Chapter 485: Doing a Good Job on Defense, Leaving the Rest to Wade Dong
40:48!!!
After Wade Dong landed, the basketball bounced back into his hands. 89shuz.com
There was only Wade Dong in the frontcourt, and the closest player to him was Stephen Curry, who was just standing near the center circle without moving forward. Wade Dong gently placed the ball on the ground and walked back to the backcourt with a calm expression.
...
The more calm and composed he was, the more he was showing off, but the fans couldn't help but get excited...
"Wow, that move, that expression, so cool!"
"When will I be able to show off like that?"
"The King of Show-offs, when it comes to showing off, no one can beat my brother Wade Dong."
...
The second quarter was already halfway through, with 5 minutes and 7 seconds remaining.
The Chinese men's basketball team was trailing by 8 points.
Stephen Curry's magical three-point performance was ended by Wade Dong's steal, and the M Country men's basketball team returned to their normal style of play.
Kyrie Irving continuously dribbled and attempted a turnaround jumper, but it missed!
Yi Nan grabbed the defensive rebound and passed the ball to Lin Hao, who dribbled towards the frontcourt.
Kyrie Irving and the others were focusing their attention on Wade Dong, so Lin Hao seized the opportunity to go for a layup.
"Bang!!!"
As Andre Drummond was just setting up his position under the basket, Lin Hao went behind him and made a reverse dunk.
**42:48!!!**
The point difference was now 6 points.
...
In the Chinese live broadcast room.
Coach Zhang, "Lin Hao's reverse dunk had a bit of Kobe's style, and it was a very good offensive choice."
Yu Jia, "We're only 6 points behind, and our chances of winning are high."
Coach Zhang, "For the Chinese men's basketball team to win, it's important for every player on the court to perform well and share the offensive and defensive pressure with Wade Dong as much as possible."
...
The next few minutes were a back-and-forth affair, with both teams scoring. As the first half was about to end:
**54:62!!!**
The Chinese men's basketball team was trailing by 8 points.
The M Country men's basketball team had the ball, with 17 seconds left on the shot clock.
James Harden dribbled the ball and directed his teammates' movements, "Let's score one more basket and enter the second half with a double-digit lead."
"You wish!"
Huang Yu scoffed and rushed to defend James Harden.
"Clap!"
"Clap!"
"Clap!"
James Harden continuously dribbled between his legs, but his eyes never left Huang Yu, as he was paying attention to Huang Yu's shifting center of gravity.
Wade Dong reminded him, "Get close to him and watch out for his step-back three-pointer!"
As expected, James Harden saw Huang Yu's center of gravity and performed a fake prayer, crossing his hands as if holding a ball. 89shuz.com
"Clap!"
James Harden stepped back, and Huang Yu moved in to defend, but it gave James Harden an opportunity to drive to the basket.
"Can you really defend me that easily?"
James Harden stroked his beard and got past Huang Yu. Just as James Harden was about to go for a layup, the basketball suddenly disappeared from his hands.
"Huh???"
James Harden was momentarily stunned. Where was the ball?
When Wade Dong reminded Huang Yu to defend closely in English earlier, James Harden also heard it. So, when he was pretending to step back and Huang Yu moved in, James Harden quickly got past Huang Yu, but he also fell into Wade Dong's trap.
Wade Dong's movements were like a ghost.
The moment James Harden got past Huang Yu, Wade Dong appeared from his side and stole the ball!
This was Wade Dong's skill package after integrating the skills of Stockton, Paul, Payton, Jordan, Iverson, Drexler, and Kidd, who were all historically great stealers. Since he hadn't named this skill package yet, let's temporarily call it the Super Cool Steal Skill.
There were 8 seconds left in the first half.
Wade Dong dribbled to the basket but didn't go for a layup. Instead, after Kyrie Irving and Andre Drummond caught up to him, he turned around and went back to the three-point line.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
Wade Dong was running down the clock and didn't want to give the M Country men's basketball team another chance to score. With one second left in the first half, Wade Dong took a three-point shot.
"Swish!!!"
The basketball went straight through the net.
**57:62!!!**
The M Country men's basketball team entered the second half with a 5-point lead.
...
The 'Dream Team XI' was weaker than the 'Dream Team X', which had LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant. Moreover, most of the players on this team had never played in international competitions.
This was a hastily assembled team, and there were significant issues with their chemistry. As a result, the players tended to play more like a giant star team, spreading out and taking turns making individual plays, which also involved many other problems.
The first issue was the different rules in international basketball.
The players needed to spend time adapting to the international basketball rules, which wasn't a problem for the Chinese team. Huang Yu had won the European League MVP, and Wade Dong had a bunch of European players' skill packages, so they were very familiar with these rules.
The second issue was the zone defense.
There was no three-second defensive violation in international basketball. After the game against the F Country, Wade Dong and Deng Hua had studied the F Country men's basketball team's zone defense tactics, and the Chinese men's basketball team had also done targeted training in this regard.
The third issue was the three-point line.
The NBA's three-point line is farther than the international basketball three-point line, which is not a good thing for players who have already formed muscle memory for three-point shooting. In the first half, aside from Stephen Curry's five consecutive three-pointers, the three-point shooting percentage of the other players was not high.
As for the other issues, they were just minor details.
With these advantages and the presence of a top-tier superstar like Wade Dong, the fact that they were still trailing by 5 points at halftime was not a satisfying result for Wade Dong.
Without Varick by his side, Wade Dong had to take care of some things himself.
For example, when Wade Dong returned to the locker room, he had to say, 'Give me the technical statistics table' before a teammate brought him the technical statistics table for the first half.
Wade Dong: 29 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks.
Huang Yu: 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks.
Lin Hao: 9 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks.
Yi Nan: 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 0 steals, 1 block.
Wade Dong led both teams in all statistical categories, and he was the only player on both teams who played the entire first half without resting for a single minute.
Wade Dong couldn't blame his teammates' performance, as everyone was giving their all for the championship. The M Country men's basketball team always had two big men on the court, so it was already impressive for Yi Nan to grab 7 rebounds.
"Everyone, take a good rest, and let's keep playing like this in the second half! Do a good job on defense and limit the opponent's scoring as much as possible."
Wade Dong put down the technical statistics table and said this.
Both teams had very similar playing styles, and the tactics had been arranged before the game. Every player who came on the court did what they were supposed to do, so Wade Dong didn't have much to say.
"Hmm..."
Wade Dong suddenly fell silent. Deng Hua wanted to say something but didn't know what to say, so he just repeated Wade Dong's words, "Take a good rest, do a good job on defense in the second half, and leave the rest to Wade Dong."