Lithuania faced numerous difficulties during the team-building process and had to rely on personal funding to participate in this Olympic Games due to national bankruptcy.
Because of this, the Lithuanian team has a very strong desire to win. Apart from basketball, Lithuania has no other prominent sports, and the basketball team carries the sports dreams of this newly independent country.
Especially Sabonis, his status in Lithuania is akin to Gan Guoyang’s status in China.
In 1990, he represented the Soviet Union for the last time at the World Championships and was widely criticized by Lithuanians.
Now he can finally represent Lithuania, and he is naturally very proactive, wanting to earn honor for his country.
Lithuania started off trailing 0:5, and soon after, Gan Guoyang blocked Jomicki’s floater under the basket.
Gan Guoyang controlled the ball, made a long pass to the front court, handing it to Sun Jun, who scored with a two-handed layup in a fast break for another 2 points.
The China Team hit Lithuania with a 7:0 opening, surprising everyone.
Including the head coach of the China Team, Jiang Xingquan, who stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed and a blank face.
Whether winning or losing, leading or trailing, Coach Jiang always wore a serious expression, making it impossible to guess what’s on his mind.
"The speed is really fast, the gap really big, like college students playing with middle schoolers... No, calling them elementary schoolers wouldn’t be an exaggeration."
During previous team training, Jiang Xingquan was already aware of the significant gap between Chinese players and Gan Guoyang.
In some internal matches, the gap seemed even larger, and in various aspects, they were not on the same level.
Once in the official Olympic game, after just a few plays, Jiang Xingquan realized that during prior training and internal matches, Gan Guoyang had still held back.
Gan Guoyang’s speed, intensity, strength, and the handling of details on both offense and defense were unmatched by any player on the court, including the opposing Lithuanian center Sabonis.
From the perspective of Chinese players and coaches, Sabonis of the former Soviet Union was already a figure akin to The Immortal of Colossal Spirit, but when facing Ah Gan on both ends of the court, Sabonis seemed weaker by a few degrees.
However, Lithuania cannot be easily defeated in just a few rounds; their overall foundation is very profound.
On the court, of the five starters, four were starters in the 1988 Olympic champion Soviet Union team, and these four were the top scorers.
After four years, they had grown more mature and were at the peak of their basketball careers, so Lithuania’s strength is considerable.
Despite an unfavorable start, Lithuania did not call for a timeout and players quickly adjusted their status on the court themselves.
In half-court offense, they found an open spot on the wing through clever and skillful outside cooperation. The outside shooter Kurtinaitis made a successful three-point shot!
Kurtinaitis was the former Soviet national team’s number one outside shooter, with a three-point shot that’s both quick and precise; as long as he catches a slight opportunity, he can swiftly shoot and score.
On defense, Lithuania also made adjustments; Sabonis instructed his teammates to switch from zone defense to man-to-man, implementing one-on-one defense in the half-court.
Simply put, they began to oppose the outside line of the China Team.
Confrontation is a weakness of Chinese players, and after a month of training, they showed certain improvements.
However, when facing the robust Lithuanian players, they still encountered some difficulties.
In sports competitions, the intensity of confrontation is fundamental; without being able to withstand certain intensity, your skills and tactics are empty.
Lithuania made every effort to use man-to-man and pressing defense to cut off the connection between China’s outside line and Gan Guoyang.
Sun Fengwu was forced to pass the ball at mid-court, Sun Jun came to receive the ball, but it was stolen by the Lithuanian team.
They successfully counterattacked, scored with a layup, and quickly brought the score closer to 7:5, with China leading by only two points.
Faced with Lithuania’s high-intensity man-to-man defense, Gan Guoyang did not actively step forward to screen for his teammates or help them.
He continued to wander around the three-second zone, moving slightly farther out this time, jumping to catch the pass from Sun Fengwu before the double-team could close in.
In the middle, Sun Jun cut in, Gan Guoyang smoothly passed to Sun Jun, but Sun Jun’s layup was blocked by Sabonis who came over to defend.
"Either be fast or confrontational! Being slow or avoiding is useless!"
Gan Guoyang shouted at Sun Jun, who was slightly slow with that play.
Facing Sabonis’s defense, he tried to dodge towards the side, but the more he avoided, the easier it was to get blocked.
Lithuania swiftly counterattacked, and Sabonis made a long underhand pass to the front court, Lithuanian guard Sarunas Marciulionis caught the ball on the counterattack and scored with a layup.
7:7, the score was tied.
China Team couldn’t withstand Lithuania’s fast attack, and not only were they lacking in confrontation during defense, but they were also lacking in discipline.
This was a big problem the China Team was facing; their defensive execution and detail refinement needed a lot of improvement.
This relates to the long-standing basketball education and development strategy in China.
Chinese players’ height and weight have historically been inferior to those of Europe and America, so the China Team has long adhered to a small, fast, and agile offensive route.
Even though China once had a tall center like Mu Tiezhu, the overall tone of Chinese basketball was lightweight, prioritizing speed and agility over playing heavy and intense games.
After all, in those days, you couldn’t compete with European teams with a heavy, high-intensity play style. China had to find a different path suitable for the characteristics of the players at the time.
In the absence of Gan Guoyang, the China Team played quite freely on the international stage, excelled in counterattacks with speed, and made quick and decisive plays; however, they had limited options in positional plays and lacked layers on defense, relying essentially on personal capability for hard confrontations, maintaining the defense with spirit and style.