Chapter 456: Head up to the semifinals (3/5)

On August 26, the Chinese team welcomed New Zealand in the eighth finals. Previously, the Chinese team stood out in the group stage group A confrontation, won all five games, and easily won the first place in the group. New Zealand won 2 wins and 3 losses in Group B, ranking fourth in the group.

In terms of player quality, China can crush New Zealand.

The opponent has neither NBA-level stars nor powerful players in Europe.

The biggest feature of this team is that they dare to fight, just like the weakened version of Australia.

In the Stankovic Cup before the World Championships, the Chinese team calmly defeated the Australian genuine national team. Although it was just a warm-up match and the reference value was limited, it accumulated experience for them to fight similar opponents in the World Championships.

In the sixteen-to-eight game, the Chinese team suppressed New Zealand in the entire game.

Xie Hou scored the highest 42 points in a single game in this World Championships, helping the team advance to the quarterfinals.

Through this battle, he and Yao Guo both squeezed into the top two who averaged scores in the World Championships.

Among them, Yao Yun was temporarily the World Championships scoring champion with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, while Xie Hou defeated Paul Gasol with 24 points per game, ranking second in the scoring list per game.

In the quarter-finals, the Chinese team encountered the Turkish team, the largest dark horse in this World Championships.

Türkiye is similar to New Zealand, based on strong defense and tough confrontation. Their personal abilities are generally stronger than New Zealand and are one of the opponents that the Chinese team is not good at coping with.

Everyone knows that the Chinese team is strong, and the strength lies in Xie Hou, Yao Yong and Wang Zhizhi, the three NBA players, led the way with points. If they can limit their performance after the game, they will have a chance to defeat the Chinese team.

Although they are Olympic champions and the world's strongest team in name, the only real world-class players in the team are Xie Hou and Yao Guang.

Harris is nicknamed Silver Fox because he has made many tricks when dealing with the battle.

For Türkiye, he carefully arranged a surprise.

Wang Zhizhi, who had been on the bench before, started tonight, but Yao Yun went to the bench instead.

Zhang Heli guessed Harris' intention at the beginning of the game: "Actually, Harris's idea is very easy to guess. Isn't Turkey a strong defense? I'm just playing you a strong defense!"

Most fans believe that Yao and Xie Hou are the strongest attacking time for the Chinese team.

In fact, this is not the case. Since the two-person style is not very compatible, one often plays, and the other rarely plays when the other is green leaves.

If they were allowed to let go of the attack, who would have more fierce firepower?

There is no doubt that it is Xie Hou.

As an inside player, the only thing he does better than Xie Hou is his offensive efficiency. But a 204-centimeter defender like Xie Hou, who has comprehensive skills, amazing explosive power, excellent physical fitness, and no obvious shortcomings in technology, averages 30 points per game in the NBA, and has obviously been inferior to the NBA's overall defense and talent. He has reached a state where no one can stop him if he wants to score.

Türkiye is Zhang Harun Shield, and it needs Xie Hou to bombard the heavy cannon.

Since Xie Hou was required to perform his attack, Harris had to temporarily replace Yao Zhu. Wang Zhizhi's technical style could help Xie Hou open up the situation.

After communication before the game, Yao Yun completely accepted Harris' arrangement and was not resistant to the temporary substitute.

So the Turks were stunned.

Including the group stage and knockout stage, there are six games in total, Yao Yun is the core of the Chinese team's offensive. His low-post offense like a siege hammer left all teams helpless. There is no good way to deal with it except for double-teaming and allowing big men who can shoot.

Türkiye has formulated a package of plans for Yao Zhuo.

As soon as the plan was about to start the action, the Chinese team suddenly played a trick of "As long as Yao Yun is not on the court, your plan will not come in handy."

The Turks were shocked first, then confused. Xie Hou threw a three-pointer into the game to get them back to the game.

They were obviously a little nervous, unable to do technical movements well, and unable to escape the tactics. They didn't even do the best of their proudest ability to get here - defense.

Wang Zhizhi showed off his steps, Xie Hou rushed in and committed two free throws, 7 to 0.

"The powerful Turks are helpless under the offensive of the strongest NBA players."

"Xie Hou has a very strong offensive desire tonight. If the Turks maintain this defensive intensity, perhaps we can see him continue to set a new record in a single-game score for the players in this World Championships."

With its strong defense, Türkiye defeated European powerhouse Slovenia in the one-eighth knockout round. You know, before the game began, almost everyone thought they would lose to Serie.

But an uproar happened like this.

Their defense is as cruel and ruthless as the conquest of the Ottoman army centuries ago. With defense, the fiba official published an article before the game, saying that they had 50% hope to defeat the Chinese team.

The opening game was 7-0, and Türkiye called it a timeout adjustment.

"Arthur, keep on attacking, don't hesitate, fight when you find an opportunity, we all support you!" Harris said rudely.

The Turks got the opportunity through diligent running, and core defender Asuth fired from the outside to break their scoring drought.

"Be careful of this kind of ball, especially this kind of ball!" Domestic commentators began to repeat the machine like Teacher Six.

As long as Türkiye scores a goal, no matter whether it is good or bad, the ball, the ball, the Chinese team will prevent the same thing from happening. If they do not score, the Chinese team must defend them until the whole game is hung with zero eggs.

The United States team gathers all superstars to play a real game with Mongolia. I am afraid that they can defend the opponent so that they can't score points in the whole game.

When Türkiye saw that Yao Yun had not played, he simply made a preparation to play against the Chinese team as Yao Yun might not play tonight.

Their defensive focus has changed from Yao Zhu to Xie Hou.

What are their defensive characteristics? Physical contact, no-ball confrontation, defensive oppression, double-teaming, not two people, but three or even four.

Such defense is not new. If only this could prevent Xie Hou, the Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers would have done this long ago.

There were a few chances, but Xie Hou did not pass it.

He played like a super foreign player in the CBA league. The teammates of the national team watched him play three and four of them as if he was so shocked that he couldn't speak.

"I can't believe what I saw!" the commentator on the scene shouted, "Türkiye had a round to ask four people to chase Arthur, but it didn't seem enough!"

"Four people are not enough!"

The commentator's scream was able to fully reflect the reaction of the Turks.

Xie Hou is too tall and he has enough vision to pass the ball. If he encounters four people defending but fails to pass the ball, it only means that Türkiye has not forced him to death.

For teams that double-team, his offense is a disrespect for their defense.

The Turks were furious and took action in various ways, as if they wanted to make Xie Hou look good. Even if you are an NBA MVP, you can't be so disrespectful to others.

Finally, there was a round, and they dispatched five people.

Seeing five people coming to guard, Xie Hou gave them respect, one of them passed from behind to the bottom corner, Zhu Ba was practicing as a three-pointer.

"Brother Monkey, you should continue to fight. I'm going to see you pick five!" Zhu Ba shouted.

At that time, there was only 1 minute left in the first quarter.

Within 9 minutes, Xie Hou scored 16 points from the 22 points of the Chinese team.

His 16 points were singles, and none of them were comfortable running out of opportunities and scored again.

He used this indiscriminate singles to hit Türkiye and double-team the two of them. When he found that it was not possible, then the three were double-teamed. Three were not enough? Four were enough?! However, Xie Hou still did not pass the ball when facing the four people.

In the end, he forced out the greatest respect for the offensive players on the basketball court: five people surrounded him.

"Through the defense of five people on the Turkish team, Xie Hou finally chose to pass the ball."

"I always think that if he really wants to fight, it's okay to pick five at a time." Yao Guan, who had been sitting off the court for a whole quarter, said to Liu Buwei.

It is no exaggeration to say that Xie Hou's own efforts have blown up Türkiye.

In the last second of the first quarter, Xie Hou dribbled the ball past the logo, threw a three-pointer at nine and a half meters away from the three-point line, and bounced into the board, and the Japanese in the game went crazy.

28 to 15, thank you for 22 points in a single quarter.

"This is Arthur!" The official commentator of the fiba who was in charge of commenting on the game praised in authentic English, "This is what we will see after the world's number one player devoted his full strength to the national team!"

The Turks' steel defense encountered a peerless knife that cuts iron like mud.

After only one quarter, they began to be depressed.

Harris' strategy comes into play at this time.

When the Turks were depressed, they replaced Xie Hou with a rest, replaced Yao Guo, and beat the weakened opponent with all their strength.

In the quarter-finals, China's first half against Turkey completely evolved into the script of "Xie Hou fight, Xie Hou fight, Xie Hou fights Yao Jun fights".

They spent half time to let people know how much influence these NBA superstars who put the national team in their hearts would have after entering the international arena.

Türkiye, which looks completely capable and can fight against the Chinese team as a whole, was defeated in the first half.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Xie Hou and Yao Guo played singles in a row without much cooperation, and forced Turkey to use this method without any value.

The fourth section is the garbage time for a whole section.

97 to 78

Xie Hou scored another 40 points, and together with Yao Gui's 28 points and 14 rebounds, he sent the Turks home.

"Türkiye stopped in the quarterfinals, and the Chinese team continued to move forward and entered the final quarterfinals!"

"Whether it's Spain or Argentina waiting for us in the semi-finals, I believe the young men are ready to face the difficulties. Let's cheer them on!"

The final whistle sounded, and Xie Hou calmly clapped his high-fives with his teammates who had finished the garbage time.
Chapter completed!