The Fifth Point Guard

Due to the poor ranking in the 2002 World Championships, the US men's basketball team must participate in the 2003 Americas Men's Basketball Championship and win the top three to qualify for the Olympics.

Stimulated by the disastrous defeat of the previous year, many top NBA stars were recruited to participate, easily winning the championship and gaining the qualification to enter Athens.

However, due to safety reasons, 10 of the 12 players who originally participated in the US Championships chose not to compete in Athens.

The American Basketball Association can only find replacement candidates, and the lineup of the repaired American Dream Six teams is very different from the original one.

On the team, only two MVP-level superstars Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson have never left the team.

The final 12-man roster of Dream Team 6 is as follows:

Center: Emeka Okafor

Power forward: Tim Duncan, Carlos Boozer, Amar'e Stoudemire, Lamar Odom

Small forward: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Shawn Marion, Richard Jefferson

Shooting Guards: Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade,

Point guard: Stephon Marbury,

The coach of this Dream Six team is Larry Brown of the Detroit Pistons.

After the Chinese team unexpectedly defeated the Spanish team by 17 points, the US men's basketball team also turned upside down in the second day of the game.

They lost worse than Spain, losing 73-92 to Puerto Rico by 19 points.

The Spanish team should be grateful to the United States, because their defeat was the biggest upset at the start of the Olympic Games.

Major websites immediately removed the news about the Spanish team's upset and replaced it with the more popular news about the US team's loss.

The US team's starting lineup for the day's game was Marbury, Iverson, Jefferson, Odom and Duncan.

When seeing this starting lineup in front of the TV, even Shentong couldn't help but joked: "The lineup of Meng Liu is too casual, and Richard Jefferson is allowed to start."

In Shentong's view, James, Anthony, and even Marion are better than Jefferson.

Although Jefferson is a good friend of Shentong, this is indeed the case.

Puerto Rico's starting lineup is Arroyo, Ayoso, Ortiz, Rolando and Santiago.

Except for Arroyo, none of Puerto Rico's players have NBA experience.

People thought this was a training-style massacre by the Dream Six team. Who knew that in the first quarter of the game, Puerto Rico and the United States were evenly matched.

In the second quarter, Puerto Rico even had a fantastic 28-7 quarter.

Ayoso, who faced Iverson, scored a team-high 12 points in the first half, while Iverson only scored 4 points.

When he saw this, Shentong finally understood why he, who was 1.78 meters tall, could not get a chance to start or even play at Peking University. Because of his height problem, he would really become a target for the opponent's offense in official games.

When he was in the 76ers, other players would do their best to help Iverson defend or make up defense, but in the Dream Six team, no player is willing to lower his status and take the initiative to take on the burden of dirty work, especially with Iverson's partner in the backcourt is Marbury, who has always been ambitious.

In the first half, Puerto Rico shot 57% from the field and 50% from three-point range.

In comparison, the U.S. team shot only 45% from the field and made only 1 three-pointer in 13 attempts.

The huge gap in shooting percentage caused Meng Liu to fall behind by a huge score.

In the second half, the adjusted Dream Six improved for a while, but with the strength of the two defenders Arroyo and Ayoso, Puerto Rico always firmly controlled the rhythm and initiative of the game.

Until the end of the game, Puerto Rico's players did not relax at all.

In the end, they defeated the US team 92-73, causing the biggest upset since the start of the Olympic Games.

The Spanish and American teams both lost by huge margins in their first games at the Olympics, surprising many media.

Some media even published the title "The world basketball pattern will be redefined."

It seems that world basketball has entered an era of fragmentation.

Perhaps stimulated by China and Puerto Rico, the Angola team from Africa, which is recognized as a weak team in Group B, almost defeated the European champion Lithuania team.

Although they lost by 5 points 73-78 in the end, Angola won unanimous praise from the media and shocked the Lithuanian team into a cold sweat.

Stimulated by China, Puerto Rico and Angola, the New Zealand team also performed bravely.

They almost overturned the powerful Italian team.

69-71, they were closer to an upset than Angola.

After these two games, the view that "there are no underdogs in this competition" was formally formed.

I don’t know if Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro were stimulated. These two teams were also inseparable in the first game.

In the end, Argentina's diamond shone even brighter, narrowly defeating Serbia and Montenegro 83-82 and winning a good start.

The easiest match in the first game was the Greek team at home. They easily defeated the Australian Kangaroos 76-54 at home.

After defeating the Spanish team in the first game, the Chinese men's basketball team's self-confidence exploded, and it also gained the attention of fans at home and abroad.

In the second game against New Zealand, the Chinese team played more like a strong team than Italy.

They beat New Zealand 89-62.

Yao Ming performed extremely well in this game, scoring 39 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, becoming a nightmare for the New Zealand team inside.

STO played quite low-key compared to the first game, scoring "only" 20 points.

Wang Zhizhi played tougher than in the first game, scoring a near-double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds.

After the American team suffered its first defeat, it defeated the Greek team at home 77-71 in the second game, showing the true nature of the dream team.

It also announced the return of the King.

The first scene was just the tiger taking a nap.

In the next game, the Chinese team lost to Argentina 77-82 and suffered its first defeat, but it was not at a disadvantage on the scene.

Then, the Chinese team defeated Italy 82-79 and achieved 3 wins and 1 loss.

In the final match, China defeated Serbia and Montenegro 80-75, achieving 4 wins and 1 loss, the same record as Spain.

However, due to the relationship between victory and defeat, China ranked first in Group A, Spain ranked second, and Argentina and Italy ranked third and fourth in the group.

In Group B, the United States defeated Australia 89-79 in the third game to win two consecutive games, but was defeated by Lithuania 94-90.

The U.S. team, which had two wins and two losses, defeated Angola 89-53 in the final group match, ensuring a ticket to the rematch.

No one thought that the Dream Six team would have such a difficult time in the group stage.

Lithuania, Greece, Puerto Rico, and the United States ranked one to four in the group stage.

The Chinese men's basketball team, which originally qualified first in the group, delighted the fans.

But when they saw the rankings of Group B were released, everyone was shocked.

Because the Chinese team, which finally achieved the best group record in the Olympics, will face the powerful American Dream Six team in the first game of the knockout round.

Although Mengliu has lost two games in the group stage, no team dares to say that they can beat this team in a certain game.

On the afternoon of August 28, the match between the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team and the American Dream Six will officially begin.