That night at the Wukesong Arena, the fans' enthusiasm was unprecedented.

Many basketball figures and film stars like LYF and WYF also came to the scene.

The Spurs owner, CCX, was also present.

Fans even spotted the Liaoning team's twin stars, Guo Ailun and Zhao Jiwei, who had been cut before, in the stands cheering for the Chinese team.

In this life-or-death battle for the men's basketball team, everyone present became the strongest backing for the Chinese team.

The players from both teams were in the locker room making their final preparations.

Tang Tian replaced Li Chunchang to give the pre-game pep talk.

"I've experienced many moments in the NBA, Game 7 of the 2011 Finals, Game 7 of the 2015 Finals, and Game 2 against the Lakers this year.

Those moments all had one thing in common for me: win, or go home.

But none of those moments are as important to me as tonight, as this moment.

Because when I won those, I could get an NBA championship; I was accumulating honors for myself and the team.

But tonight, I represent the country, I represent the five-star red flag on my chest.

I'm not only doing it for myself, but also for the fans behind me, for our great motherland!

We will win, I guarantee that we will all go all out, we will definitely win and enter the top eight of the World Cup.

I guarantee it!"

Tang Tian's pre-game mobilization wasn't long, but every sentence was inspiring.

The players were even more moved by his national sentiment.

Wearing the Chinese team's jersey meant fighting for the country, and as Tang Tian said, there was nothing more worthy of giving it your all.

After Tang Tian finished speaking, he reached out and called on all the players to raise their hands, and then shouted the national team's slogan.

"Chinese team!"

"Jia You!" (Add oil!)

For the men's basketball team, this slogan was more inspiring than ever before.

After the pre-game mobilization, Li Chunchang led the players from the player tunnel to the court.

When they appeared, the scene erupted with overwhelming cheers.

This was the fans' most frenzied moment.

The players felt it, and the look of confidence in their eyes became even stronger.

After the warm-up, the players from both teams were introduced one after another.

When Tang Tian finished the head-touching kill (mo tou sha), and the national anthem echoed throughout the arena and even the entire city, everyone felt a sense of pride.

This was the charm of the host country, China.

The game was about to begin, and the starting lineups of both teams took to the court one after another.

On the Cameroon side, coach Fabrice sent out the same starting lineup as in previous games.

They had won five consecutive games since the start of the tournament, so there was no reason to adjust.

The guards were Aziz and Christian, the forwards were Mbah a Moute and Siakam, and the center was Embiid.

The Chinese team used the same starting lineup as the previous game, with Fang Shuo and Ding Yanyuhang as guards, Tang Tian and Yi Jianlian as forwards, and Shen Zijie as center.

The game was about to begin, and the starters from both teams took to the court one after another, greeting each other.

Tang Tian and Siakam were former teammates, and he and Embiid were old rivals; they all understood each other tacitly.

Yi Jianlian and Embiid jump ball.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Yi Jianlian tipped the ball back to the Chinese team's half, officially kicking off this life-or-death battle.

Tang Tian dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, where Mbah a Moute was defending him.

Mbah a Moute was known for his defense, but he was already 33 years old this year.

Tang Tian made a series of crossovers, but before he could break through, Siakam came to double-team him in advance.

As a former teammate, he was obviously very familiar with Tang Tian's technical characteristics.

Tang Tian plunged into the encirclement of the two, and then made a straight pass to Yi Jianlian.

With Embiid's help defense, Yi Jianlian chose a dry pull fadeaway jumper.

"Swish!"

The ball flew over Embiid's head and fell steadily into the basket.

The scene erupted in cheers, and the Chinese team showed an excellent competitive state at the start!

However, back on the other end, Embiid asked for the ball in the low post, and after being double-teamed on the post, he passed it to Siakam, who took the ball and leaped up to score with a one-handed dunk.

Although both of them were representing Cameroon in the World Cup for the first time, their personal strength was there, and they had already developed a tacit understanding after so many games.

Tang Tian broke through again in the frontcourt, this time Siakam's help defense wasn't resolute enough, and Tang Tian directly made an emergency stop and dry pull.

"Swish!"

The ball went in as well.

But in the next round, when Embiid singled again in the low post, Yi Jianlian hesitated to double-team, and he directly squeezed past Shen Zijie and hit the ball off the backboard.

Both teams scored at the start, and as the fans expected, the Cameroon team couldn't defend Tang Tian, and the Chinese team couldn't limit the Cameroon team's inside play.

This game set the tone for an offensive battle from the start.

In the first quarter, with 9 minutes left, the score was 22 to 18, with the Chinese team leading.

Both sides entered the rotation one after another, and the game entered the transition period for the substitutes.

Cameroon's bench strength was weak, which was the best opportunity for the Chinese team to widen the score.

Siakam led the team on the Cameroon side, while Ding Yanyuhang led the team on the Chinese side.

However, Ding Yanyuhang's touch was as cold as in the last game, and by the time the starters returned, the Chinese team was instead trailing Cameroon by 4 points with a score of 28 to 32.

After the starters returned, there was another round of offensive battles between the inside and outside lines on both sides.

At the end of the first half, the two teams tied at 44.

Tang Tian scored 16 points in the first half, and Embiid also had 14 points and 7 rebounds.

Whether from the team or individual perspective, both sides played evenly.

In the second half, Li Chunchang took the initiative to change, putting out the lineup he used against Greece in the previous game, letting Tang Tian play point guard to focus on offense, and letting the others defend.

Tang Tian was in full force, and the Cameroon team's outside line couldn't stop him at all.

But on the other hand, the Chinese team's defensive lineup still couldn't handle Embiid and Siakam.

Li Chunchang once changed the defense to a 2-3 zone, but the Cameroon team's outside players seized the opportunity and made all the three-pointers.

The Cameroon team hadn't lost a game since the start of the World Cup, and they were really relying on their hard power.

Tang Tian scored another 14 points in this quarter, and had already scored 30 points in three quarters, breaking his own scoring high in this World Cup.

But Embiid also had 20 points and 11 rebounds, plus Siakam's 14 points.

After three quarters, the Chinese team only led the Cameroon team by 1 point with a score of 66 to 65.

In this win-or-go-home game, both teams met their toughest opponents and played the most anxious game.

"If Zhou Qi were here, our inside defense would be much better, and the score wouldn't be as anxious as it is now."

Su Qun, who was too nervous to drink water, said in a slightly hoarse voice on the commentary booth.

What you don't have is always better; this law seems to be followed by everyone.

But his analysis was correct. Zhou Qi's defense was a level higher than Wang Zhelin and Shen Zijie, and even better than Yi Jianlian.

"Now it depends on who can widen the score in the last quarter."

Zhang Weiping didn't have the relaxed look he had in previous games at this time.

Because if the Chinese team wanted to win, it wasn't enough to just win; they had to win by more than 10 points.

In the fourth quarter, the two sides were still in a fierce battle, and the score was 76 to 74 with five minutes left.

Li Chunchang was a little anxious. After Embiid scored another goal to tie the score, he reached out and called a timeout.

The fans in the arena were also restless. If this stalemate continued, the less time there was, the more unfavorable it would be for the Chinese team.

At this time, Tang Tian looked up at the time and score.

Was he going to use the Death Assist for the first time since the World Cup started?