At the beginning of the second quarter, the Spanish team attacked first.

Liu Xiu looked at the advancing player - Jose Calderon,

A late bloomer type of player.

Liu Xiu paid attention when he saw this name appearing on the Spanish team's roster.

There was Calderon on this year's NBA draft list, but he failed.

But looking at Calderon's statistics in Europe this season, he is 23 years old, averaging 8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

It's natural to lose the election.

But now Calderon still has a bright spot that is enough for him to enter the Spanish national team-in 41 games in La Liga, he shot 51.1% from open shots in three-pointers.

For this type of player, you often don't see significant progress until he is in his mid-twenties.

After halftime, Calderon passed the ball to Gasol who was pulling out.

Spanish team lineup: Calderon, Rodrigo Fuente, Carlos Jimenez, Alfonso Reyes, Gasol.

All are players who can shoot and pass.

The space opened up, and the Chinese team thought the Spanish team was going to play as a team, but no!

Gasol played a high-post singles game, passed Yi Jianlian with the ball, rushed inside to avoid the shrinking Wang Zhizhi, and hit a layup with a low hand!

24 to 23, as soon as the second quarter started, Gasol helped the Spanish team take the lead.

In the transition between offense and defense, Liu Xiu receives the serve and advances.

He could tell that the Spanish team coach didn't want to continue to be defensive, and he didn't want to compete with their superstars.

The opponent is strong and has the power to make active adjustments.

In this case, force the opponent to defend!

Calderon was waiting for Liu Xiu at the top arc.

191 centimeters, 95 kilograms, strong, young and strong, with acceptable mobility.

Faced with such a strong opponent, Liu Xiu naturally chose... to start sprinting after passing the middle circle!

Approaching the three-point line, Liu Xiu took half a step forward. Calderon moved up and confronted Liu Xiu, but was knocked away!

Both are 95 kilograms, Liu Xiu's strength is 92, Calderon's strength is 85...

Liu Xiu knocked Calderon away and went straight to the inside.

Gasol failed to defend, Liu Xiu stepped up and hit a layup!

The Spanish players were all shocked.

Calderon, this is it!

Liu Xiu can use a change of direction to break through, or use a pick-and-roll to break through. They know that Calderon will definitely not be able to guard Liu Xiu.

But this is the strongest player in Spain's back line. Their expectation is to prevent Liu Xiu from sprinting completely, to give Gasol and the flank players opportunities to cover up, and to play team defense.

Originally, the Spanish team's current lineup is the best in the world in terms of rim protection. It is not good at defense and cannot defend normally.

But Liu Xiu's attack was too simple and direct, and was wild and rough! It was quite shocking.

When the Spanish team attacked, Rodrigo Fuente ran back to receive the ball and made a layup...The ball came out of the frame and Liu Xiu, who was chasing in, grabbed the defensive rebound.

Liu Xiu let out a sigh of relief. It was so dangerous.

This goal was not due to a poor offensive performance by the Spanish team, but because Rodrigo Fuente failed to control his strength well in the layup after the confrontation.

Liu Xiu advanced to the frontcourt and continued singles!

Liu Xiuqiang rushed to the top corner on the right side of the free throw line. Before he could get inside, Gasol stepped in and covered Liu Xiu's entire passing route.

Liu Xiu made a prompt decision, and before Gasol's attack was formed, he made a sudden stop and shot a jump shot... but missed!

Yi Jianlian rushed into the paint, jumped high, and pushed the ball back into the basket.

Wonderful supplementary deduction!

27 to 24, the Chinese team leads by 3 points! This goal is very important!

When the Spanish team attacked, looking for stability, Gasol played a single and turned around to score two points with a hook, chasing the score to 26-27.

Gasol has the best overall strength in the game, and may even be the strongest in this Olympics. There is no doubt about this. With him on the court, the Spanish team is still very stable.

No matter how fiercely Liu Xiu attacks, Gasol can steadily control the situation in this lineup whether playing in isolation or organizing offense.

But what should I do if Gasol is tired?

This is what worries the Spanish coach.

The reason why he is unwilling to compete with the Chinese team for superstars is not because he is afraid that Gasol will not be able to compete with Liu Xiu, Yao Ming, and Wang Zhizhi.

But there are three people on the opposite side, who have made it clear that they want to fight a war of attrition with you, and you still jump into the pit. That is stupid.

However, the Spanish team coach did not want to jump into the trap, but the situation on the court did not develop according to his wishes.

He was prepared to be unstoppable on the defensive end.

That doesn't matter, just hold on to the opponent on the offensive end, and when the performance of the opponent's three major stars declines, the rest of the Chinese team won't have anything to fear.

The Chinese team mainly plays superstar ball, so as the game progresses, the other players of the Chinese team will become more and more sluggish, similar to the American team yesterday afternoon.

The Spanish team only needs to ensure a good team offense.

If the problem lies in the inaccurate shooting of functional players from the outside and poor rotation choices and poor condition of the replaced players, then he admits it.

However, the Spanish coach never expected that their problem would actually lie with his most trusted player.

Gasol has a problem!

Gasol was in very good shape tonight. He performed well in the first game of the Olympic Games.

But he began to show distrust of his teammates in the second quarter.

Generally speaking, it is normal to lead and lag within 10 points. Within 5 points, when the game has only entered the second quarter, it means there is no point difference.

It is normal to not score in two or three rounds in a row. The Spanish team, a strong team offensive team, should be very confident and calm in this aspect.

But Gasol can't sit still tonight!

Once behind by three or four points, Gasol will take the initiative to play in singles.

When he goes to singles, he can really narrow the point difference immediately.

However, it was fine once and twice, but after three or five times, the problem started.

The Chinese team played very hard tonight, and Liu Xiu played even better than in the first quarter, and Wang Zhizhi also continued his performance in the first quarter.

The Chinese team has always been one or two goals ahead.

At this time, Gasol was shocked. Once the point difference was about to be widened to more than 5 points, he would go for singles. At first, he could bite the point difference, but in fact it reduced the team's team offense and the performance of his teammates.

Opportunity to slowly cool down the feelings of teammates...

A vicious cycle is formed!

It doesn't matter whether the Chinese team became more and more sluggish as they played. The Spanish team became more and more sluggish as they played.

Gasol was afraid that the point difference would be widened, and he became nervous when he saw Liu Xiu.

He is extremely confident in his own strength.

He is so contradictory and easily gets anxious.

At 7 minutes and 19 seconds of the second quarter, there were 3 seconds left in the Chinese team's attack time. Liu Xiu took a step outside the free throw line to catch the ball and turned around for a mid-range shot... The 'Xiao Li Flying Knife' with a 30% probability was triggered, and he felt hot.

Tonight's rhythm was very consistent, and I hit the mid-range shot!

43 to 34, the Chinese team’s lead reached 9 points, and the Spanish team called a timeout!

After the timeout, the Spanish coach replaced Gasol to take a rest and let Navarro and the Reyes brothers lead the team, plus Roger Grimaud and Alberto Herreros... The Spanish coach insisted.

For most of the quarter, I was unwilling to defend against the Chinese team and blast the stars, but finally chose this path.

For the Chinese team, Wang Zhizhi was replaced and rested. With more than 2 minutes left, Yao Ming and Du Feng came on the court, accompanied by Liu Xiu, Zhang Jinsong, and Zhu Fangyu, to continue the confrontation and play superstar basketball!

One wrong step and a lifetime of mistakes...

It's time for the Spanish coach to sing a song called Tears of the Dancer.

In the last two minutes or so, Yao Ming had 4 points and 1 assist, and the assist was given to Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu cut in and relied on Alfonso Reyes to hit a layup and caused a foul and extra penalty. The Chinese team scored a total of 7 points.

The Spanish team only relied on Navarro to score 3 points. Roger Grimaud rushed to grab an offensive rebound and it was shot away by Yao Ming.

At the end of the second quarter, the Chinese team hit a wave of 7-3!

After halftime, the Chinese team led the Spanish team by 13 points 50 to 37 entering the halftime break!

…

With 22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Liu Xiu's performance shocked everyone.

Gasol scored 9 points in just over 7 minutes in the second quarter, and 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the half were very impressive. Liu Xiu scored 14 points in the second quarter.
To be continued...