Champion Creed

More than half a month ago, the Warriors' championship win had already shown the world the importance of the three-point shot. Although it's not yet at the level of the small ball style with severe reliance on threes, teams without any three-point capability have proven to be outdated.

However, even if people see this trend, they may not necessarily be able to catch up overnight.

In this Olympic Games, teams with outstanding three-point ability are still just a handful, and Del Harris's defensive strategy is sufficient to handle most situations.

American journalists disappointingly discovered that after that conflict was exposed, Team China seemed to have no further developments.

And while the Americans were waiting to watch the fun, their own backyard caught on fire.

In late July, as soon as the Dream Team training camp began, someone immediately defected at the last minute.

Jermaine O'Neal temporarily withdrew from the national team, citing injury reasons.

Larry Brown was pulling his hair out; Jermaine O'Neal is a defensive player he really likes. After his withdrawal, the Dream Six Team was left with only Duncan, Odom, Boozer, and Emeka Okafor, selected as a college player, for their interior lineup.

In fact, it's just three players, as it's well known that since 1992, college players selected for the US National Team are hardly different from the cheerleaders on the sidelines who can't actually play.

This interior lineup is clearly not solid enough.

"Damn, are these cowards even men!?" Larry Brown roared in his office. In this birthplace of the Greek gods, Larry Brown's summer of deification had not even begun and it was already off to a bad start.

It's one thing for Kobe, T-Mac, Kidd and others to withdraw, but even someone of Jermaine O'Neal's stature also withdrew.

But Larry Brown knew that getting angry wouldn't solve any problems.

The urgent task is to quickly find a replacement for Jermaine O'Neal.

This person shouldn't be too high-profile, otherwise they would most likely refuse.

It's best if he is a young player with strength and patriotic fervor.

Thus, Larry Brown made a call to Amar'e Stoudemire, the number two player from this year's NBA champion team.

His excellent help defense ability complements Duncan, meanwhile he possesses top-tier face-up offense at the four position, making him an absolutely ideal replacement for Little O'Neal.

To be honest, Stoudemire indeed has that patriotic fervor.

But the moment he thought of Roger's name, his fervor immediately cooled down.

If there's anything in this world that Stoudemire would never do, it's to go against his good brother Roger.

"You know, Coach Larry, I very much want to play for the Dream Team. Wearing the national team jersey has always been my dream. But any act that goes against Roger I consider utterly foolish."

Larry Brown didn't expect even a second-year rookie like Amar'e Stoudemire to not give him face.

Moreover, his statement "any act that goes against Roger I consider utterly foolish" also infuriated Larry Brown.

After hanging up the phone, he shouted in helpless rage: "As long as I'm the head coach of the Dream Team, Amar'e Stoudemire will forever be on the Dream Team's blacklist!"

However, it wasn't just Stoudemire who snubbed him.

He then made several more calls, and Rasheed Wallace, Chris Webber, and even the already passé Antonio McDyess all refused Larry Brown.

Ultimately, Larry Brown could only call upon Brad Miller, the white interior player who also served as a temporary substitute in 1998, to join the team.

In 1998, because of the NBA labor dispute that led to player strikes, the US National Team had to select players from overseas to form the team. Brad Miller was one of them, and he entered the NBA due to his outstanding performance in the World Championship.

Therefore, international competitions are fortunate events for Brad Miller, and he does not reject them.

Although Larry Brown successfully gathered the players, downgrading from Jermaine O'Neal to Brad Miller still made some American players uneasy.

Can this Dream Team lineup truly maintain dominance in the Olympic Games?

This hastily assembled team rushed to Cologne, Germany, to begin a series of warm-up matches.

However, the results of the matches left American fans dumbfounded.

In the first warm-up match against Italy, the Dream Team shockingly lost by a large margin, 78 to 95!

In the second match against Dirk Nowitzki's Germany Team, the Americans barely defeated their opponents by relying on Allen Iverson's clutch three-pointer in the final moments.

The results of these warm-up matches made everyone break out in a cold sweat, even though Larry Brown's purpose in the warm-up games was to adjust the lineup, and the main star players didn't get much playing time.

But such results were still too poor to be taken; anything less than a dominating victory is hard to accept for American fans.

In contrast, Team China, which initially had a conflict, won both of their warm-up matches, defeating European powerhouses Spain and the 2002 World Championship champion Serbia and Montenegro!

Team China's vigorous defense combined with the height of their three major centers forced Spain and Serbia and Montenegro to try their luck from the outside.

Unfortunately, neither could win the game through long shots.

A Dream Team with a devastating loss in one match and a narrow victory in another during the warm-up, while Team China consecutively defeated two strong opponents in the warm-ups.

This unexpected outcome left Americans unable to gloat, and they even started describing this Dream Six as the "Nightmare Team."