Chapter 964 Confrontation

James returned to defense from the center, and Li Ba quickly came down from the right wing. The former took advantage and rushed to the front.

As soon as he crossed the center line, Li Ba saw James rushing to the front and immediately slowed down.

James tilted his head and saw Li Ba slowing down. He also immediately slowed down, preparing to turn around and defend Li Ba.

But just as he slowed down, Li Ba, who had just slowed down, suddenly accelerated and rushed past him.

"Cunning guy!"

James turned around angrily and chased after him, feeling very depressed.

Now that James is lagging behind, there is no one in front of him to stop Li Ba, so his charge will be unstoppable.

Kidd was in front, but he just did it once and fell hard. He was lucky not to be injured. This time he didn't dare to get close.

Li Ba jumped up, and James tried to hold the hat back, but Li Ba's impact was not weaker than his at all. His arms were shorter than Li Ba's and he couldn't reach it.

With a bang, Li Ba hit the basket fiercely, once again making the whole audience excited.

At 8:12, the Chinese team took the lead.

"Woooooooo..."

In Gao Yuanyuan's arms, the little girl Guoguo shouted happily.

Coach K finally made up his mind to strengthen the outside attack.

This can avoid Li Ba's strong defense in the penalty area to the greatest extent. To a certain extent, this is also a successful restriction.

He wants to use the powerful personal offensive power of these superstars of the American team to defeat the Chinese team's perimeter defense.

During the previous period, he had already seen that the defense of the Chinese team's outside line, that is, the United Arab Emirates, was up to standard, but the rest was not very good.

Playing on the outside, the US team has a huge advantage.

Next, on the offensive end, Li Ba continued to control the ball in the frontcourt. The US team was unable to press in the backcourt, and the Chinese team's offense was able to launch smoothly.

Li Ba played several balls in a row, and he had to control the ball and defend at the same time, so the next time he mainly focused on attacking from outside. The other four people could open up the penalty area to a certain extent, opening up the penalty area for Li Ba. Create conditions for controlling restricted areas.

However, the outside offensive efficiency was average. Fortunately, Li Ba suppressed Howard in the penalty area, controlled the rebounds, and made several secondary attacks. The overall efficiency was okay.

For the U.S. team, the offense was launched from the outside, reducing breakthroughs and increasing pick-and-roll tactics. They also played well through their strong personal abilities on the outside.

The Chinese team's outside defense still failed to withstand the offensive firepower of the US team and was repeatedly penetrated. If Li Ba hadn't frequently assisted in defense on the inside, the consequences would have been worrying.

In short, the Chinese team was unable to defend against the American team's outside attack, while the American team was unable to control the penalty area, lost control of the rebounds, and was unable to respond to Li Ba's second attack. There was a feeling that it could not defend its opponent.

After one quarter, at 18:23, the Chinese team led by 5 points.

In the second quarter, Li Ba continued to play, Dayao played, Zhu Fangyu continued to play, plus veteran Li Nan, point guard Liu Wei.

For the U.S. team, Howard takes a rest, Bosh plays center, Boozer plays power forward, James continues, plus the backline combination of Wade and Chris Paul.

When Li Ba saw the lineup of the American team, he had a headache.

He defends Bosh, Yao defends Boozer, Zhu Fangyu defends James, Li Nan defends Wade, and Liu Wei defends Paul. Except for his position, the other four points are all at a rhythm that will be beaten.

When Dayao was defeated by Boozer, they usually exploded at each other. Needless to say, the others couldn't guard against him at all.

Since we can't defend, we can only fight against each other.

In the first half of the following second quarter, the Chinese team's defense was overwhelmed by the American team.

The U.S. team's two inside lines were wide open. Bosh and Boozer were both pulled to the left and right short corners, almost to the three-point line. This suppressed Li Ba on the low wings and unable to help defend the outside line.

Then the American team's offense avoided Li Ba's side, attacked from the other wing, and directly defeated the Chinese team on the offensive end. They scored 14 points in 5 minutes in half a quarter, which was very efficient.

The Chinese team failed defensively and could only exert its strength on the offensive end.

Li Ba and Dayao went all out to attack, but the U.S. team was weak inside. Bosh and Boozer couldn't resist their firepower. Therefore, the Chinese team also smashed the U.S. team into slag on the offensive end.

All in all, in the first half of the second quarter, the two teams exchanged blows.

At 32:41, the Chinese team led by 9 points.

Li Ba still controlled the rebounds. This was a weakness that the U.S. team could not get back. The Chinese team took advantage of the high-efficiency offense inside and the advantage in the number of shots to still score 4 more points in the first half. Scored a high score of 18 points.

On the contrary, because James' position was moved to the third position, the US team's inside line changed from Howard and James, two very strong defensive players, to Bosh and Boozer. Neither of these two people dared to fight Li Ba. The quality of interior defense dropped several levels, which made Li Ba and Dayao's offensive efficiency too high. This is also the reason why the Chinese team was beaten and the score difference widened.

Zhang Lili said excitedly: "In this era, no one who is stronger than the United States can compete with the Chinese team's insiders."

In the middle of the quarter, the American team called the last timeout of the first half.

Yunus estimated that the US team was about to make substitutions, so he also started to make substitutions. In the second half, Li Ba, Dayao, Ah Lian, Wang Shipeng and Liu Wei came on the field.

As expected, the old coach K chose to make substitutions. Howard, the only genuine center, played again, and James played the fourth position again. Prince was at the third position, Reed was at the second position, and Paul was at the first position.

"On offense, we don't focus on defense, we focus on offense, drown them with offensive firepower, and destroy them!"

He saw the Chinese team's style of play in the first half, learned from it, and began to imitate it.

In terms of outside attack, in his opinion, the Chinese team will not be able to catch up with the American team if they advance to two levels.

The only thing that makes him uneasy is that the American team's inside attack seems to be unable to catch up with the Chinese team if it is upgraded to two levels.

Then, there is Li Ba’s rebounding control? This, even if the American team moves up two levels, it will not be able to catch up with the Chinese team.

He knocked his head and felt a little headache. He could only hope that the outside efficiency of the American team would be better than the inside efficiency of the Chinese team.

But, how can the efficiency of outside offense be higher than that of inside offense? It should be the other way around.

"On the offensive end, everyone except the attacker must enter the penalty area in time to compete for rebounds. This is the key and the guarantee of winning. Do you understand?" he shouted loudly.

James and others nodded. They lost by 9 points in 15 minutes. The rebounds were 9:15, 6 fewer than the Chinese team. This gap is very big.

"Although we are ahead, the Hammer's physical energy consumption is too great. He is all on both offense and defense, and there is too little help from the outside."

Zhang Lili said.

"Dayao has less playing time and his physical fitness is fine. We can let Dayao play more." Yu Jia said.

"LeBron James' defense is really strong, but the UAE didn't do much offensively today." Xu Jicheng said.

"Yes, but when he faced James, he also did a good defensive job. James' efficiency was not high. His performance today was still very good. He mainly focused on defense." Zhang Li said.

"In an offensive situation, we focus on efficiency. Our inside offense is more efficient, and the United Arab Emirates also deliberately reduced its shots." Yu Jia said.