In the second possession, Brazil's big men had just watched Pang Bo posterize one of their teammates, so this time they didn't dare leave him any space. They stuck right to him.
Yang Hanson took advantage, drove to the basket with the ball, and easily made a finger roll.
On Brazil's next possession, their guard used a screen from the center and tried to drive inside for a layup. Pang Bo chased him down and swatted the ball away with a huge hand.
When China came back on offense, Yang Hanson dribbled out to the perimeter and pulled up for a three. He missed, but Pang Bo leapt up under the basket and slammed in the putback.
On the next possession, the opposing team realized they couldn't get inside, so they had no choice but to shoot from the perimeter. The shot missed, and Yang Hanson grabbed the rebound.
Those three possessions were a microcosm of the game.
Throughout the game, China stuck to its strategy of attacking inside.
Pang Bo and Yang Hanson wreaked havoc in the paint.
Brazil finally managed to wear those two down and thought they could catch their breath, but then China sent Wang Le into the game at center.
Wang Le wasn't much of an offensive player, but his defense was rock solid.
He shut Brazil down so completely that they couldn't get a shot off inside and had to settle for shooting from the perimeter.
China also had plenty of defensive talent on the perimeter. Wang Yi and Zhang Yu were both experts at guarding the outside.
They didn't give Brazil many open looks, so Brazil's perimeter shooting was ineffective too.
Since China was focusing on the paint, Wang Yi and Zhang Yu didn't handle the ball much. They only took the occasional