinese team still have an ace up their sleeve? Super Yang had been playing with restraint in the previous few games, only letting loose slightly against Spain.
However, this kind of insolence did not allow him to perform at 100% of his condition. Even Kevin Durant admitted that Yang Mo did not give his all.
All the players on the American team knew how terrifying Yang Mo was when he was giving his all, and... no one knew whether Yang Mo had made any progress during this period. After all... Super Yang's progress in basketball was leaps and bounds, almost a step forward every day, so he became the most deserving No. 1 in the NBA in less than two years.
Amidst this anxiety, the American team became even more apprehensive, while the spirited Chinese team seemed to possess a more dominant demeanor.
Time slipped away unnoticed, and soon, the finals day arrived. The American team and the Chinese team arrived at the venue at the same time, but the American team received more cheers and applause, which clearly showed that this place was not so friendly to the Chinese team.
drop!
As the referee blew the whistle, Zhang Zhaoxu and Tyson Chandler jumped at the same time, bang!
Zhang Zhaoxu used his height advantage to pass the basketball to Yang Mo first. After Yang Mo controlled the basketball, Derrick Rose quickly followed, but he did not press because he knew it was useless and might even put himself in a trap.
"Hello again, Derek." Yang Mo greeted friendly while dribbling forward.
"I don't want to talk about anything else now. Let's talk about it after the game. We are now fighting between countries." Derrick Rose said very seriously. He did not reminisce with Yang Mo. It was obvious that he attached great importance to this game.
At this moment, Yang Mo smiled faintly: "Actually, I don't plan to talk to you about anything else. I just want to ask you, are you prepared for failure?"
