At the end of the game, time stopped beating on the scoreboard above the arena.

Chamberlain jumped to his feet, waved his fist and roared, "Dragons! First! ”

Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi smiled and hugged each other, Guo Allen, Yu Penglong and other young players were even more excited, and the Chinese fans who came to the scene stood up and vented their excitement with rhythmic applause.

On the other side of the stadium, the atmosphere of the Turkish team is much more dull, and the victory in the group stage may not be very important, but they are the hosts, and if they can qualify first in the group, it will naturally be a better explanation for their domestic fans.

In addition, the players of the Turkish men's basketball team also owe their coach Donjevic a first.

Donjevic is the godfather of the Turkish men's basketball team, and he has led the team since 1980, working his way up from analyst to head coach.

There are few people in Turkey, although their domestic sports atmosphere is good, but there are few international stars who can show their hands, let alone basketball, basketball is relatively late in Turkey, so far, this team has only participated in three World Championships!

With Donjevic's training, the Turkish men's basketball team gradually got on the right track and became a famous iron-blooded division in Europe, and it also gave birth to NBA stars such as Turkoglu and Oku, but just last year, Donjevic was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Donjevic had to have surgery last year, but when the Turkish men's basketball team was preparing for the European Championships, he had to postpone the operation, which, according to doctors, is usually better done in the fall.

However, there is an even more important World Championships this autumn, and Turkey is the host!

So, moving around, Donjevic had surgery in the spring.

As a veteran coach, Donjevic has always been well-known in the international basketball world for his professional coaching level and professionalism, including the American coach Lao K.

After the game, he immediately walked to the Turkish coach's seat, stretched out his hands to hold the old coach's right hand, and said: "We won very lucky, sir, it was a good game, you taught me a good lesson." ”

Donjevic patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Well done, young man, I'm at your age, I'm still analyzing, you can already lead a team to the World Championships." It seems that I can't accept the old age. ”

Donjevic was quite emotional, and Nelson Jr. said politely: "You have won the award, sir, you are the real handsome, my father has always regretted that he could not play with you on the world stage, before this match, he specially asked me to convey his blessings to you." ”

Chamberlain also walked over, and when he heard Little Nelson's words, he smiled and said, "Yes, Mr. Donjevic, if you retire and come to Auckland for a holiday in the future, then Old Don will definitely treat you well, and you will become good friends, because there are many common topics between you." ”

Donjevic was full of silver hair, his face was wrinkled, but he smiled boldly, he held Chamberlain's big hand and said: "Yes, we have a lot of common topics, such as health, we two old guys, now we are both fighting with serious illness." ”

Chamberlain was a little embarrassed when he heard the old man say this, and said with a smile: "No, I mean basketball, your common topic is basketball." ”

Although the game was played very miserably, both sides were very polite at the post-game press conference, after all, this is world basketball, not the NBA, and there is no such thing as an old enemy.

Tekoglu was a little frustrated, shrugged his shoulders and said to reporters: "We really want to give Donjevic an explanation, there is no doubt that we met one of the strongest teams in this World Championships, that is, the Chinese men's basketball team, but we were not a little afraid before the game, we were convinced that we could win, but unfortunately, the final result was not good." ”

Donjevic comforted his generals, saying: "To be honest, we really want to win, but as a national men's basketball team that has only played three World Championships, finishing second in the group is also a wonderful result. The game is not over yet, it is only the group stage, and we still have a long way to go. ”

Nelson Jr. also expressed his respect for Donjevic, saying: "There is no doubt that in the game, our opponents played particularly tenacious, I can feel that they have a belief, a belief to fight for Mr. Donjevic, I envy that, this is the highest glory of a manager!" ”

"I'm really proud of that." Donjevic added with a smile.

A reporter duly said: "It's like the Warriors led by Z, fighting for Mr. Nelson Sr., and then winning the Finals twice, right?" ”

Chamberlain said: "Yes, that's it, it wasn't easy for us to win, in fact, our victory was a bit of a fluke, if their main center Oku didn't have a truce, then, it's hard to say who the deer will die." ”

Finally, Donjevic smiled contentedly: "My players tell me every day what they have to do for me and that's the best thing they've ever done for me. This team has all the characteristics that a coach can be proud of, the lads are very united, they are hard-working, they are talented and most importantly, there is a lot of love in the team, so I am very proud to be with this team. ”

In the previous opening match between the Chinese team and the Greek team, the number of spectators of the men's basketball team at the World Championships was recorded, and although the Chinese team failed to break that record in the match between the Chinese team and the host Turkish team, the enthusiasm shown by the fans during the game was more than equal.

The game took place in the afternoon, when every time the Turkish team scored, there were fans cheering on the streets, while in China, the number of spectators was even larger, and the online comments even flooded several large forums.

To this end, ESPN expert Henry Albert wrote on the topic of "has basketball become the number one sport in the world", pointing out that the influence of basketball in the world is increasing day by day, in Asia and Australia, it has become the number one sport, and there is such a trend around the world.

Albert deliberately cites the example of the United Kingdom, a small basketball country among the major sports countries, which is known to be the world of football.

A few years ago, the British national basketball team sold only a handful of tickets during their England tour. If you go to the UK before 2008, it will be difficult to find a place to play.

However, in the UK now, more young people choose to play basketball than in other sports. Because basketball doesn't need a credit set, and as they grow, the focus on the NBA will come sooner or later.

It's a long-term process, but it's very significant. In the same way, as the children who love football grow up, the football market in the United States gradually grows up.

A FIBA executive said: "If you look deeper, you can see that the most popular sport among 14- to 18-year-olds is basketball, regardless of gender. ”

In fact, it is difficult to give a definitive conclusion on this topic, and in the minds of more people, football is the traditional number one sport.

So to come up with an answer, a lot of research and research needs to be done, and in 2006, an authoritative company conducted a study covering the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany.

It was found that about 33 million basketball fans in these four countries are mainly young people aged 15-24.

In 1997, another company did a global study in which they conducted 35,000 interviews and found that only 11% of the world's population played basketball. Thirteen years have passed, and the same 350,000 interviews have accounted for 65% of the people who have played basketball!

In Asia and Australia, basketball has replaced football as the number one sport, and there is a trend around the world.

The famous British newspaper "The Guardian" conducted a survey in China and concluded that basketball is the number one sport.

There are two explosive periods for the growth of Chinese fans, the first is in 2002 when Yao Ming entered the NBA, and the other is in 2007 when Chamberlain rose.

According to the Guardian survey, there are now 500 million basketball people in China, which is three times that of football!

Institutions that have investigated the Chinese basketball market have all been shocked by the huge basketball power of this country, and Chamberlain has created a miracle.

To say that basketball in China can surpass football because of Chamberlain alone is probably an exaggeration. But if you have to select a "biggest contributor to basketball promotion" in China, Chamberlain really deserves it, and he is more qualified for this honor than Yao Ming.

Even in the United States, although the NBA is only the third most influential league in the rankings, and the NFL and MBL are also strong, the survey agency found that basketball is the most popular sport among American teenagers.

Among the 14-17-year-olds engaged in various sports, basketball is 9,182,000, surpassing 7,184,000 in football, 5,558,000 in volleyball, 5,498,000 in football, and 5,464,000 in baseball.

At the end of the group stage, the Chinese men's basketball team ranked first in Group C with five wins and zero losses, and the other rankings were Turkey, Russia, Greece, Puerto Rico and Ivory Coast.

The Dream Team, which has attracted the most attention, also occupies the top spot in Group B with five wins and zero losses. The first team in Group A was Serbia, Argentina was in second place, and the first team in Group D was unexpected, and the most talked-about Spanish team was unexpectedly overturned by Lithuania and ranked second in Group D.

According to FIBA rules, the knockout round after the group stage is a mixed battle between Group A and Group B, and a mixed battle between Group C and Group D, so that the next opponent of the Chinese men's basketball team is the French team that is fourth in Group D.

The Spanish team is very entangled, they are second in Group D, which means that before entering the semifinals in the future, they will have to play against the Chinese men's basketball team led by Chamberlain!

In the Olympic Games, the Dragons abused the Argentine team enough, and when Group D was competing for the first place, it was a very miserable game, Lithuania and the Argentine team did not want to meet the Chinese men's basketball team, and in the end, Lithuania won the game.

Judging from the historical record alone, the Lithuanian team should not be afraid, the two national teams have met five times in the Olympic Games before, and each time the Chinese men's basketball team has been defeated, losing to the opponent by an average of 32 points.

Because the historical record is too good, the local media in Lithuania are extremely high-profile about the possible Dragon Team VS Lithuanian match, and even said that the Chinese team is like air, and they will only focus on the strong opponents they may encounter in the future.

However, the coaching staff of the Lithuanian team is not the media that only brags with open mouths, the latter eats by nonsense, and the former eats by real skills.

Lithuanian basketball has a distinct tradition of attaching great importance to the Olympic Games, and the World Championships are a place for them to train new talents for the Olympic Games, and they have not made it to the semi-finals at the World Championships once after winning three Olympic bronze medals.

In this World Championships, the Lithuanian team has once again undergone a major change, including a large number of veterans including European king Jascovysius withdrew from the national team, and the young people of the "post-85" began to control the national team, and the strength compared with the Beijing Olympics two years ago, it should be said that it has dropped more than one notch.

Of course, as a traditional European powerhouse, the Lithuanian team that appeared in Turkey maintained the team's usual style: unity, confrontation and strength.

The main offensive means of this Lithuanian team are still a lot of high-quality blocking and counter-attacking waves brought by high-intensity defense, and the defensive end of the defensive end is similar to other European powerhouses - aggressive, tough, dense formation, emphasizing physical confrontation, a bit like a copy of the Russian men's basketball team, using a lot of physical contact to suppress the opponent's offense.

In the group stage, they relied on high-intensity pressing and defense, erasing the 18-point difference, and finally defeated the Spanish team. Despite having an NBA interior player like Creza, the real offensive focus is on the perimeter, and almost every member of the Forward Guard has a beautiful three-point hand.

It can be said that such an opponent was a headache for the Chinese men's basketball team in the past. Before 2008, the opponent used the trick of blocking and demolition to "die" the Chinese team.

But now, a qiē is different.