NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

As the timeout ended, neither side made any substitutions at this time, but continued to play with their respective starting lineups.

Before going on the court, Lin Tian added another BUFF to Yao Ming.

'The Aggressor'!
Within 5 minutes, all players who face off against Yao Ming and have physical contact with him will experience a significant decline in physical strength!

With this thing, Yao Ming might be able to beat O'Neal to death in the last 5 minutes.

In particular, based on Lin Tian's understanding of Bird, at this stage of the game, he would definitely focus on O'Neal and a few others to see the effect.

Being the main player means more physical contact and more physical confrontation.

This means that physical energy is consumed faster!

You fat bastard!
Sure enough, in the first round after the timeout, O'Neal blocked Yao Ming with his back to the basket and then reached out for the ball.

Kobe, who had the ball, and O'Neal cooperated well with each other, and Kobe passed the ball to O'Neal as soon as possible.

After getting the ball, O'Neal used his usual method to attack the inside, got to the basket, turned around and made a hook shot, scoring the first 2 points for the team!
"Yao, where are you? Why can't I see you?" After scoring the goal, O'Neal grinned and yelled at Yao Ming.

The fat guy had been feeling frustrated for a long time, and now that he finally succeeded, he was very excited!

Yao Ming naturally still did not respond to his trash talk, but quickly went to the baseline on the other side, blocked the position with his back, and reached out for the ball.

Then this time Yao Ming did not use his signature turnaround jump shot. Instead, he put all his strength into the attack towards the inside!
He wants a head-on confrontation!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" After three consecutive extremely fierce collisions, Yao Ming rushed to the basket and made a quick and smooth turn that was completely inconsistent with his body size, and then raised his hands upwards. O'Neal was immediately fooled and jumped on the spot to block the shot.

But this time he was fooled by Yao Ming.

Yao Ming, who shook off O'Neal, took a step forward easily and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand!
"I can see you, Shaq. I can see you flying all over the sky. I can even see the waves created by your big fat ass swaying from side to side!" After scoring the goal, Yao Ming immediately shook off his silence and responded very viciously.

"Just wait and see, Yao! Let's wait and see! Do you think you'll be more powerful with Lin around? Humph!"

"Yao has indeed become better than before in our place, because the people who feed him the ball are much better than before." Lin Tian came over very meanly and said to O'Neal and others: "Right, Jason!"

"It's bullshit!" Kidd cursed. He was helpless. It had nothing to do with me. Why did I get caught in the crossfire? It was really a sudden disaster.

In the next 3 minutes, the Chinese team and the American team respectively launched waves of melee under the basket with O'Neal and Yao Ming as the core.

In terms of the absolute strength of the two, O'Neal is definitely stronger than Yao Ming at the moment.

But the problem is that Yao Ming now has a physical strength buff, while O'Neal has a physical strength debuff.

So the scene of two people competing one-on-one on the court keeps changing as time goes by.

At the beginning, the game was evenly matched, with the two players scoring two goals each, and then the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

First, when O'Neal was playing one-on-one against Yao Ming under the basket, he wanted to turn around and hook the ball, but this time his legs were obviously weak, resulting in his jumping height being completely insufficient, and the ball hit the front edge of the backboard, almost becoming a three-point miss.

After Yao Ming grabbed the rebound, he passed the ball to Lin Tian, ​​and then Yao Ming himself tried to position himself under the basket again.

This time, Yao Ming, who had clearly felt that O'Neal was overwhelmed, played more resolutely and fiercely. He pushed O'Neal hard without using any skills and went straight into the 3-second zone. Then, regardless of the fact that O'Neal was still in front of him, he jumped up and shot again.

"boom!"

This time, Yao Ming used one hand to smash the ball directly into the basket over O'Neal's head!

At the same time, when O'Neal wanted to jump up, he felt his legs go weak again. He failed to jump up and slapped Yao Ming on the arm.

"Beep beep! 2 points valid! O'Neal committed a hand foul, Yao Ming got an extra free throw!"

The foul was extremely clear, so of course the referee gave the penalty immediately.

Yao Ming got a 2+1 opportunity!
"Sorry Shaq, I didn't see you clearly there, did I hurt you?"

Yao Ming is not a person who likes or is good at trash talking. He prefers to be quiet and play cleanly.

But he knew very well what time it was tonight, and there was no room for error in tonight's game!
At the same time, he also noticed that there was obviously something wrong with O'Neal's physical condition.

Although he didn't know why O'Neal's stamina bar was so short tonight and it was exhausted in just two shots, Yao Ming didn't care about the reason.

He must be stimulated, he must be hit, so that this guy will continue to attack himself!
That way, the team has a greater chance of winning!
Of course, Yao Ming’s confidence also comes from the fact that he can definitely make this 2+1.

If O'Neal had taken the free throw in this situation, it would have been a 2+0.

But when Yao Ming takes the free throw, it is as easy as breathing.

"Shh!"

96: 94!

The Chinese team is only 2 points behind!

Last 2 minutes!

"Ball!" O'Neal, who was humiliated by Yao Ming, naturally didn't believe it. He turned his back and stuck in position, reaching out for the ball.

He completely ignored the fact that his strength had been declining rapidly for no apparent reason in the past few minutes. He also didn't care that his legs were shaking. He just wanted to fight back!
"Bang! Bang!" This time, O'Neal made two consecutive fierce hits, then turned around as usual and took a small jump step, and then continued with a side hook shot.

This is also O'Neal's real signature move in recent years!
But this time...

"Snapped!"

With a dull thud, Yao Ming slapped the ball thrown by O'Neal away. The basketball turned into orange lightning and was blown to the free throw line.

Lin Tian immediately grabbed the basketball, then turned around and dribbled towards the frontcourt!

Lin Tian, ​​who finally seized the opportunity, dribbled the ball at lightning speed all the way. Even though all the players of the American team were gifted and had explosive physical fitness, they were really helpless in the face of Lin Tian's sudden and swift attack.

Kidd, the only one who was able to react, wanted to hug Lin Tian and commit a tactical foul. But before the foul, he looked back and found that there was no teammate behind him. How could Kidd dare to commit a foul?

If it is a tactical foul in this situation, the Chinese team will directly make two free throws!
But this was Kidd's only chance to foul.

Because in the next moment, Lin Tian flashed past him and completely left him behind.

"boom!"

Three seconds later, there was a loud bang, and Lin Tian made a successful slam dunk with one arm!

96: 96!

1 minutes and 38 seconds!
"It's tied! It's tied!" Su Qun immediately screamed, "Yao's defensive block and Lin Tian's dribbling attack! The two pillars of the Chinese team both inside and outside showed their strength at the same time, and the Chinese team finally tied the score!"

"The boys of the Chinese team were suppressed by the American team for 38 minutes. Finally, we tied the score at this time!" Yang Jian was also very excited and wanted to punch the air to celebrate: "The last 98 seconds! Let's see what the two sides will choose when they are standing on the same starting line again."

"What a bunch of indestructible bastards." Bird stood up again on the sidelines. He did not call a timeout. He only had one left in his hand. He felt that he had to wait a little longer, waiting for an opportunity that needed a timeout more.

"Jason, you take charge of the next round! Get the lead back for me! And let Shaq take a break!"

After saying this, Bird sat back on the bench again.

He believes in his players on the court, just like he believed in Lin Tian when he was coaching.

But this time, he was clearly wrong in his trust.

There is only one Lin Tian.

Lin Tian will not let him down, but others will.

It was like Lin Tian dared to wave his hands and tell Jordan to get out of the way when he was a rookie, but when Kidd in his prime saw O'Neal stubbornly blocking the basket and asking for the ball with his back to the basket again, cursing and with a face full of impatience and anger, he chose to pass the ball.

He passed the ball to O'Neal again.

"Shaq, if I were you, I would pass the ball. You won't get anything out of it except for you losing another man!"

"You're wrong, Yao." Not far from O'Neal and Yao Ming, Lin Tian came over after smelling the scent: "He will also lose the title of the league's best center! As for who will get it? Hehe, I won't say!"

"FUXX!" O'Neal's face became even uglier: "I'm going to beat him right now to show you who is the real No. 1 center in the league!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

O'Neal suddenly exerted his strength and angrily hit Yao Ming three times in a row. He did not hold back or hide his strength all three times. Instead, he gave it his all and used 100% of his strength every time!
This time, O'Neal was even prepared for the offense to fail and for the referee to call for an offensive foul.

He wasn't going for the point, he was just too excited and wanted to defeat Yao Ming to clear his name.

I am the best center in the league!

I am the most dominant, most lethal and most feared monster in the league!

He wanted to scare Yao Ming and make him regret what he had just said.

However, O'Neal thought it was perfect, but he didn't do it at all.

After three consecutive impacts, he was unable to move forward even half a step.

Yao Ming was motionless and as steady as a rock. He had just used all his strength to withstand O'Neal's impact. Looking at his expression, it seemed as if O'Neal had just tickled him.

"Come on, Shaq! What are you doing? Are you trying to be cute?" Yao Ming behind him fully developed his trash talk attribute tonight, and continued to shout at O'Neal: "I can't feel your power."

"FUXX! I'm going to kill you!" After being mocked by Yao Ming for not being strong enough, O'Neal was completely furious.

Fuck you!
This was the last thought left in O'Neal's mind.

He paused for a moment, and then exerted force for the fourth time. This time, O'Neal's force movement was no longer within the scope of basketball. He swung his elbow higher, fiercer, and more violently than usual.

Yao Ming is not a fool. Even though he is full of confidence at the moment, even though he has crushed O'Neal in strength for some reason that he can't understand, Yao Ming has not been blinded by victory.

Seeing that O'Neal's elbow was coming towards his neck with the momentum to knock him out directly, Yao Ming very cleverly retreated and leaned his upper body back, avoiding O'Neal's elbow in a flash.

At the same time, Yao Ming's removal of the stool caused O'Neal to fall to the ground in a very embarrassing manner.

"Walking violation!"

The referee made the decision quickly. This moment for O'Neal was definitely one of the most embarrassing and shameful moments in his career.

O'Neal fell to the ground and lay there for a long time, unwilling to get up. One reason was that he was tired, and the other was that he was embarrassed. He really needed to slow down.

idiot!

Bird, who was off the court, was so angry that he almost wanted to go up and punch Kidd twice.

No, aren’t you known as the top guard with the highest basketball IQ, the strongest strength, the best passing ability, and the best control ability besides Lin Tian?
What's going on today?

Can't you see that O'Neal is tired? I just told you to let O'Neal take a break, but you don't understand?
Are you really going to just give the ball to O'Neal and let him continue to play hard?
What about control? What about basketball IQ? What about experience? What about analytical ability?
Kidd: I am helpless too. O'Neal wanted such a good position for the ball. Such a good one-on-one opportunity. If I don't give it to him, my point guard soul will not agree! Who knew that O'Neal, such a rookie, could be killed by a chair removal?

Shame!

"Substitution!" After muttering to himself for a while, Bird gestured to indicate that he wanted to make a substitution.

But as for who to replace...

He turned his head and looked around. At this moment, Bird felt a little regretful. He regretted not bringing an extra meat shield, even a pure meat shield like Dampier or Ratliff?

He wouldn't be at a loss what to do after being beaten by Yao Ming.

The guys he led, except O'Neal, were either short or thin, and none of them could withstand Yao Ming's 1v1 under the basket.

Or, Okafor? This guy has the height, thickness and size to compete with Yao Ming.

But, let a real rookie who has never played even one NBA game take on such a task at this time?

After hesitating for a while, Bird still didn't dare to make this decision.

"Jermaine, go ahead! Go and push Yao. Tell your teammates to be ready to help defend and double-team at any time! We can't let Yao keep scoring like this! Got it?"

"understand!"

Bird still did not call a timeout this time. He took advantage of the dead ball and O'Neal lying on the floor, gave some simple instructions, and then signaled the players to continue.

This is the last timeout, he must keep it!

"They will definitely guard you tightly next." As Lin Tian dribbled the ball forward, he whispered to Dayao, "I'll give you the ball, and then I'll cut to attract their defensive attention. You decide how to play based on the situation!"

"Leave it to me! I feel like I have endless power tonight! I feel like my opponents are all weaklings!" Dayao is full of confidence at this moment and believes that he can defeat all opponents!
Lin Tian curled his lips. With two buffs, he was extremely powerful. After arriving at the front court, Lin Tian directed the rest of his teammates to move away, and once again stood on the same side with Dayao. They were going to use this move to defeat the American team tonight!

Our Chinese team doesn't play as fancy games as you Americans do. We don't have any fancy things like full-court press, 3-2 zone defense, brother lineup, super all-defensive lineup, etc.

Our Chinese team only has two tricks.

1. Yao Ming watched and played.

2. Lin Tian watched and fought.

That's enough!
Lin Tian passed the ball to Yao Ming again.

At the same time, when Yao Ming held the ball high with both hands, observing the situation on the court and preparing to play one-on-one, Lin Tian suddenly moved. He accelerated suddenly and rushed into the inside along the wing and baseline!
Lin Tian's sudden cut caught Kidd, who was defending him, off guard. He was not as fast as Lin Tian to begin with, and now that he had lost the initiative, he could not catch up.

The result of Kidd's defensive loss was that the entire US team's defensive formation underwent a huge change.

O'Neal, who was defending Yao Ming, Kobe, who was ready to assist in defense, and Garnett on the other side of the basket all ran towards Lin Tian involuntarily.

In the blink of an eye, a huge gap was revealed in their defensive formation.

Dayao, holding the ball with both hands raised, was still not in a hurry to launch an attack. He continued to observe with his hands still raised above his head. Then as Lin Tian passed by him, Dayao suddenly dunked his hands behind his head to the floor.

The basketball miraculously passed over O'Neal's head and came behind him.

Lin Tian just cut into the position, grabbed the basketball with one hand and slammed it on the floor. At the same time, he adjusted his steps and jumped up, putting the ball behind his head with both hands.

"boom!"

After a loud bang, Kobe and Kidd behind Lin Tian could only watch. Garnett on the other side of the basket had no time to step forward to interfere, and O'Neal, who was facing Yao Ming, was completely confused and had no idea what had just happened.

But Lin Tian and Yao Ming have completed this amazing cooperation that is definitely worthy of being recorded in history!
"Beautiful! What a great pass! Yao Ming's pass behind his head was simply perfect!" Su Qun screamed loudly, "A perfect connection! Absolutely perfect cooperation! Lin Tian and Yao Ming! One made a brilliant pass, and the other dunked elegantly."

Yang Jian followed up and said, "More importantly, after this goal, the Chinese team is in the lead! We are in the lead!"

"There are only 58 seconds left in the game!"

96: 98!

The Chinese team is leading!

"FUXX! Larry, this idiot!" Barkley couldn't help but curse: "At this time, he actually only let one person defend Lin! He actually only let one person defend Lin!"

"You deserve it! You deserve to be beaten up!"

"At this point in the game, we're behind after leading the entire game! Let's see how long that bastard Larry is going to hold his last timeout. Will he call it?"

"Great! No timeouts! With less than a minute left, the American team fell behind again! Damn it, let's see what happens in these last few minutes!"

Following Barkley's words, Kidd once again faced Lin Tian's full-court press. Although it was slow, he moved the ball to the frontcourt very steadily. Then he directed his teammates to run for a while, and this time he finally did not give the ball to O'Neal again.

At this time, it is time for the outside superstars to step up and dominate everything and rule the court!

The basketball is in Kobe's hands!

When Kobe got the ball, he was in the low post and blocked Zhu Fangyu with his back to the basket, while quickly waving his hands to signal everyone to move away from him.

Then Kobe didn't care whether Zhu Fangyu was distracted or not, nor did he care whether he was defending with all his strength. He turned around and rushed towards the baseline!
With just one turn, Zhu Fangyu really couldn't keep up at all.

In the blink of an eye, Kobe had passed him completely, and Zhu Fangyu could do nothing but watch.

Kobe dribbled the ball all the way to the basket and jumped up to face Yao Ming.

However, he did not force a shot against Yao Ming. Instead, he raised his hands high and suddenly pulled up. At the same time, he curled up into a ball with the inertia of the breakthrough and slid to the other side of the basket.

It was Kobe's signature aerial work, his most signature move: a baseline pull-up and folded layup.

Seeing that Yao Ming could no longer reach Kobe and could no longer block him, and could only watch Kobe make a layup to tie the score again, Lin Tian once again appeared from the sky!

He let Kidd go and rushed into the inside, as if he saw that Kobe would definitely pull up the lever, and jumped from the other side of the basket, blocking Kobe's shooting path.

Lin Tian's timing for assisting in defense was perfect on this ball.

Not to mention Kobe, even if Kobe had a pair of wings on his back, he would not have enough time to dodge and perform a second aerial operation.

"Snapped!"

Then there was a dull sound, and Lin Tian's big hand nailed Kobe's layup directly onto the backboard!

"Oh oh! Here it comes! Lin Tian! Here it comes! After the two-man cooperation on the offensive end, it's the double defense on the defensive end! Yao Ming is responsible for blocking and interfering, while Lin Tian relies on his talent, jumping ability, awareness and physical fitness to block the last shot!" Yang Jian cheered again.

Su Qun said excitedly: "Lin Tian never lets people down! Now is the Huaxia team's chance! Huaxia team, go!"

After directly catching Kobe's layup in the air, Lin Tian did not choose to attack and advance quickly again.

Instead, he slowed down and raised one hand high, signaling everyone not to worry and to make this crucial attack steadily!
Last 39 seconds!
Lin Tian came all the way to the front court, and then signaled all his teammates to move away from him and make way for him.

Lin Tian is preparing for a fatal blow!

With 22 seconds left before the end of the game and 7 seconds left for the Huaxia team's attack, Lin Tian finally started again!

Facing Kobe, who had just been blocked by him and was anxious to get back at him, Lin Tian suddenly performed two consecutive dribbles between his legs, then took a step back to create distance. When he was 2 meters away from the three-point line, Lin Tian looked up at the basket and pretended to catch the ball with both hands.

"So far? Is Lin Tian going to throw it directly from such a distance again? Isn't it too risky? Kobe was not shaken off at all! Kobe jumped up, he blocked Lin Tian's shooting angle, Lin Tian..."

Su Qun tapped the table lightly with his fists, which he had clenched for who knows how long, with a sense of anticipation. He was really nervous about this ball!
"He didn't collect the ball! He didn't collect the ball! This was a fake move, Kobe fell for it!"

Just as Su Qun said, after Lin Tian made countless unreasonable long-distance 3-pointers face to face with him, Kobe obviously raised his attention to the extreme. He didn't think that Lin Tian would fake a move at this time, nor did he think that Lin Tian would not dare to shoot.

This guy has made countless shots in the finals that were more crucial and seemingly more brainless than this one, and they all hit the target. Kobe thinks that Lin Tian will be able to make the shot this time too!

But he was fooled this time!

Kobe looked at Lin Tian in disbelief as he didn't jump. Then he wanted to hide, but it was already too late.

Lin Tian bumped into him directly and collided with him in the air. Then Lin Tian made a shot that the whole universe could easily see was impossible to make.

"AND ONE!"

Then there was a rather shameless shout.

With this shot, all Martians could see that Lin Tian was going for either a three-pointer or three free throws. Because of the physical contact with Kobe and the long distance, the ball he shot didn't even touch the basket, but fell directly into Yao Ming's hands under the basket.

But none of this matters. It doesn’t matter whether the goal goes in or how far it misses, because the referee blew the whistle.

"Thugs foul! 3 free throws!"

20 seconds before the end of the game, Lin Tian got 3 free throw opportunities!

If all three free throws are successful, the Chinese team will gain a 3-point advantage!

With only 20 seconds left in the game, this advantage is absolutely huge!
As for Lin Tian, ​​he certainly would not let others down at this time.

There were three consecutive crisp sounds, and the basketball was obedient and went into the basket three times in a row.

"I said, you will never be my opponent in this life! I will destroy you every time I see you in this life!" After Lin Tian made the free throw, he immediately sprayed a bunch of trash talk at Kobe to feel good. This kind of round in which the opponent is helpless and can only remain silent and frustrated is so satisfying!
At the same time, after Lin Tian made all three free throws, Bird finally called the timeout that he had been reluctant to call, but obviously, the US team at this time could only hope and rely on a miracle.

"Defend it! Everyone, don't foul! You can let it go inside the 3-point line! Outside the 3-point line, defend it tightly! Just one principle: don't foul! If they want 2 points, give them! No problem, but 3 points, must be defended! Is there a problem?"

"no!"

Harris was arranging tactics quickly. He could feel that victory was getting closer and closer. He was about to lead the Chinese team to defeat the American team and defeat those bastards on the opposite side who had kicked him out of the mainstream coaching circle and made it impossible for him to find a head coaching job for five years!

This feeling... is great!

"Dudu!"

After the referee blew the whistle, players from both sides walked onto the court again.

Bird only kept Garnett as an inside player, and he was responsible for serving the ball.

The remaining four are Kobe, Reed, Lewis and Battier!

Looking at his lineup, you can tell that this guy is going to go all out and grab 3 points directly!

As the basketball came into Garnett's hands, the guy raised his hands high, looking for his teammates and looking for opportunities to pass the ball.

Kobe and Battier suddenly set each other an off-ball screen at the top of the arc, then Kobe ran to the three-point line and Battier cut to the basket.

Zhu Fangyu and Zhang Jinsong, who had just come on the court, did not communicate in time. They both felt that Kobe was the more threatening one, and defending the three-point line was also their biggest task. Therefore, neither of them paid attention to Battier, but rushed towards Kobe outside the three-point line at the same time.

The basketball was immediately passed to the basket, and Garnett gave Battier an aerial relay!
If Battier could have completed a dunk directly after getting the ball, then the US team's attack would not even take 0.5 seconds. They could have completed an attack at the fastest speed. Although it was only 2 points, at least no time was wasted!

This is Bird's plan!

He directly made an air relay and scored 0.2 points in 0.4-2 seconds. Then the whole team strictly guarded Lin Tian and Dayao, preventing them from receiving the ball. Finally, he fouled others and let the other players of the Huaxia team take free throws.

Bird believed that the others would definitely miss the free throws! At the very least, the probability of making both free throws was very low!

That’s when the American team gets their chance!

But just when most of the previous part was completed very well, Garnett's pass was also perfect, and Battier was about to get the ball and dunk to score 2 points for the team, a big hand fell from the sky again.

"Snapped!"

The basketball was slapped away from Battier's hand and directly hit Yao Ming's hand near the free throw line.

The person who blocked the shot was still Lin Tian!
Dayao held the basketball with both hands and raised it high!
He is 226 cm tall and holding the ball high up like that, there is really nothing anyone can do to him!
It just so happened that at this moment the players of the American team did something stupid and actually forgot about the foul!
Yao Ming held the ball high for a full 4 seconds, and no one from the American team came over to foul him.

"Foul! FUXX! Foul!" Bird, who was off the court, couldn't stand it anymore and stood up and raised his hand again to shout in protest. Only then did his players remember that they should call a foul.

Then Lewis rushed over and hugged Yao Ming.

Last 15 seconds.

The Huaxia team was leading by 5 points and could still take free throws, and the person who took the free throws was Yao Ming, the second most accurate player in the Huaxia team.

At this point, the entire audience went crazy.

At least 60% of the fans at the scene supported the Chinese team. They cheered and shouted at this moment. Then a large group of Chinese fans waved the national flag and sang songs.

Celebrate in advance!

At this time, with this score difference, we can definitely celebrate in advance!
"We've got it! There's absolutely no problem!" Su Qun said as excitedly as the fans: "Congratulations in advance to our boys. We've won two consecutive Olympic titles and three consecutive World Series titles! This is a dynasty! We've dominated the basketball world for the past four years!"

"Shh! Shh!"

With Su Qun's cheers, Dayao made two free throws easily, and the Chinese team extended its lead to 2 points.

96: 103!

Then the US team quickly sent the ball out from the baseline. Kobe dribbled forward with the ball. After he reached the three-point line, he had no time to care about anything. He just threw the ball against the defense.

"Boom!"

After a dull thud, the American team lost their last chance of the night!

With this missed shot, they completely lost the possibility of turning the tables.

The door that allowed miracles to pass through was completely closed!

Al-Farouq Aminu grabbed the last rebound of the game and hugged it tightly. Then when the whistle sounded to end the game, Al-Farouq Aminu excitedly kicked the basketball away, then opened his arms wildly and began to celebrate wildly.

"We won!" Yang Jian, who worked for Huaxia Sports, was a little more stable than Su Qun. It was not until this time that he finally concluded the game: "Let's congratulate the Huaxia team! Congratulations to them! They won another Olympic gold medal!"

“It was an extremely exciting and intense game, with an ending that exceeded everyone’s expectations!”

"We all expected the Chinese team to win, but who could have thought it would be in this way?" (End of this chapter)