On August 13, the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics officially kicked off.

He Li and the Chinese delegation slowly walked into the Athens Olympic Stadium.

What made He Li feel a little bit regretful is that he can be said to be the most famous athlete in the delegation, but he is not the flag bearer of the delegation.

As the Chinese delegation, the only team participating in the men's big ball event, the Chinese men's basketball team has the opportunity to choose players to serve as the flag bearer of the delegation.

It’s a pity that Yao Ming is much taller than He Li and is bigger. As a flag bearer, he can make people feel more eye-catching and majestic.

After all, the spirit of the Olympics is higher, faster, and stronger. Yao Ming is at least higher and stronger than He Li on the surface. As a man, He Li is not a good thing to behave too quickly.

Of course, the most critical factor is that Yao Ming was trained by the country and He Li picked it up halfway.

The officials who arranged the Olympic delegation were not sure about He Li's character.

When participating in a national event like the Olympics, the flag bearer who represents a country's storefront should be aware of the bottom line and the right ones to do it.

He Li also expressed his understanding of this.

Back to the topic, after participating in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics, it was only a few days before the group stage of the men's basketball competition began.

After just two days of training, on August 15, the Chinese men's basketball team finally welcomed their first opponent in the group stage - the Spanish men's basketball team.

In the previous group draw, the Chinese men's basketball team and the Spanish men's basketball team were drawn in the same group - Group A.

At the same time, the participating teams in Group A also include Seychelles, Argentina, New Zealand and Italian men's basketball teams.

Previously, in the "warm-up match" of the Diamond Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team had already competed with the Serbia men's basketball team, and it has been more than once.

In addition, it also has some interactions with the Argentine men's basketball team and has obtained some useful information.

Although the performance and results of the Diamond Cup do not mean that such a record can be achieved in the Olympic group stage.

But if you have a fight in advance and know each other's bottom line, then the next group stage will be much easier.

Perhaps it was because of the Diamond Cup championship. The game has not yet begun. It was just during the pre-match interview period, the men's basketball team leader Li Yuanwei and Director Li made harsh words that this men's basketball team will definitely win the quarterfinals.

Director Li is just the leader of this men's basketball team. He looks not very good at it. In fact, Director Li is the leader of the Basketball Management Center. Judging from the resumes and achievements of his senior successors, this one has done some decent things.

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, who are truly capable of playing in the NBA, are basically all under him. It is also because of his pioneering and enterprising spirit that domestic players rushed to North America one after another, and became more and more brave in the unfamiliar environment.

Then after he abdicated, there was nothing else.

Having said that, He Li is leading the men's basketball team now, and he is a NBA three-game FMVP. To be honest, if he only wins the quarterfinals in the Olympics, he will look down on He Li's ability to lead the team too much.

He Li came back to play this Olympics just to get the cards.

However, the men's basketball team has its own national conditions, and some things cannot be said too much in advance.

At least the expectations for the domestic people should not be too high, otherwise if something happens, who will take the blame?

You should know that since the Chinese men's basketball team reached the quarterfinals of the World Championships in 1994, the "top 8 in the world" has become the goal for 10 years.

The World Championships quarterfinals are going to fight for their lives, let alone the Olympic quarterfinals.

In the past two Olympic Games, the Chinese men's basketball team made its debut in the group stage at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and became the top eight men's basketball team in the world.

As for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, it retreated and only won 10th place.

Although the decline in performance does not mean a decline in strength, in fact, the Chinese men's basketball team has been increasing in recent years.

Not to mention He Li, the monster that emerged suddenly, Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Bater scored in the NBA one after another and played in the highest-level league in the world. The overall strength of the Chinese men's basketball team suddenly increased a lot.

However, having strength is one thing, and having a record is another.

In order to prevent the domestic coaching level from being low enough and not having an international perspective, with the bold support of Director Li, two foreign coaches were specially invited this year.

In the past, the men's basketball team lacked international competition experience. Now, with two coaches, Harris and Yunas, who are experienced in international competitions, will guide the men's basketball team training and playing, so the men's basketball team can avoid many detours.

In this way, the problem of the men's basketball team lacking international competition experience has also been compensated to a certain extent.

With the help of Harris and Yunas' ability to read and grasp the game, the men's basketball team will not make too many low-level mistakes in on-the-spot battles, at least they will not be led by teams from other countries after suffering losses.

In this case, the men's basketball team has a NBA three-game FMVP leading the team to share their experience in winning and winning championships with other players of the team.

The men's basketball team will have greater confidence in achieving more victories in this Olympic Games.

However, in previous years, the men's basketball team played too hard in the Olympics and had too many poor days. Although they fought a wealthy battle this year, they still couldn't help but be afraid of one or two.

In fact, it is very simple to achieve the goal of "going to the quarterfinals". Under normal circumstances, the Chinese men's basketball team only needs to win two games in the group stage.

The men's basketball team, Seychelles and Argentina, have seen it in the Diamond Cup.

Unexpectedly, the men's basketball team can win all these two games.

As for the New Zealand team and Italy team, they are relatively weak in Group A. Even though they have not played much before, the men's basketball team is still quite sure of winning.

Then the problem is the Spanish team, which is today's opponent.

Of course, judging from the entire group schedule, the win or loss today, no matter what the result is, will not affect the men's basketball team's goal of reaching the quarterfinals.

In five games in the group stage, it is normal to win three games with the strength of the men's basketball team.

Therefore, Director Li dared to boast about Haikou in front of media reporters before the game and could return to the top eight in the world this year.

There is finally one in China's three major football events.

However, whether it can be played is not finalized before the game. Only after the game is over will I know how much pounds the men's basketball team is.

"Paul, don't worry, I won't show mercy to you.

As a friend, I can only remind you one thing, be prepared to accept failure!

If you try to defeat me, I will let you accept reality.”

Warm up before the game, He Li took the initiative to come forward to say hello to Paul Gasol.

He Li and Gasol were friends who could talk to each other and often met in training camp during the offseason.

This time when we arrived at the Olympics, we had to fight each other, but we couldn't lose our harmony.

At worst, the competition is the best, friendship is the second best.

"Defeat you? I'm not ready to enter the finals! I'm here to prove that I'm the real Western Conference All-Star center!"

Gasol, the Grand Gasol, joked with He Li, because Yao Ming had too many All-Star votes and the center position was relatively crowded, so it was difficult for Gasol, who was still a rookie, to become an All-Star center in the West.

As the leader of the Grizzlies, Gasol does not belong to Yao Ming without lacking the ball.

Now that we are at the Olympics, the Spanish team mainly focuses on Gasol. The whole team helps Gasol achieve success. It is still OK to find some face in Yao Ming.

As for the Chinese men's basketball team who wants to defeat He Li, this seems unlikely to be in Gasol's opinion.

"Can you really win? I don't believe it myself." Gasol felt so.

Not long after the Diamond Cup, it actually received a lot of attention as a warm-up match for the Olympics, which also means that the videos of the Diamond Cup on the market are actually not difficult to find.

Before the group stage began, Gasol naturally understood the current situation of the men's basketball team and He Li's current situation.

It has to be admitted that the men's basketball team has blossomed more points. Although the quality of substitutes is not high, the offensive points inside and outside are excellent, and the defensive end is a bit poor. However, He Li is a master of assisting defense and can improve the overall defensive quality of the team.

Gasol has been playing in the NBA for the past three years, and has less contact with domestic players and less cooperation.

In just two or three months, our tacit understanding and cooperation are not as good as before, so it is probably difficult to defeat a team that looks like a lack of shortcomings like the men's basketball team.

Therefore, Gasol Gran lowered his expectations for playing games early on. Gasol Gran just wanted to find some confidence from Yao Ming, that's all.

He Li heard something from Gasol, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

In He Li's memory, Gasol, who was in his previous life, beat Yao Ming up in this game, making Yao Ming so angry that he had nowhere to get angry, and scolded Batel very much, and then Batel disappeared into the men's basketball sequence.

However, this time, what strength does the men's basketball team have? Yao Ming is not under such great pressure and does not expect him to score alone on the offensive end. Yao Ming has more energy to use defense or do other things.

Gasol was uncomfortable looking for Yao Ming, and he might not lose any rice when he was stealing the chicken.

Back to the topic, the game began soon.

Perhaps because of the first Olympic Games, Yao Ming was still a little nervous and couldn't skip Gasol.

After the Spanish team obtained the ball, the offense was also very rapid. The outside player was originally rushing into the inside, but in the middle, facing He Li's assisting defense, he directly passed the ball to Gasol at the basket.

Gasol flicked the ball first when he received the ball, but Yao Ming had the advantage of height and was bigger. He did not shake it, but instead opened his hands and pressed it up.

Gasol watched Yao Ming press up, turned his back, then turned his back, trying to squeeze Yao Ming away and sneak into the basket to complete the layup.

But Yao Ming has played in the NBA for two years and has met dozens of inside players. This is not something he has never seen before.

Yao Ming's defense is very solid and experienced. He first took a step back and adjusted the direction of the defense, and then did not jump, and directly reached out to cover it.

Although Yao Ming still failed to block the block in the end, Gasol made a layup just to hit the iron under Yao Ming's interference.

This led to the Spanish team's first attack in failure.

As for rebounds, it was grabbed by Yi Jianlian.

Yi Jianlian is not as generous as another inside player in Spain, but his jump is better.

After grabbing the rebound, Yi Jianlian was a little anxious and immediately passed the ball out, which was a bit off the side of Liu Wei's position. Fortunately, Liu Wei followed up in time to catch the ball.

Seeing this, He Li immediately turned around and took a fast attack. Although the Spanish defender followed him up, he was not tall enough after all.

Soon He Li ran through the half and Liu Wei passed the ball over.

In the past, He Li directly chased for three points, but the Spanish team's small defender basically couldn't cover him.
To be continued...