In this game, He Xi Meng suggested that Zhang Bin should reuse Zhang Jinsong!
Old Hu's defense was too by-the-book, lacking that tenacious, suffocating style. His effort and disruption against Nash were insufficient to contain Nash's performance. Only the defensive intensity of a "desperate warrior" could make Nash hesitate, unable to fully connect the team while also focusing on his own offense.
Ultimately, Zhang Jinsong scored zero points, but at the post-game summary meeting, He Xi Meng believed Zhang Jinsong deserved the most credit! It was precisely Zhang Jinsong's tireless harassment of Nash throughout the game that prevented Nash from performing at his best, allowing the Chinese team to defeat the Canadian team in the quarter-finals without breaking a sweat.
Yao Ming and Da Zhi did not expend too much energy, and He Xi Meng only hit a few three-pointers at crucial moments. The Chinese team successfully advanced to the semi-finals with a score of 84:72!
In other matchups, the United States defeated Russia, Lithuania defeated Yugoslavia, and Australia defeated Italy.
In the semi-finals, China will face the host nation, Australia, while the United States will again face their group stage opponent, Lithuania!
The biggest reason Australia was able to reach the top four was not their strength, but their status as host nation!
Why were the strong teams placed in Group A to fight each other and eliminate each other during the group stage draw? While teams of a lower caliber were concentrated in Group B, where Australia was located?
He Xi Meng would bet his life that there was some "human intervention" involved. Therefore, competitive sports are not as fair and just as people imagine.
For example, the Italian team played very frustratingly in their quarter-final match. Italy's style of play was small, quick, and highly reliant on fast breaks after successful defense. However, the referees on the court prevented Italy from securing defensive rebounds. Any time the Italian team defended a little too fiercely, a foul was called...
Consequently, Australia continuously attacked the basket. Even if they missed, they could still score from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Italy's starting center fouled out, and their starting power forward was on the verge of fouling out. Their already weak interior, under the referees' pressure, completely lost its ability to resist, and in the end, they were ground down by Australia's most rudimentary method of slow, methodical play...
Alas, a generation of European powerhouses, unable to even run freely on Australian soil, were unfairly defeated by their opponents!
Ultimately, Italy's strength was still not solid enough! If their strength were solid, they would have knocked out Australia before the latter could even resort to their dirty tricks...
He Xi Meng was preparing to do just that!
Prior to this, China's game rhythm was generally led by Da Yao, followed by Da Zhi, then Hu Weidong and Liu Yudong, followed by the reserves, and finally He Xi Meng to finish.
However, in this game against the host nation, the Chinese team did the opposite!
As soon as the game began, when Australia tightened their defense and prepared to create trouble for Yao Ming, He Xi Meng brought the ball past half-court. One second he was directing his teammates' positioning, and the next he was shooting a deep three-pointer!
Before the Australian players could react, He Xi Meng had already given China the opening score.
The roaring home crowd, like roosters with their throats choked, instantly fell silent.
Turning around, Australia began their offense. Facing the fact that their overall strength was inferior to China's, Australia resorted to their old trick, wanting to use the referees' help to take down China's interior strong point, Yao Ming, first! At the very least, they wanted to get Yao Ming into foul trouble.
He Xi Meng had anticipated Australia's ploy before the game and instructed his teammates to be vigilant and ready to steal Australia's direct passes to the interior...
As expected, Australia's first offensive possession was a pass to their center, intending to overpower Yao Ming. If they scored, great; if not, they would try to draw fouls by contact...
He Xi Meng immediately rotated to cover, using a blind spot in their vision. As the Australian center dribbled, he decisively swiped from the side and rear!
Having stolen the ball, He Xi Meng turned and pushed for a fast break!
Hu Weidong and Liu Yudong surged forward on the left and right!
Australia's defense was in disarray. They retreated rapidly, shouting at each other to watch out for China's drive to the basket...
As a result, He Xi Meng feigned a pass to the basket again and then hit a step-back three-pointer!
He Xi Meng's shot was too decisive! He gave the Australians no time to react. The closest Australian point guard rushed forward, but unfortunately, He Xi Meng's shot had a very high arc, and he couldn't interfere.
He Xi Meng, having made two consecutive shots, silenced the Australian fans. Conversely, though the Chinese fans were few in number, their cheers were enthusiastic, and unified chants of "Go Team China!" echoed throughout the arena.
Let alone the Australian fans, even the Chinese fans themselves hadn't expected He Xi Meng to perform so resolutely at the start of the game!
Although the Australian players were a bit stunned, they forcefully suppressed their interior anxiety and continued to execute their coach's tactical instructions, persistently passing the ball inside!
The Chinese team, on the other hand, didn't hesitate. As long as you passed the ball inside, we would double-team you, even if it meant leaving the perimeter open! And it was a large-and-small double-team... Why a large-and-small combination instead of a direct twin-tower block?
Because in the previous game, Italy had tried to use two big men to forcefully block Australia's drives to the basket... The result was a flurry of whistles!
Australia's interior players' primary objective was to draw fouls, not to score efficiently! Therefore, hard-nosed interior defense played right into Australia's hands.
He Xi Meng, learning from Italy's lesson, changed the double-team to a large-and-small combination. The main purpose was to prevent Australia from dribbling close to the basket! As soon as the Australian big man dared to dribble, He Xi Meng's instructions to his teammates were to decisively swipe for the ball! Even if they couldn't steal it, they had to force the Australian big man to pull the ball back!
If they couldn't dribble with their back to the basket, the opponent couldn't get close to the rim, nor could they execute their foul-drawing tactics. Once they couldn't draw fouls, Australia couldn't use the referees to target China's big men, like Yao Ming and Da Zhi!
Through adjustments in their defensive strategy, China forced Australia to compete with them on the perimeter!
On this possession, He Xi Meng employed the same tactic, shrinking to help defend and attempting a steal. However, after being stolen from in the previous possession, Australia's center was prepared. He immediately pulled the ball back, preventing He Xi Meng from succeeding. At the same time, he passed the ball back to the guard on the perimeter.
The Australian guard was left open and was momentarily bewildered: should I shoot or not?