Barkley’s prayers last night worked; he didn’t start, and could temporarily rest and watch the game from the sidelines.
Ewing was first to touch the ball in the jump, Dream Team on offense, the game began!
Johnson received the ball, and just like in previous games, China Team was still using zone defense.
The difference is that Gan Guoyang moved to the fourth position, defending further out.
Johnson controlled the ball with ease, organizing the offense, his leg injury not fully healed, affecting his speed and explosiveness.
At this point, he was purely a passer, giving the ball to the cutting Jordan.
Jordan received the ball, facing Sun Jun, directly jumped up for a shot.
Sun Jun knew Jordan was fast, but only when facing him did he realize just how fast.
So fast that as soon as your eyes caught on, he was already shooting, and you went for a block.
By the time you jumped to block, the ball was already out, and then it went in smoothly!
Jordan scored the first two points.
Dream Team’s defensive focus wasn’t entirely on Gan Guoyang alone.
Beelman understood Gan Guoyang; starting with double-team encirclement, he could still tear you apart with passing.
With superior strength, there’s no need for tricks, just one-on-one defense will suffice.
Hu Weidong barely passed half-court with the ball, immediately passing it to Gan Guoyang, who organized the offense.
Dream Team’s defense was very tight, set up on the wings, and in the middle.
They slightly relaxed at the corners, because it was impossible for Gan Guoyang to carry the ball to the corner and break through from there.
This was Beelman’s arrangement to prevent Gan Guoyang’s breakthroughs, clearly showing that Beelman knew Gan Guoyang well.
Gan Guoyang passed the ball, but Sun Jun tried to take the ball inwards, only to be intercepted by Pippen.
Dream Team’s counterattack, Pippen dribbled, slowed down, attracting Gan Guoyang’s attention, and then directly passed it to Malone on the other side.
As soon as Malone caught the ball, he charged towards the basket with a powerful dunk!
Offensive start is good, but Dream Team dared not let their guard down at all.
Beelman set up a good middle and wing defense to prevent Gan Guoyang’s ball-driving impact.
If Gan Guoyang gave the ball to Hu Weidong or Sun Jun and other teams and went to the inside for the ball, Dream Team would immediately double-team and encircle.
At that time, the physical condition of other players in China Team was no better than Angola at best, and maybe even worse.
Angola, after all, was hit 46-1 by Team USA in the first game, and Team USA relied on full-court pressing defense and counterattacks.
In this situation, China Team’s offense quickly fell into trouble, with Gan Guoyang attempting a forced three-pointer from the outside but missing.
Team USA, relying on double-teaming and counterattacks, hit a 10-0 run against China Team, forcing Jiang Xingquan to call a timeout.
Shan Tao in the confrontation also committed a foul, allowing Ewing two free throws, both successful, plus one hook shot.
The gap between the two sides was indeed too large.
Jiang Xingquan had no good solutions, only looking helplessly at Gan Guoyang.
This situation had already exceeded his capacity.
All those pre-game plans, arrangements, and setups seemed useless in the face of absolute disparity in strength.
You can’t even dribble the ball stably, what tactics are you talking about?
Yet Gan Guoyang remained very calm, saying: "We must score now, can’t keep being suppressed. Shan Tao, you play at the low post next, I’ll dash to the basket to assist, just adapt accordingly."
Shan Tao nodded, this high center born in Shanghai, grew up in Nanjing, playing in Beijing, was already the best inside player outside of Gan Guoyang China had, known as Asia’s number one center.
Going up against Dream Team, his strength wasn’t enough, but he had the courage.
After the timeout ended, he took on the task of single-handedly playing Ewing at the low post.
The result was that his turning hook did not go in, but Gan Guoyang cut into the basket, pushed Malone aside, jumped high, grabbed the rebound and went for a putback dunk!
Unexpectedly, the ball was knocked away by Jordan who came in for a back defense.
Dream Team launched another counter-attack, with Jordan pushing the fast break, waiting for Gan Guoyang to catch back up in defense.
Then he suddenly accelerated towards the basket, making a layup with a hand-switch!
Gan Guoyang dared not rush too much, afraid of being called for a foul, only able to watch Jordan complete a difficult layup over him.
12:0!
Dream Team completed a perfect start.
It’s clear to see they showed no mercy, going all out on both offense and defense.
Jordan shook his head at Gan Guoyang, saying, "Sonny, did you drink? I smell booze."
Gan Guoyang ignored him, not wanting to engage in any trash talk with anyone right now, needing to focus his attention.
Sweat kept rolling down, as China Team was to inbound the ball.
Dream Team slightly relaxed their defensive intensity, with Hu Weidong controlling the ball.
Gan Guoyang finally pulled to the low post to receive the ball, but the double-team came immediately.
Gan Guoyang reacted quickly, spun towards the baseline, and took a mid-range fadeaway shot!
The ball flew steadily towards the basket, and it went in!
"Shit!" Jordan cursed loudly.
Ah Gan, haven’t you always used the forward-leaning shot after the spin?
Why are you using the fadeaway shot today too?
A forward-leaning shot can deal with one person, manages with double-teaming at most.
But when facing a triple team, a forward-leaning shot is really too hard to get space with.
"Why are you using the fadeaway shot, Sonny! You cowardly guy." Jordan scolded.
However, Gan Guoyang simply ignored him, but rather, suddenly swiped down when Dream Team inbounded.
He stole the ball from Johnson’s hands, turned around for a layup, faked out Ewing, then went up again, scored the layup and drew the foul!
And one!
Gan Guoyang caught up 5 points in just over ten seconds.