If Li Feng were to be truly pinned between these two, he certainly couldn't handle it, as both of them weighed more than him.
His Chinese teammates were terrified and quickly shouted warnings, but it was too late.
The two were about to collide with Li Feng.
Suddenly, as if Li Feng's feet had springs, *whoosh*!
He retreated backward with incredible speed.
Too fast!
Sergei and Viktor saw a blur, and Li Feng had vanished.
Meanwhile, the two couldn't stop themselves and crashed into each other.
*Bang*!
The unfortunate pair collided with dizzying force.
Li Feng had long since skirted past them, advanced to half-court, and passed the ball to the open Sun Dasheng.
Sun Dasheng took the open three-pointer, *swish*!
Nothing but net!
Blatt, on the sidelines, was stunned, his mouth agape!
He couldn't even discern how Li Feng had dodged.
After the score, Sun Dasheng raised both hands and gave Li Feng a thumbs-up!
Sun Dasheng had also realized that Russia was targeting Li Feng.
Although Li Feng had evaded this particular attack, in the following few possessions, Li Feng was truly in perilous situations, with Russian players constantly resorting to dirty tactics.
Of course, one positive aspect of the Russians was that their actions were blatant, not sneaky.
They charged headlong, without resorting to tripping or eye-gouging.
Deng Huade couldn't stand it any longer and substituted Li Feng and Yao Ming off the court when just over seven minutes had passed in the first quarter.
At this point, the score was 21:17, with China still leading by four points.
Blatt felt the tactic was effective and instructed the Russian players to continue employing it against Chen Jianghua, who was now on the court.
Chen Jianghua, with his direct personality and fiery temper, couldn't take it after being bumped twice. He threw a punch at Sasha, the Russian small forward, and was ejected by the referee.
Li Feng watched from the sidelines, shaking his head slightly. He had a complicated mix of affection and frustration for Chen Jianghua.
This player's personality was too distinct; despite his rapid improvement, his character was too easily exploited.
With Chen Jianghua, Li Feng, and Yao Ming all off the court, the Chinese men's basketball team slowly began to fall into a disadvantage.
By the end of the first quarter, the score was 28:27, with Russia leading by one point.
Li Feng had scored 7 points, Chen Jianghua 8, Sun Dasheng 3, Yao Ming 5, and Yi Jianlian 4.
As the second quarter began, both teams fielded their reserve players.
Perhaps because they had gained the lead, the Russians' play became less rough.
However, the Chinese players were not so good-tempered.
Especially Zhu Fangyu, who had been watching impatiently from the sidelines, unleashed a furious retaliation as soon as he stepped onto the court.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!
*Bang*!
*Thud*!
...
Zhu Fangyu delivered several heavy blows, sending the Russian reserve players rolling on the floor.
The other Chinese players were also inspired, and their play became increasingly aggressive.
The game became exciting. The Russian players were not to be trifled with, and several times, scuffles were narrowly avoided.
Seeing the growing tension between both sides, the referees had no choice but to issue a warning to both Zhu Fangyu and Russia's Sheffield, telling them to tone down their actions.
Li Feng stood on the sidelines, applauding vigorously. What he admired most about the Chinese players was this: they would never be intimidated in terms of spirit.
Zhu Fangyu was indeed formidable. Under his performance, the Chinese reserves caught up in the score.
By 4 minutes and 42 seconds into the second quarter, the score was 37:34, with China leading by three points.
Deng Huade, afraid that Zhu Fangyu might actually get into a fight with the opponent, quickly called a timeout to prepare to bring in the main players.
As Zhu Fangyu walked to the sidelines, the Chinese players rushed to him, chest-bumping and shouting!
This surge of energy was incredibly morale-boosting, making the Russians back down!
"Fangyu, well done! Keep it up!"
"Haha, Fangyu, you're using your boxing skills again!"
"Awesome! Fangyu, that was satisfying!"
...
With the main players back on the court, the Russian players became much more subdued, and Blatt abandoned the rough play.
Li Feng led the Chinese team to once again dominate the game, completely suppressing Russia.
At the end of the first half, China led by 8 points with a score of 49:41, heading into the halftime break.
Li Feng had scored 15 points in the first half, making him the highest scorer for both teams.
Despite Chen Jianghua's ejection, the Chinese men's basketball team's offense did not weaken, remaining incredibly sharp.
As the second half began, Russia launched a counter-attack, starting to persistently attack the paint.
Mozgov, relying on his height and strength, continuously jostled Yao Ming.
Yao Ming, being older, was significantly affected by the collisions. Deng Huade, concerned about Yao Ming getting injured, substituted him out and brought in Zhang Zhaoxu.
Before Zhang Zhaoxu entered the game, Zhu Fangyu whispered a few words in his ear.
Upon entering the court, Zhang Zhaoxu played with extraordinary ferocity. When Mozgov bumped into him, Zhang Zhaoxu used his broad frame and excellent lower body strength to powerfully collide with Mozgov!
This game was so exciting, it felt like a return to the era of center-vs-center confrontations over a decade ago.
It seemed as if sparks were flying from the paint.
The perimeter players on both sides seemed to have tacitly agreed to this kind of battle, reducing their shots and letting the big men battle it out!
After a few minutes of fighting, Zhang Zhaoxu gained the upper hand, scoring on Mozgov three consecutive times – it was incredibly dominant.
Mozgov committed two fouls in quick succession and was forced to be substituted out.
Zhang Zhaoxu pounded his chest and roared, greatly exciting the Chinese fans in the arena.
He then walked over to Li Feng and actually bowed deeply.
This scene was incredibly impactful!
A towering center over two meters tall bowing to Li Feng, who was 1.9 meters tall.
Li Feng was taken aback and quickly put his arm around Zhang Zhaoxu's waist.
"Da Xu, don't do that. Have confidence, you have the strength!"
Zhang Zhaoxu bowed to Li Feng because Li Feng and Yao Ming had implemented an extra training plan for him.
Previously, Zhang Zhaoxu, aside from being quite strong, had poor post skills and was not effective in physical confrontations.
Later, Li Feng and Yao Ming provided him with guidance and sparred with him, significantly improving his inside game.
With the collective effort of the Chinese team, China maintained their lead throughout the third quarter.
By the end of the third quarter, the score was 68:57, with China leading by 11 points.
This lead was not secure. Li Feng played for over four minutes in the fourth quarter, ultimately helping China secure the victory!
95:86, China won their second group stage match!
After two games, the performance of the Chinese team had caused a frenzy of discussion among the media and fans.
Although the Chinese men's basketball team had made a remarkable breakthrough in the previous 08 Olympic Games, securing a silver medal, no one had considered China a strong team.
After all, basketball is a team sport.
The media believed that the 08 performance was merely due to Li Feng's sudden emergence, catching other national teams off guard.
However, after two group stage games, the media began to seriously acknowledge the strength of the Chinese men's basketball team; they were indeed very strong!
Spain and Russia were both European powerhouses, world-class strong teams.
Yet, they were unable to fight back against the Chinese team.
The score differences were not vast, but turning the tide would be incredibly difficult!
This required not only a star player's scoring ability but also defensive capabilities, coupled with the ability to control the tempo!
These combined abilities represented Li Feng's true strength!
...
In the subsequent group stage matches, Spain played Australia in Group B, with Spain winning 82:70.
In Group A, Nigeria played Lithuania, with Lithuania winning 53:72.
Brazil played Great Britain in Group B, with Brazil winning 67:62.
Two more games were played on August 1st.
Argentina played France in Group A, with France winning 64:71, considered a minor upset.
The United States played Tunisia, with the United States winning easily 110:63.
On August 2nd, four games were played.
Lithuania played France in Group A, with France winning 74:82.
Tunisia played Argentina, with Argentina winning convincingly 69:92.
Russia played Brazil in Group B, with Russia winning a close match 75:74.
The remaining game was China against Australia.
In the previous Olympic Games, China had eliminated Australia.
Since then, Australia had sworn revenge.
Before the game, the media interviewed Li Feng and asked about his feelings regarding Australia's comments.
Li Feng remained unfazed, responding calmly, "Revenge? Heh, what is there to avenge? Australia is not even in our league. We've already won tonight's game!"
These words, without excessive bravado, carried an air of looking down on the world!
Australia's squad this year was not weak, but Bogut's injury had diminished their strength in the paint.
Li Feng felt it was a pity; he loved to dunk on Bogut, but unfortunately, the guy had met his retribution and gotten injured.
Besides Bogut, the most familiar player in Australia was Mills from the Spurs.
Mills possessed strong outside shooting, especially from three-point range; when he got hot, he would make a string of them.
The Chinese coaching staff had prepared extensively before the game.
The third group stage match kicked off.
As Australia's strength was not as high as Spain's or Russia's, the media unanimously favored the Chinese team before the game.
This led some Chinese players to develop a sense of complacency.
In the first quarter, Li Feng hardly took any shots, constantly creating opportunities for his teammates.
However, the other Chinese players had a poor shooting touch, missing one shot after another, clanging off the rim.
As a result, China trailed by 8 points at the end of the first quarter.
27:19.
Deng Huade was also helpless. The strategy was executed, but the shots weren't falling; the coach could do nothing.
Since Chen Jianghua was ejected in the previous game, he was unable to play today as well.
Guo Ailun replaced Chen Jianghua and had a very poor shooting performance.
Li Feng, however, was not worried. He was patient, knowing that his teammates' shooting touch wouldn't remain poor indefinitely.
As the second quarter began, with both teams fielding reserve lineups, Wang Shipeng and Zhou Peng suddenly exploded, bringing immense joy to the Chinese fans.
Wang Shipeng needed no introduction; he was always a clutch player. Although older, his skill remained, and he still had the ability to have occasional bursts of brilliance.
As for Zhou Peng, his shooting had always been his forte.
With the efforts of the Chinese reserves, China gradually closed the score gap.
By over four minutes into the second quarter, the score was 38:35, with China still trailing by three points.
The Australian coach was furious. He never expected that the advantage built by his starters would be squandered by the reserves.
When the main players returned to the court, Australia tried to widen the gap, but Li Feng stepped up!
Since his teammates' shooting was off, he would take matters into his own hands!
*Swish*!
Li Feng drove to the baseline, faded away, and hit the jump shot!
*Bang*!
Li Feng drove past three defenders, attacked the basket, and flew towards Australia's center Maric, dunking over him!
"Since Bogut isn't here, you'll have to do!"
Li Feng dropped this line after the dunk.
Maric was stunned: You want to dunk on Bogut, what does that have to do with me? I'm so innocent!
With Li Feng's relentless scoring, Australia's defense crumbled, riddled with holes.
However, Australia still had one more trick: dirty play.
This was Australia's signature move.
As Li Feng was driving to the basket, Australia's Dellavedova suddenly tripped Li Feng, then used the momentum to roll over and press down on Li Feng's calf.
Too malicious...
With a body weighing over 100 kilograms, if it landed on Li Feng's calf, it would surely break it.
Even with the system's protection, Li Feng couldn't withstand it; he would definitely get injured.
But Li Feng was prepared.
Before the game, Li Feng had repeatedly warned his teammates that Australian players were dirty and to be extremely careful.
So, the moment he was tripped, he retracted his leg, twisted in the opposite direction, and pointed his toes upwards.
Dellavedova could never have imagined that Li Feng could react so quickly. His waist pressed heavily onto Li Feng's toes...
After all, Li Feng's body had been enhanced by the system and was incredibly tough.
The hardness of his toes was comparable to a sharp stone.
With a *thump*, Dellavedova landed squarely on them, yelping in pain and nearly passing out.
Li Feng, meanwhile, looked bewildered, slowly withdrawing his foot and staring at the referee.
The referee was also stunned. He knew Dellavedova had deliberately fouled Li Feng, but Li Feng was unharmed, while Dellavedova was in agony, rolling on the ground in sweat.
Australia's teammates rushed over, seemingly wanting to confront Li Feng, but the Chinese teammates wouldn't stand for it and stepped in front of Li Feng.
If they dared to make a move, they would receive a flurry of punches!
The referee quickly separated them, then walked to the scorer's table to review the game footage to understand what had happened.
After watching, the referee finally understood: Dellavedova had lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot!
It was clearly Dellavedova who had tripped Li Feng and then pressed down on him.
Who knew that Li Feng's toes would be pointed upwards, hitting Dellavedova squarely in the ribs, a case of self-inflicted harm!
Dellavedova was carried off the court; it was unlikely he could continue playing in this game.
The game resumed.
Australia's morale was crushed, and the Chinese players became more aggressive with every possession.
By the end of the first half, the score was 53:40, with China leading by 13 points!
Li Feng, who scored no points in the first quarter, exploded for 17 points in the second, dominating the game.
In the second half, Dellavedova still did not play, presumably due to a significant injury.
The Chinese team continued to suppress Australia.
Furthermore, after half a period of adjustment, the other Chinese players finally found their shooting touch.
In the second half, the entire team unleashed its offensive firepower, and Li Feng's assists increased dramatically.
By the end of the third quarter, China was leading by 24 points, effectively blowing out the opponent.
In particular, Zhu Fangyu and Zhou Peng performed exceptionally well, scoring 15 and 12 points respectively in the third quarter, completely breaking down Australia.
In the fourth quarter, Li Feng and the starters rested on the bench, and the reserve players held onto the victory.
Ultimately, China defeated Australia 93:76, securing their third group stage victory.
Three wins out of three!