At 20:00 Beijing time on August 30, the Chinese men's basketball team will play against the Puerto Rican men's basketball team in the final match of Group B. The current situation is very unfavorable for the Chinese team, and Jordjevic's side are almost out of the round of 16. So in the final game of the group, what kind of competitive state can the Chinese team play?
In the first two rounds of the group, China first lost to Serbia by 42 points, followed by 20 points to South Sudan. After two rounds, the Chinese team ranked bottom of Group B with a net minus of 62 points. Theoretically, the Chinese men's basketball team still has the probability of qualifying from the group, but the probability is less than 0.01%. Yes, first of all, Serbia must beat South Sudan, and secondly, China must beat Puerto Rico by more than 35 points. So there is a high probability that after the group stage, the Chinese team can only play in the qualifying round of the 17th-32nd place.
From the current situation, Zhao Rui is in the best condition, and he is also the only defender in the Chinese team with the ability to break through and kill. In addition, after failing to score a point on 0-of-9 shooting in the first game, Li Kyle scored 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals against South Sudan in the second game. Li Kyle's recovery is important for the Chinese team, and he and Zhao Rui will be the killer against Puerto Rico. The Chinese team needs to forget the theoretical possibility of qualifying and do their best to play every round, which requires Zhou Qi to play his height advantage at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. As we all know, the Puerto Rican team has a strong integrity, and their strength is above the Chinese team.
This Puerto Rican team has a strong backcourt and accurate outside, with Waters being the core of the team. Against South Sudan, Waters had 19 points, 10 assists and 3 steals. The only good news is that Waters' height is a short board, and Zhao Jiwei's winding defense has a place to play... Stephen Thompson and Horford also have good scoring abilities, and China needs to limit the play of Puerto Rico's defenders in the game. In fact, the Chinese team's ability to limit opponents' three points is not strong, and against South Sudan, the Chinese team let South Sudan shoot 15 three-pointers while the opponent shot 50.0% from the outside.
The Puerto Rican team is not tall on the inside, but has a strong impact, including Romero, 32, and George Contitt, who is 2.11 meters tall. There is a question, in addition to Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, will Jorjevic give Hu Jinqiu more opportunities to play? In the first two rounds, the Chinese team did not have obvious technical tactics, and more fought alone. Therefore, in the face of the Puerto Rican team, the Chinese team must first control the number of errors, and then maintain a high intensity of attack and defense to put more pressure on the opponent.
The goal of the Chinese men's basketball team in this World Cup is to go straight to the Paris Olympics, but now it seems less and less likely. In this regard, Djordjevic said: "We know this, but we can't use it as pressure, we just need to play our best performance. We also know that Puerto Rico is a tough team with a lot of ball carriers and endpoints, and we have to give it our best. ”
On Wednesday night, what kind of answer will the Chinese men's basketball team hand over? Let's wait and see!