41-year-old Paul Gasol and Luis Scola stood on the Olympic field for the fifth time, the evergreen tree of the world basketball world is in the middle of summer, under the passion of his peers, Yao Ming has a smile and a cute smile, but he is already a big belly.
Gasol was born in 1980, only 2 months older than Yao Ming, in 1998, Yao Ming in Shanghai just finished his professional rookie year, Gasol debuted in Barcelona, Spain. Three years later, Gasol was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 3rd pick in the first round in 2001, then traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and won the 01-02 Rookie of the Year, and then Yao Ming parachuted into the Houston Rockets in 2002 as a champion.
Yao Ming's first Olympic trip was Sydney in 2000, and Gasol's first olympic stand was in Athens in 2004. That year, Gasol first led the Grizzlies to a record 50 wins, while breaking into the playoffs as the sixth in the West, so the Grizzlies and he signed a six-year, $86 million contract, becoming the second highest salary for international players after Dirk Nowitzki, of course, after the Olympics.
Gasol and Yao Ming's real fame in their respective national teams' World Series coincided with the same year, the 2002 Men's Basketball World Championship.
Before stepping into the NBA, in Indianapolis, the United States, Yao Ming began his conquest of the American continent, averaging 21 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 blocks per game in 28 minutes per game at the World Championships, shooting 75.3% from the field.
Also a teenage genius, Gasol's performance is not less than enough, averaging 19.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.2 blocks per game in 30 minutes, sending the most 20 blocks of the year. It was Gasol's first appearance in the World Series for the Spanish national team, and it was a great surprise, and since then, the big man has been the patron saint of the Matador Army, and to this day.
On August 15, 2004, the first game of the Athens Olympic Men's Basketball Team Group A began, and the Chinese men's basketball team faced Spain. Gasol debuted in the Olympic arena, played 31 minutes, scored 21 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting, and led the team to an easy victory. Yao Ming scored 12 points and 8 rebounds, 5 fouls left the game, and the Chinese men's basketball team only scored 58 points.
The biggest highlight of the Chinese men's basketball team in that game was not Yao Ming, but Yi Jianlian, who was officially 17 years old.
The 03-04 season is the second year of the UAE in the CBA, Guangdong Hongyuan first tasted the taste of the championship, and before the end of the finals, the UAE League has been locked up by the national team. At a young age, he followed the Chinese men's basketball team to Athens, and it was also his first time playing for the adult national team.
Most people's eyes are focused on Yao Ming and Monk Battle, and Wang Zhizhi, another person who "moved the Great Wall", did not go out on the expedition. For the UAE, people expect to see the world, not expect him to show anything, but this young man does not think so. In the third quarter of the first game against Spain, the UAE And Yao Ming came to a cross-positioning tactic in the bottom line, after Yao Ming attracted the attention of the defense, the UAE League burst into the basket, received the ball directly dunked.
The first point of the Uae League's Olympics, when the defense was made, it was Gasol who became the background of his dunk. Yao Ming slapped the UAE's ass hard in the defense, giving the little brother love encouragement, which was the most beautiful picture of the Chinese men's basketball team in a 25-point loss game. If the Chinese men's basketball team catches the last train in Tokyo, Yi Jianlianben will also become a veteran of the Olympic Five Dynasties like Gasol, but unfortunately there is no if.
After the end of the first battle, Yao Ming began to go on a rampage, and the second battle avenged the opponent of the 2002 World Championships, New Zealand, and slashed 39 points, and finally averaged 20.7 points in 7 battlefields. Gasol is even more brilliant, scoring a total of 157 points and 13 blocks in Athens, all of which are the most games, but Spain, which is on its way to the peak, met the powerful American men's basketball team 8 in 4, and Gasol scored 29 points but did not beat Stephen Marbury's 31 points, so that the United States avenged the one-arrow revenge two years ago.
The real winner of Athens in '04 was Scola, another player born in 1980.
After eliminating Spain, the United States met the South American powerhouse Argentina in the final four. At that time, the United States was not invincible, in the 2002 Men's Basketball World Championship, the United States lost to Argentina, the quarterfinals were eliminated by Yugoslavia, and the qualifying game lost to Spain.
Scola, like Gasol, the 2002 World Championships was his first experience as an adult national team, breaking the game of the United States' 59-game winning streak, he had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and was one of the 4 players on the team who scored in double figures. Argentina reached the final in 2002, but was unfortunately stopped by Yugoslavia and failed to win the world championship.
The 2004 Olympic Games was the pinnacle of the Argentine men's basketball team, the first match was in Serbia, and Manu Ginobili staged a full-time run to catch the ball and throw the board to suppress the whistle. That year, China, Argentina, Spain, Serbia and Montenegro, New Zealand, Italy happened to be in the same group, the scene was very hot, Serbia and Montenegro lost 4 games within 3 points, won Italy 2 points. China scored only 58 points against Spain and 57 points against Argentina, and with Yao Ming cutting down 27 points and 13 rebounds, it narrowly defeated Serbia and Montenegro to break into the top eight.
The Argentine golden generation led by Scola and Ginobili met the United States again in the final four. The vengeful America unexpectedly rolled over again, with LeBron James playing just three minutes and Tim Duncan graduating with 20 minutes to make the team 3-of-11 from three-point range. Scola contributed another 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and Argentina's skillful coordination completely disoriented the United States.
In the Athens men's basketball final, Ginobili was heavily surrounded, scola stepped forward, scoring a game-high 25 points on 10 of 13 and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to ensure Argentina's Olympic throne. Although that battle is more famous than the defeat of the United States and the elimination of Seihei, it was the most important game for the Scola national team, with diamonds shining and Olympic champions in the pocket.
Skalabi Gasol is fortunate to have this, an Olympic gold medal.
By the 2006 World Championships, Yao Ming's performance at the peak of the national team averaged 25.3 points, 9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.3 blocks per game, against Slovenia, that is, wang Shipeng's game, he played 36 points and 10 rebounds. At this time, he was only 26 years old, a good old age, but after this, he suffered a non-metastatic fracture of the tibia of his right leg at the end of 2006, and a stress fracture of his left ankle in early 2008.
That year was also the pinnacle of the teams belonging to Gasol and the Spanish men's basketball team, and after defeating Serbia and Lithuania in the knockout rounds, Spain and Argentina met in the semi-finals. Gasol is already a super killer of FIBA, Spain's interior advantage is obvious, scoring 33 free throws in the whole game, Gasol 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks.
At the crucial moment, Scola caused a foul and chased 74 out of two free throws. After the timeout, Spain did not hand the ball to the injured Gasol, but was broken by defender Jose Calderon, who led by two free throws after the foul. The Argentine tactics were launched, Andrés Nosioni's three-point opportunity could not be seized, and Spain successfully advanced to the final, and finally defeated Greece without Gasol playing to win the championship.
The time soon came to 2008, and Beijing was waiting.
Once again, the Chinese men's basketball team is in the same group as Spain, this year Gasol had a spring breeze, after joining the Los Angeles Lakers, he and Kobe Bryant reached the NBA Finals together, although they did not win the championship, but they have the spirit of the king. Yao Suffered a stress fracture on February 25, 2008, and although the Rockets went on to complete a 22-game winning streak under Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming's absence in the playoffs ultimately lost to the Jazz.
In order to catch up with the Olympics, Yao Ming constantly compressed the rehabilitation training time after surgery, and finally forced a ride. The second game of the group stage against Spain is a key battle for the Chinese men's basketball team, both teams are doing their best, and the Chinese men's basketball team leads by as many as 14 points in the third quarter.
However, Spain began to counterattack with better bench depth in the final quarter, and Wang Zhizhi hit a key long-distance two-pointer to overtake, but the freshman Marc Gasol scored a difficult goal against Yao Ming to equalize. Dragged into overtime, the Chinese men's basketball team physical strength strip bright red light, Spain a wave of 13-3 harvest game, Gasol 17 out of 13 blasted down 29 points, the Chinese men's basketball team fell short, this game many years later still led the 08 men's basketball team in the heart.
At this time, Scola has also left Europe for the NBA, and has been a teammate of the Rockets and Yao Ming for a season, and the diamond dances and the posture is very mysterious. In the Argentine national team, he became the team's top scorer in the competition for the first time, averaging 18.9 points per game, and Argentina met the United States in the semifinals, and the dream eight team was really ready for revenge.
Scola was on fire, 13-of-21, with 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, but eventually lost. Spain and Argentina have defeated the United States in the past few years, have completely angered the basketball overlords, and finally forced out the luxurious dream eight, first revenge Argentina, and then meet Spain in the final.
Gasol's biggest regret in the Olympic journey met with the mighty United States.
In the 2008 Olympic men's basketball final, Spain played very tenaciously, except for losing 7 points in the first quarter, the difference between the single quarter points in the last three quarters was within 2 points. Rudy Fernandez and Gasol scored 20+ together, Juan Carlos Navarro contributed 18 points, but the 5-man double-doubled matador still failed to stop the United States, Dwyane Wade broke off the bench, Kobe Bryant harvested at a critical moment, and the United States regained the Olympic championship.
The same story was played out again four years later, in London in 2012, Argentina lost to the United States in the semifinals, Spain also lost in the final, Gasol cut 24 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, or failed to win the Olympic gold medal. At that time, the Chinese men's basketball team no longer had Optimus Prime Yao Ming, and after being forced to play in the Olympic Games with injuries, he was injured again in the Lakers battle with Gasol in the 08-09 playoffs.
Yao Ming officially announced his retirement in July 2011, when he was only 31 years old, but he only played five games due to injury in two seasons, and his body could no longer bear the weight of professional competitions. Just before he retired, in the 10-11 season, Scola played the highest season of his NBA career, averaging 18.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, but he could not help the Rockets return to the playoffs like Yao Ming.
No one expected that Gasol and Scola's careers would be so long.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, they were all 36 years old. In the quarter-finals, Argentina was eliminated by the United States, Ginobili played the final national team match, and people thought that Scola's career would probably end soon. In the semi-finals, Spain was also eliminated by the United States, since 2008, 3 consecutive Olympic Games, Argentina and Spain are sent out by the United States, people believe that their golden age will never come back.
However, in the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, the 39-year-old man began to be a demon again. Scola faced the young Nikola Jokic and scored 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists to eliminate Serbia, the Olympic runner-up in Rio de La Hot. He had 28 points and 13 rebounds in front of NBA best defensive player Rudy Gobert, bringing back the seemingly invincible Gobert who was eliminated from the United States.
It's just a pity that in the final, Scola seemed to have exhausted his heart, was besieged by Spain without a big Gasol, and finally missed another world champion 15 years later, and Spain won the world championship after 13 years. The Spanish team currently surpasses the United States in the Tokyo Olympics and ranks second.
As spain and Argentina both won the Tokyo Olympics places at the World Cup, and the two veterans Gasol and Scola also extended their careers to the Olympics, Scola continued to maintain his form in Europe, and Gasol also returned to his home team Barcelona after leaving the NBA in 2019. In the 20-21 season, Gasol helped Barca win La Liga, still efficiently contributing 8.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1 assist and 0.7 blocks in 14 minutes per game, but losing the Champions League basketball final made Gasol miss the Grand Slam.
Excellent basic skills, self-disciplined body management, professional basketball attitude, Gasol and Scola are still continuing the incredible length of their careers. With the Tokyo Olympics looming, Spain still have the strength to beat the Olympic gold medal, Gasol still has to work hard for a major miss in his career, Scola is happy to do the passing help, but you can't predict when the old diamond will suddenly wipe away the dust and reveal the bright edges.
Also 41 years old, but the fate has long been different, the former Yao Ming retired for 10 years, and now has completed many role conversions, Shanghai Sharks men's basketball boss, CBA chairman, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association. This trip to Tokyo, he is the strong backing of Chinese basketball, as the chairman of the Basketball Association to support this piece of heaven.
Life is always unpredictable, appreciate the prosperity of the evergreen trees in the basketball world, but also feel the unpredictable fate, who could have imagined that the 2008 Olympic Games would be Yao Ming's last great shore left in the national team. The moment is the most precious, if you encounter wonderful, clap your hands and laugh, do not be rigid.