A 69-67 game allowed the Chinese women's basketball team to advance to Paris!
The women's basketball Olympic preliminaries continued, and after the Chinese women's basketball team defeated France, another game in the same group was played, New Zealand vs. Puerto Rico. Since it is extremely difficult for the two sides to defeat China and France in the final round, the losing side of this game is basically determined to say goodbye to the Olympics. After four quarters of competition, Puerto Rico reversed New Zealand 69-67 after falling behind by double digits at one point, advancing and allowing the Chinese women's basketball team to qualify ahead of schedule.
Earlier, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated France 50-82 and missed the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics in advance. Therefore, the video footage of the match between New Zealand and Puerto Rico needs to be studied by the coaching staff. Given the importance of this game, Puerto Rico is bound to get the guy at the bottom of the box out. In the first round, New Zealand defeated the Chinese women's basketball team by 47 points, while Puerto Rico lost to France by 48 points 40-88. It is worth mentioning that Puerto Rico is a team participating in the 2022 World Cup, while New Zealand did not participate in the last World Cup, and their overall strength is relatively close to that of South Korea.
New Zealand had a higher success rate in the opening stages, with good overall coordination and shooting percentages, while Puerto Rico were more solo and focused the ball on one or two key players. New Zealand capitalized on Puerto Rico's mistake to make a transition, and the combination of inside and outside was also better, and after a few rounds, New Zealand built up an advantage and led 25-16. In the second quarter, Puerto Rico worked the defensive end, switching to a two-to-three defense to force a 24-second violation by the New Zealand team, or passively forcing a shot. In the second quarter, New Zealand was completely dumb, scoring only 5 points in a single quarter, and Puerto Rico had a 17-5 attack wave in a single quarter, and 33-30 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Puerto Rico continued to exert its power on the outside and further expand its advantage. In the second half of the third quarter, the New Zealand team relied on high-quality joint defense to play a small climax, and New Zealand led Puerto Rico 51-49 in the third quarter. In the final quarter, the two sides played more stalemate, the score rose alternately, and the suspense lasted until the last 1 minute. At the critical moment, Puerto Rico counterattacked and hit an empty basket to stretch the difference to 4 points and end the suspense. In the end, Puerto Rico narrowly defeated New Zealand 69-67, and the whole team rushed into the stadium to cheer. Puerto Rico sealed the qualification for the Olympic Games and also sent the Chinese women's basketball team to Paris in advance.
After this game, the French women's basketball team topped the standings with two consecutive wins, the Chinese women's basketball team and Puerto Rico lost 1-1, and New Zealand was at the bottom with two consecutive defeats. As a result, the Chinese women's basketball team has actually advanced to the Olympic Games ahead of schedule. Because even if the Chinese women's basketball team loses in the final round and New Zealand defeats France, the Chinese women's basketball team can beat New Zealand to Paris with the advantage of mutual records. Even so, the Chinese women's basketball team will still go all out in the final round against Puerto Rico, because after the heavy defeat to the French team, the final round is a battle of dignity for the Chinese women's basketball team.
This game also provided some ideas for the Chinese women's basketball team, such as paying attention to the outside three-point shot after the Puerto Rico team covered, as well as key people such as Holinheed and Golancest. In particular, Hollinheed, the naturalized titan who is Puerto Rico's leading star, has scored 20+14 super stats in this campaign. In the past five years, the Chinese women's basketball team has won all three meetings with Puerto Rico, the most recent of which was the World Cup group stage win by 35 points, and the Tokyo Olympics also won by 22 points. Therefore, the normal performance of the Chinese women's basketball team can lock the Olympic ticket with a victory.