The game continued, and Li Chunjiang kept rotating the lineup.
That was the difference between a warm-up game and an official game. Winning was not the top priority; building chemistry and evaluating players were.
Tang Tian was also observing every player's condition from the bench.
Even when he had previously asked Li Chunjiang for game footage, it had been for this purpose.
At the end of the half, China Team led 32-30, holding a slim two-point advantage.
That score drew a wave of complaints from domestic fans watching the Tencent livestream.
"What's with Li Chunjiang, what a trash coach! An eleven-man rotation in one half? Does he think everyone on the team is Yi Jianlian?"
"Exactly! They played Japan Team and still looked this terrible. How are they supposed to face the USA Team?"
"Even without Tang Tian, Ding Yanyuhang, and Abudushalamu, they shouldn't be playing this badly. Li Chunjiang is still lacking."
"They should've hired a foreign coach from the start. Isn't Yannis or Deng Huade more reliable than Li Chunjiang?"
"Man, what a waste of a group of good players. With a coach like this, an incompetent general ruins the whole army!"
Li Chunjiang naturally could not see the fans' comments.
But when they returned for the second half, he made a tactical adjustment.
He had Zhai Xiaochuan play power forward, spread the floor, and let Yi Jianlian attack Rui Hachimura or Fazekas in the low post.
The move worked extremely well.
Fazekas was not known for his strength, and he struggled badly when trying to hold off Yi Jianlian.
Rui Hachimura felt even more clearly the gap in physicality between himself and an NBA starter.
After several possessions, Japan Team's interior defense could no longer hold up and was forced to collapse inward and play zone