If the Croatia Team wants to play fast, the forwards and guards need to position outside so they can quickly move down the court, but this weakens their control over rebounds.
If they want to protect the defensive rebounds, the forwards and guards need to position inside and compete for the rebounds along with the centers, making it difficult to launch a counterattack immediately.
After pondering for a while, Leijubojevic decided to stick to what works best for them. Croatia, after all, was leading by 13 points, so it couldn’t easily change its fundamental strategy and style of play.
However, he still instructed the players to strengthen their rebounding efforts, especially Francovic.
At this time, Francovic’s jersey was already soaked in sweat, having been battling fiercely with Gan Guoyang throughout the first half.
Amid the intense physical confrontations, he was completely at a disadvantage, never having experienced such a high-intensity battle in the paint before.
Leijubojevic patted Francovic’s face and asked, "No problem, right?"
Francovic nodded, saying he was fine, but in his heart, he thought this first half was even more exhausting and difficult than playing against the Dream Team.
David Robinson of the Dream Team was strong, but he didn’t like confrontation, preferring to use speed and jumping ability, which Francovic favored in an opponent.
Ewing didn’t play much, Barkley was short, while Malone was strong but his moves were mechanical, making them easier to anticipate and counteract.
Gan Guoyang, however, was a completely different kind of center, with a strength beyond comprehension and movements that were ghost-like and hard to predict.
Before the second half started, Francovic asked Petrović, "How do we guard Ah Gan? How do we deal with him?"
Petrović pointed to the sky and said, "Let God bless you."
The battle reignited in the second half; a 13-point lead was not too large but not small either.
The pressure on the China Team remained immense, yet everyone inexplicably had confidence.
In the locker room, the usually reserved Jiang Xingquan was unusually passionate, encouraging the players to "seize the moment and get into the semifinals!"
It was clear that Coach Jiang, who had always been conservative and originally thought that reaching the Olympics was an achievement in itself, was beginning to yearn for victory too.
A 13-point deficit would typically mean a high likelihood of losing, but now it was different; the China Team had Gan Guoyang.
In the first half, he just tested the waters, focusing on low-post solo plays and second-chance points, getting his body progressively warmed up.
The first offensive play from Croatia in the second half had Petrović driving to the basket to challenge Gan Guoyang’s defense.
His dribbling was smooth, but Petrović didn’t have much variety in his drive.
Suddenly stopping, a floater, but Gan Guoyang, who came in for the help defense, blocked it.
After capturing possession, Gan Guoyang dashed directly toward the front court, with Petrović immediately committing a foul.
He knew that Ah Gan was about to launch a ferocious assault like in the ’92 Finals.
Allowing him to go unchecked would just be gifting him points.
Gan Guoyang, who was fouled, smiled and patted Petrović.
In the set play, a sideline inbounds for the China Team, Gan Guoyang came out to receive the ball.
Francovic and Toni Kukoc both came out to chase him.
Yet, Gan Guoyang still caught the ball and suddenly accelerated his dribble, getting past them both.
Charging through the middle, he hammered a one-handed dunk!
The all-around Gan from the 1992 Finals re-emerged!
His transcendent style of play, whether in the NBA or FIBA, was always so sensational.
In fact, the Croatia Team also had a similar player, Toni Kukoc.
He was even taller than Gan Guoyang, with the same smooth dribbling skills and diverse perimeter techniques.
But his impact was far inferior to Gan Guoyang’s; he was more like an oversized nimble guard.
In these Olympics, Kukoc mostly played a supporting role, assisting Petrović in offense, organizing, coordinating, distributing the ball, and spot shooting.
Against the Dream Team, he was heavily guarded by Jordan and Pippen, enduring a rigorous suppression that shattered his confidence.
Moreover, as a tall perimeter player, Kukoc had an unavoidable flaw: he committed many turnovers.
Among the five group matches, Kukoc’s average turnovers were the highest on the team, even more than Petrović, who handled the ball a lot and faced constant double-teams.
As a center, Gan Guoyang had an average of 0.8 turnovers in the 5 group matches, which with only four turnovers, his control over turnovers could be described as astounding.
This attention to detail was one of the reasons for Gan Guoyang’s formidable strength.
In the following defense, Gan Guoyang suddenly switched from a conservative, paint-guarding approach to aggressively pressing up, teaming with Sun Jun to trap Kukoc.
Kukoc made a turnover, the ball was intercepted by Gan Guoyang; Gan Guoyang controlled the ball, tossed it to Sun Jun, who then executed a fast-break layup successfully.
In the opening two possessions of the second half, the China Team narrowed the gap to 9 points, bringing it within 10 points, a very positive signal.
Subsequently, the China Team once again adopted a shrinking zone defense, letting Croatia shoot from outside, just allowing them to take threes.
The young players of Croatia were sharp shooters, threes and long twos, consistently piercing through the basket of the China Team with their skillful ball movement.
Meanwhile, the China Team’s offense relied even more on Gan Guoyang, as Croatia’s defense became tighter, with Gan Guoyang facing triple and quadruple-teams.
He almost couldn’t receive the ball near the basket in the low post, since that area was too easy for defenders to collapse on; instead, he moved further out to get the ball, using the threat of a three-pointer, and then leveraging his drives and back-down moves to tear through Croatia’s defense.
The confrontation had reached a fever pitch, and Gan Guoyang’s arms were covered in scratches.