Deep inside, he had never truly forgotten the grand wish to surpass Ah Gan, to defeat Ah Gan.
Could this be his chance?
All thoughts converged in a flash, in just 0.1 second, Petrović made his choice.
Francovic answered the call, came out to screen for Petrović, Gan Guoyang switched to defend Petrović.
Francovic moved inside, Petrović could pass, but didn’t; instead, he suddenly accelerated trying to break through Gan Guoyang’s defense.
Then, a sudden stop, a mid-range jump shot!
Gan Guoyang followed closely, blocked perfectly, but the ball still hit the backboard and rebounded into the net!
Bingo!
Petrović scored with a counter shot!
Two points, the gap returned to 9 points.
"Nice shot, Pete! But not a three-pointer."
Gan Guoyang shouted to Petrović.
Petrović stayed in the backcourt without returning to defense, he knew Ah Gan would take the ball himself.
Petrović began a one-on-one defense against Gan Guoyang, he was familiar with Gan Guoyang’s dribbling.
Gan Guoyang backed into Petrović, advancing; his speed was indeed slowed.
Ma Jian came out to respond, catching the ball, then passing to Hu Weidong, Hu Weidong broke through almost got cut off.
Returned the ball to Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang caught the ball, a step away from the three-point line, without any adjustment, shot directly!
A very risky, high difficulty shot, the ball flew high, drew a strange arc, suddenly fell, scored again!
66:72, the gap came to 6 points, the atmosphere in the entire arena was suffocating.
Sweat constantly flowed down Petrović’s forehead.
He knew Gan Guoyang’s state had come, and no one could stop him.
At this time, it was not about defense, but about offense, a response must be given.
Hu Weidong mainly defended Petrović, Petrović accelerated past.
Hu Weidong closely followed, Petrović pulled back, then changed direction and charged into the basket!
He didn’t rashly shoot a three, but charged at the basket, resulting in a floater being disturbed by Gan Guoyang, unsuccessful.
Francovic grabbed the offensive rebound, but Ma Jian quickly knocked the ball out of his hand!
Ma Jian’s two defenses could be said to have played a critical role.
Under the basket it became a scramble, finally referees called jump ball between Sun Jun and Toni Kukoc.
Jump ball at the free-throw line position, Kukoc with height advantage tipped the ball.
Petrović got the ball, just outside the three-point line, stepped back to adjust, three-point shot!
Scored! 66:75, the gap returned to 9 points.
Petrović raised his arms and roared, this shot might be the decisive strike!
A deadly three-pointer, leaving China Team little time.
Jiang Xingquan didn’t call a timeout, Gan Guoyang signaled for a quick inbound, he held the ball and charged from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
Accelerated to the basket, bumped Francovic aside, scored with a layup!
Referee blew the whistle, called a foul on Francovic, Yang Jiafa!
This attack took less than 10 seconds.
China Team still retained hope for victory.
Gan Guoyang made the additional free throw, 69:75, still 6 points.
With 2 minutes left in the game, Croatia called a timeout.
Leijubojevic during the timeout, required strict marking of Ah Gan, while playing smarter offensively.
"Don’t shoot casually, press down the time! Two points, we need stable two points, give it to the most assured person!"
The coach’s strategy was not wrong, 2 minutes, leading by 6 points, with possession, a steady two points or drawing a foul, the game could be won.
No matter Ah Gan’s celestial skills, his formidable ability, it’s still difficult to make up the gap in overall strength and talent between the teams.
However, at this moment, Petrović had different thoughts, dragging time, playing for success rate, does it really work?
Everyone was very tired, being dragged by China Team the whole game, always shooting from outside, never having easy scoring opportunities inside.
But Petrović wouldn’t contradict the coach, he still followed the coach’s setup to play.
Sideline ball, Petrović received it, looked up, and saw that Gan Guoyang was still crouching under the basket like a tiger.
Croatia slowed down, dribbling continuously, running and cutting in, screening, passing, but China Team’s zone defense remained unmoved.
The ball reached the wing to Arijan Komazec, he found an opportunity and went for a three-pointer from the wing!
Sun Jun on the outside desperately chased after it, but it was too late. If this shot went in, Croatia would win the game.
Aside from Petrović, Arijan Komazec is Croatia Team’s most accurate three-point shooter.
In today’s game, he had already hit two three-pointers and was a deadly shooter.
However, at the most critical moment, after shooting from the outside all game, at the instant that could be a game-winner, he experienced a slight shift in mindset.
As soon as the ball left his hand, he knew it was short, and immediately shouted "Rebound!"
Croatia players all surged forward to fight for the offensive rebound.
But there was no way Gan Guoyang would let go of this rebound, he blocked two Croatian players by himself.
The three were entangled together, and Ma Jian picked up the spill, grabbing the rebound!
Croatian players then surrounded Ma Jian, and Jiang Xingquan immediately called a timeout.
With a little over a minute left, a 6-point gap, the atmosphere was suffocating, China Team had to score quickly.
Jiang Xingquan set up a play, still centered around Gan Guoyang, and others were to create chances for Gan Guoyang.
"If you can make a three, go for the three; if not, go for a quick two! Don’t hesitate, don’t hesitate at all! Our time is precious, we must shoot quickly, don’t have any mental burden! We must be fast!"
At this point, Jiang Xingquan’s advice was very pertinent, they had to be fast, the worst would be to hesitate, China Team didn’t have the capital to hesitate anymore.
Gan Guoyang understood this in his heart, and once the timeout was over and they returned to the court, he immediately came out to receive the ball, drawing the defensive attention of three Croatian players.
Sun Jun, who was inbounding the ball, passed it to Hu Weidong, and Hu Weidong took the ball and, without hesitation, drove towards the inside, causing a foul on Francovic!
Francovic fouled out with 5 fouls, and Hu Weidong stood on the free-throw line and, without any adjustments, quickly shot and made both free throws.
Even Gan Guoyang’s heart skipped a beat, didn’t this kid even aim?
But Hu Weidong didn’t aim because he was extremely nearsighted, aiming wouldn’t help.
As for any free throw routines, dribbling, feeling the ball, hesitating, none of that existed.
He would slightly dribble the ball and then throw it, and it would go in, that’s just how confident he was.
Trailing by 4, China Team finally risked a full-court press, they had to seize the opportunity.
With only 1 minute left, if Croatia could make even one shot, even a free throw, China Team would be in great danger.
In fact, at this time, Croatia’s hope of winning the game was very high, as long as they didn’t make mistakes, no matter how strong Gan Guoyang was, without time or ball possession, he wouldn’t be able to salvage the situation.
But after facing China Team’s zone defense almost all game, Croatia, facing China’s not-so-effective full-court press, was surprisingly panicked, they were somewhat unaccustomed.
The inbound pass from the baseline was mistaken and broke by Adi Jiang!
Adi Jiang, controlling the ball, did not delay, immediately passed the ball to Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang received the ball near the free-throw line and took a step and charged towards the basket.
This time no one could stop him, and Petrović shouted: "Don’t foul!"
He knew, if you tried to block, not only couldn’t you stop him, but you’d also give him a 2+1 chance, giving Ah Gan an extra point.
Gan Guoyang slammed it in with one hand, and the Croatian players who wanted to come over to block withdrew their hands.
73:75, the gap narrowed to just 2 points.
Each team still had one offensive opportunity.
If China Team could stop them, they’d have a chance to make a last-second play to beat Croatia.
But if Croatia scored this possession, China Team’s hope would be extremely slim.
China Team returned to the zone defense stance, both teams’ half-court clashes hard against each other.
Without Francovic, Croatia’s height on the inside plummeted.
The head coaches of both teams were so nervous that they couldn’t sit still on the sidelines, pacing back and forth.
Jiang Xingquan felt like his heart couldn’t take it, he tightly grabbed the arm of assistant coach Gong Luming, only to find Gong Luming was also shaking from nervousness.
The semifinals, just a step away, in these last few tens of seconds.
And as Petrović dribbled past half-court, hesitation once again surfaced in his mind:
Should he attack directly, become a hero himself?
Or should he organize and pass to create opportunities for teammates to secure the victory?
At this moment, Petrović hadn’t realized one principle, which is.
Hesitation leads to defeat!