Chapter 472: The Quarter-Finals (Part 1)

The second quarter began. 

Badeji's mid-range shot missed, and Ding Hang grabbed the defensive rebound, passing the ball to Guo Sen.

Guo Sen dribbled to the frontcourt, getting past the defender and driving to the basket! But with a big centre like Gibson on the SN team's inside, it was too difficult to make the layup.

"Pass the ball!"

Deng Hua shouted from the sidelines.

But Guo Sen was determined. He sought physical contact as he went up for the layup, colliding with Gibson. He then forced a high-arcing fadeaway shot, which Gibson couldn't block due to its height.

"Rattle, rattle, rattle~"

The ball spun around the rim for over ten circles before dropping into the basket.

29:25!!!

"Great shot!"

This praise came from Wade Dong.

Hearing Wade Dong's compliment, Deng Hua remained silent. Otherwise, he would have definitely substituted Guo Sen, who had disobeyed his coach's instructions, and made him sit on the bench.

The Huaxia players were spirited!

At the end of the first quarter, Deng Hua had criticised the bench players, so when they returned to the court, they played even more aggressively!

...

35:29!!!

After the bench players extended the lead to 6 points, Wade Dong and Yi Nan came on, replacing Ding Hang and Li Shu.

"Go, Wade Dong!"

"Go, Wade Dong!"

"Go, Wade Dong!"

As soon as Wade Dong entered the game, the atmosphere in the arena changed. 

Guo Sen dribbled past half-court and passed the ball to Wade Dong, who then began to move without the ball. Facing Dalmeida's defence, Wade Dong used a simple change of direction without slowing down to get past him. As he approached the free-throw line, Wade Dong glanced to his left, and the ball went behind his back as if he was about to pass to Guo Sen on the left.

The two big men of the SN team immediately moved to Wade Dong's left side.

But when the ball went behind Wade Dong, he hit it with his left elbow, passing it in the opposite direction to Yi Nan.

Elbow pass!!!

"Clang!!!"

Yi Nan received the pass, took one dribble, and slammed it home!

37:29!!!

"Great pass!"

The SN players couldn't help but cheer for this pass.

This was a match without any suspense.

An hour later, as the referee blew the whistle, the game ended.

97:75!!!

The Huaxia Men's Basketball Team vs. the SN Men's Basketball Team concluded, with the Huaxia team advancing to the World Cup quarter-finals.

Match statistics:

Wade Dong: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 1 block.

Huang Yu: 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks.

Yi Nan: 22 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks. →

Gibson: 19 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 0 steals, 1 block.

...

After the game, the SN team stayed on the court for a group photo, as they were satisfied with reaching the World Cup Round of 16.

"Brother Dong, can you take a photo with us?"

Xiamu ran over to invite Wade Dong.

"Me???"

Wade Dong pointed to the tip of his nose, as such an absurd request was rarely seen.

First, there were HG netizens saying that Wade Dong was an HG person, and now the SN team invited Wade Dong to take a group photo with them after the game... However, the nature of these two incidents was very different. The former was a gradual expression of malice, while the latter was purely out of admiration!

...

"So good~"

At home, Li Jiajia saw the photo of Wade Dong and the SN team and sighed, touching her beautiful forehead.

The scene was like this: the SN team surrounded Wade Dong, and Wade Dong was smiling.

But Wade Dong made the scissors gesture... made the scissors gesture... the scissors gesture... scissors gesture... gesture... gesture!

Perhaps only such a description could convey how speechless Li Jiajia felt when she saw the photo.

...

The World Cup schedule was tight, and the Round of 16 concluded in just three days.

The quarter-finalists were also decided.

The Huaxia Men's Basketball Team's quarter-final opponent was the BZ team. In the 2012 Olympics, the Huaxia team had also faced the BZ team and won.

This time, the BZ team was back with a vengeance!

To prepare for the World Cup, they recalled their four NBA stars: Barbosa, Nene, Varejao, and Splitter!

These four players were all strong, and their playing style was very tough!

On September 10, at 11:00 pm Beijing time, the quarter-finals began.

For Huaxia basketball fans, seeing the national team reach the World Cup and advance to the quarter-finals without a single loss was undoubtedly a happy occasion.

"Our opponent is the M Country Men's Basketball Team, and before we face them, we can't afford to lose a single game!"

"Go! Go! Go!"

This was the pre-match call of the BZ team, not the Huaxia team... The Huaxia team didn't need to make such bold statements before the game.

...

"Beep!!!"

As the referee blew the whistle, the game began.

Starting lineups for both teams:

Huaxia Men's Basketball Team: Wade Dong, Lin Hao, Huang Yu, Yi Nan, Gu Qi.

BZ Men's Basketball Team: Barbosa, Nene, Varejao, Splitter, Neto.

Gu Qi and Splitter jumped for the tip-off.

Splitter was also an old opponent of Wade Dong. In June of this year, when the Spurs and the Suns met in the Western Conference Finals, Splitter, as the Spurs' starting centre, was dominated by Wade Dong in the first game, forcing Popovich to make a tactical change and put Ginobili in the starting lineup.

"Clap!"

Splitter tipped the ball to Barbosa.

Barbosa, known as the BZ Lightning, was very fast. As soon as he received the ball, he sprinted to the frontcourt and then threw the ball into the air!

With Nene, Varejao, and Splitter, the BZ team had an absolute advantage in the inside game. Their strategy was clear: take the shot decisively when the opportunity arose, and if it didn't go in, they had three big men to fight for the rebound.

"Clap!"

Unfortunately, Barbosa's pass was a bit low, and the ball was intercepted by Wade Dong in mid-air before it reached its highest point.

Varejao and the other two had just positioned themselves in the low post, but they had no choice but to quickly run back to defend.

Wade Dong got the ball and didn't rush the offence, dribbling leisurely to the frontcourt.

With the BZ team's defence in place, Wade Dong accelerated past Barbosa, drove to the basket, and jumped high.

"Clang!!!"

Without dodging, Wade Dong dunked the ball over Varejao, Nene, and Splitter.

After landing, Wade Dong raised his eyebrows at the BZ team's head coach on the sidelines, saying, "We're attacking your inside game!"

In fact, before the game.

When Deng Hua analysed the match, he had said that the BZ team would focus on the inside game.

So Deng Hua's tactic was to avoid an inside battle with the BZ team and use the Huaxia team's outside advantage to outshoot them.

Obviously, Wade Dong did not follow Deng Hua's tactical arrangement.