r18novel Chapter 1118 Guaranteed Silver Medal? Sorry, we don't have that.
Chapter 1118 Guaranteed Silver Medal? Sorry, we don't have that.
"The match is over!" Yu Jia declared victory 2 minutes and 48 seconds early: "Everyone can start preparing all the items needed for celebration now; we're definitely going to make it to the finals!"
On the court, the Spanish team, whose lead had widened to 13 points again, did not give up the game. They remained quite calm and not in a hurry at all.
In the first possession after Lin Tian's incredible three-pointer, the Spanish team, through a series of passes, found Marc Gasol, who had already replaced Ibaka on the court.
After receiving the ball, Gasol raised his hand and threw it, making another mid-range shot.
96: 117.
A 11-point gap.
"Time is our friend! There are 2 minutes and 30 seconds left!" Yang Yi said, "With Lin Tian's experience, we can rest assured that he will control the ball steadily until the end, and he will steadily exhaust every 24 seconds of each possession, not giving the Spanish team any chance."
On this extraordinary day, when Yang Yi once again confidently begins to make a prediction, it basically means that he is about to be proven wrong again!
All night long, the only thing he predicted without error was that the Chinese team would win, and that his wish would come true.
But all other predictions will obviously be proven wrong quite badly.
For example, after Marc Gasol made the shot, Lin Tian did not stop moving at all, nor did he seem to want to control the time until the end.
He immediately signaled Yi Jianlian to quickly inbound the ball from the baseline, and then dribbled the ball all the way up the court without stopping or delaying. He drove all the way to the basket and once again completed a fast break layup!
From receiving the ball to completing the layup, Lin Tian took a total of 6.7 seconds.
It wasn't extremely fast, but it was clearly completely different from what Yang Yi described as "slowly consuming 24 seconds."
Yang Yi fell silent again. He didn't understand why.
If he asked Lin Tian, Lin Tian could give him the answer immediately: Of course, it's possible to use up all 24 seconds and then win the game easily, but it's not that satisfying!
In the fourth quarter tonight, given the referee's officiating style and standards, it would be too lenient for Spain if we didn't get our revenge and find a way to give them a good beating.
Even if the referee's calls have nothing to do with the Spanish players, the players still have to pay the price for the referee's actions!
Prepare for nightmares tonight.
The Chinese team ultimately won the Olympic semi-final with a 22-point advantage, successfully advancing to the final!
Their opponent will be determined in the semi-final match an hour from now.
USA vs. Argentina!
The final match between the two teams will begin in two days. It will be held in the same stadium, and everything will depend on who China's opponent will be.
"What a raging night!" Yu Jia shook his head long after the match ended and expressed his feelings about the night: "I really don't know what to say about Lin Tian's performance tonight."
"He has delivered countless amazing and jaw-dropping performances in the national team, including a 5-double, 50 points, playing the whole game, a game-winning shot, and a comeback from a 20-point deficit."
"Lin Tian has delivered countless brilliant performances and saved the team countless times, but his performance tonight was still absolutely phenomenal."
「全场比赛15投15中，3罚3中，3分6投6中，以100%的命中率爆砍39分，另外还有15篮板16次助攻入帐，又是一次疯狂的大三双！」
Yang Yi added, "More importantly, Lin Tian had zero turnovers tonight! He delivered 16 assists without a single mistake throughout the entire game! This was achieved even though he was double-teamed by the Spanish team for almost the entire game, which is simply incredible."
"In addition, all of Lin Tian's points tonight came in the second and fourth quarters. In the second quarter, the Spanish team changed their defense and did not double-team him, so he immediately made all four of his shots and scored 11 points."
"By the fourth quarter, he no longer cared whether the Spanish team was double-teaming him or not; he just attacked like crazy! One attack after another, he broke through the Spanish team's defense and shattered it."
"Throughout the fourth quarter, the Chinese team scored a total of 30 points, with Lin Tian alone racking up a whopping 28! Apart from that one basket by Dazhi in response to Gasol, all the remaining points came from Lin Tian alone!"
"In the fourth quarter, Lin Tian single-handedly carried the team, scoring a net point differential of 12 points and completely defeating the Spanish team!"
"Now I understand why Europeans like to call him Li Tian Kaiser."
"He truly will conquer all opponents who stand before him, he will crush all those who stand in his way! Whether he's 20 or 30, he can do it time and time again!"
"Alright, let's congratulate Team China! Congratulations to the Chinese team for their united efforts and another victory! Let's celebrate their advancement to the finals and look forward to them winning the gold medal!"
On the field, Lin Tian had finished celebrating with his teammates, and then, as usual, he went over to the Spanish team to shake hands and hug a few old rivals, making a few sarcastic remarks to them. After receiving a lot of F, S, and B-words, Lin Tian left the stadium satisfied.
The task ahead for China is quite simple.
Lin Tian and Old Nelson went to the post-game press conference, while the others went to the locker room to shower and change.
Then everyone went back to the stadium to watch the final semi-final match between the United States and Argentina and see who would be their opponent in the final.
"Well done." Old Nelson and Lin Tian walked side by side toward the press conference venue. Old Nelson suddenly raised his hand, wanting to bump fists with Lin Tian, and very unusually praised Lin Tian.
"Just not bad?" Lin Tian snorted. "I just saved your coaching career, allowing you to win an Olympic gold medal. Oh, right, I also saved your NBA coaching career, making you part of a dynasty."
"And then, it's just not bad, right?"
"Okay, you bastard, you played fucking brilliantly, like a damn god descended from heaven to play an absolutely fantastic game for our team. Are you satisfied now?" Old Nelson shrugged helplessly, indicating his surrender.
"That's more like it, Tang. Being sincere will make you even more adorable." Lin Tian smiled, and finally reached out to touch hands with old Nelson before walking into the press conference venue first.
"Let's finish this quickly. I still need to watch our next opponent's match," Lin Tianyi said with a smile as he sat down. "Front row tickets are hard to get, and I don't want them to go to waste."
"Congratulations on making it to the finals! You're guaranteed at least a silver medal. How do you feel? Happy?"
"First of all, we didn't guarantee a silver medal; for us, a silver medal was never an option. Winning this competition was simply a necessary step on our path to the gold medal."
"Even if you're about to face what could be the strongest American team in history?"
"I've already crushed several so-called strongest US teams in history. Four years ago at the Beijing Olympics, you guys also called them the strongest in history. The 2002 and 2004 teams were also touted as the redemption team, the revenge team, the strongest team, but what was the result?"
"The result only proves that we are the strongest, and we have the greatest dominance."
"Aside from the 1992 Barcelona US team, which other US team, claiming to be the strongest, has never lost to us?"
"This is the team!" The reporters, sensing Lin Tian's arrogant tone, immediately said, "This American team has 10 players just like the American team from the World Championships two years ago. They have 10 players who participated in the World Championships two years ago and won the championship."
"More than half of this team participated in the 2006 and 2008 World Series. They have excellent chemistry and have been playing together for six years. They are the strongest lineup the US team can field right now!"
"Lin, are you really sure you can beat them?"
"Wow, so many old friends?" Lin Tian said with a smile. "I thought they had already rebuilt, gathered a bunch of young players to train, and then prepared for the World Championships and the Olympics in two or four years."
"I didn't expect it to be those same defeated opponents again."
"Then, let's beat them again. I wasn't there for the World Championships two years ago, so they won. But now I'm back. If they're smart, they should be aiming for the competitions two or four years from now."
"Because I should have retired again by then."
"So, are you 100% sure you can win the final against Team USA?"
"Well, it's not 100% either." Lin Tian's sudden humility surprised many reporters who were waiting to break some big news.
What's going on? Has he been possessed? Why is he talking nonsense?
"Because we might also face Argentina in the final, and the US team hasn't won yet. Let's wait until they win. What if they're not qualified to stand in front of us and fight us again?"
"What if they can only compete with Spain for a bronze medal?"
Lin Tian's series of questions silenced the reporters once again.
Okay, that makes sense, it's rigorous, very rigorous.
But since Lin Tian was being so meticulous, the reporters naturally had to follow suit.
"So Lin, do you think you can 100% defeat the winner between Argentina and the United States and win the gold medal?"
"Of course." This time, Lin Tian stopped with the jokes and said confidently, "We can definitely get the gold medal, no matter who our opponent is!"
"We fear no challenge or opponent; the ultimate championship will belong to China!"
After Lin Tian expressed his determination, the reporters, as if afraid that Nelson would be left out, quickly asked him a few questions.
However, those few questions were clearly not answered with genuine interest; they were merely used as a formality.
After those few perfunctory questions, the reporters once again focused on Lin Tian: "What did you think of Spain's performance tonight? They double-teamed you almost the entire game. Did that put pressure on you?"
"There was still pressure, so I only took 15 shots. If their defense wasn't so much pressure, I would have taken more than 25 shots tonight."
"But with more shot attempts, you might not be able to maintain 100% efficiency. After all, you're the first player in Olympic history to score over 25 points with a 100% shooting percentage!"
"Who cares about these statistics and records?" Lin Tian shrugged and smiled. "I care more about other things, like winning the Olympic basketball gold medal for four consecutive years. Maybe it's not a record, maybe other teams have already done it. But I just want it."
Next, the reporters asked several more questions about Lin Tian, the semi-finals, and the upcoming Olympic finals. They asked questions and took notes as they went, and the press conference proceeded quite smoothly and soon came to an end.
"One last question!"
The press officer glanced at the time and gave the order to end the press conference.
The reporters immediately raised their hands frantically, hoping to be the one to ask the last question.
Unfortunately, Lin Tian didn't name anyone. Instead, he spoke into the microphone, "Doesn't anyone want to talk about tonight's lousy refereeing?"
At this point, Lin Tian looked at all the reporters, paused, and didn't continue speaking.
He understood what the reporters meant.
You've won by 20 points, and you're still talking about the referee's calls? Isn't that a bit pointless?
The fight is over, why are you still chasing after the other side?
Lin Tian: We have to kick a dog when it's down! We have to chase it down and whip it! Do you think it's so easy to take advantage of us?
Of course, it's also to prepare for the upcoming finals!
Tonight, the Chinese team was leading by about 20 points when the referees made a series of wild calls, which forced some suspense into the game.
But what about the final against the United States?
Everyone knows that the American team is stronger. If they face the American team and still get the same refereeing treatment, Lin Tian thinks that even if he leads the team, they will be crushed by the American team.
We must give the organizing committee and the referee team another piece of our mind.
We must let them know the attitude of the Chinese team and ourselves.
"If no one asks, then I'll ask myself the last question."
"I am extremely dissatisfied with, or rather, extremely angry about, the calls tonight! I have been playing basketball for over 20 years, from college until now, and I have encountered many unfair calls or infuriating rulings, but tonight's calls are the most infuriating and upsetting I have ever experienced."
"Because the officiating standards and methods tonight were worse than any game I've played in the early years of my career! Of course, I'm a very positive person, and I don't assume the worst about people, so I'd even be willing to believe they're mentally challenged or that their families have been kidnapped by the Mafia and they're being forced to officiate like that."
"Otherwise, it's impossible to explain why they acted this way, why they officiated so badly and infuriatingly. There were too many unwarranted fouls, too many fouls with inconsistent standards. The Spanish team could do the same thing without being called a foul, but when we did it, they would call it a foul."
"If it weren't for the referee's officiating tonight, which made me completely angry, I probably would have gone to the bench to rest with two minutes left in the game. I wouldn't have continued to score so many points in garbage time. But my anger drove me to do it."
"I can't stand seeing my brothers get called for fouls and leave the game early, and I can't stand the game turning into a free throw shootout. It was awful! The terrible officiating rhythm and style made the game fall apart. I have to say, this is the worst game I've ever played in my life!"
"Of course, I'm still proud of my teammates for winning tonight. Faced with injustice and targeting, faced with almost shameless officiating, they chose to endure it, they chose to fight back with basketball and win the game! From that perspective, this is the game I've loved most in my life!" (End of Chapter)