This Canadian team has a big problem with cohesion, otherwise yesterday's game against Brazil wouldn't have been so tense.

Teamwork is a crucial element in basketball.

Unless your team is as overwhelmingly strong as Tang Tian's or the Dream Team, it's hard to win games based purely on perceived strength.

The best example of this is the 2019 FIBA World Cup, where Gregg Popovich led a team of NBA starters and rotation players to a mere seventh-place finish.

Thompson clearly has a flawed understanding of basketball.

That evening, the game between China and Canada took place at the Wuhan Sports Center.

The arena was still packed, and the fans were even more excited than yesterday because this was for the Champion's Heart.

During the player introductions, Tang Tian's head-touching ritual brought the atmosphere to a boiling point.

Chinese fans are incredibly quick to latch onto trends.

And the Chinese team's reaction was completely different from yesterday.

Yesterday, they were half-reluctant, but today they were fully enjoying it.

After having his head touched, Abudushalamu even high-fived Ding Yanyuhang and roared, much to the amusement of the fans.

The starting lineups for both teams were also announced.

China's starting lineup was the same as yesterday: Tang Tian and Ding Yanyuhang in the backcourt, Abudushalamu and Zhai Xiaochuan on the wings, and Yi Jianlian at center.

It was clear that Li Chunjiang was very satisfied with this starting lineup after yesterday's game.

For Canada, Nurse adjusted the starting lineup, and Murray didn't start.

The backcourt was the combination of Cory Joseph and Alexander, which was clearly aimed at Tang Tian.

The frontcourt remained the combination of Wiggins and Dwight Powell, with Tristan Thompson at center.

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

It was then that fans noticed Tang Tian didn't go straight onto the court but went to the scorer's table first.

The organizers hadn't done their job well in the previous game and hadn't put the magnesium powder there, but they corrected it for this game.

Tang Tian grabbed a handful of magnesium powder, rubbed his hands together, and then characteristically tossed it into the air.

The entire Wuhan Sports Center erupted.

They had personally witnessed Tang Tian throwing magnesium powder!

What a blissful moment for the Chinese fans!

Tang Tian entered the court after throwing the magnesium powder. Yi Jianlian jumped high and tipped the ball back to his own half, giving China the first chance to attack.

Tang Tian dribbled the ball to the front court.

Guarding him was his Pelicans teammate, Alexander.

On the other side, Joseph and Wiggins were ready to help defend at any time.

Nurse was a skilled coach.

After a series of crossovers, Tang Tian chose to break through on the right, but Alexander couldn't keep up.

Wiggins and Joseph immediately came to help defend.

Tang Tian broke through to the free-throw line and passed the ball to Ding Yanyuhang.

Ding Yanyuhang caught the ball, shook off Wiggins, who was desperately trying to recover, and drove straight into the paint.

After attracting Thompson's defense, he made an aerial through pass to Yi Jianlian under the basket, who caught the ball and dunked it with both hands.

A dunk right from the start, and a fluid play at that.

The fans were already excited, but this sent them into a frenzy.

This also excited the Chinese players, who played hard on the defensive end.

Canada's teamwork wasn't good to begin with, and after Murray was taken off, their outside firepower was noticeably lacking, and several tactical plays didn't work out.

Seeing that the shot clock was about to expire, Joseph dribbled the ball, signaled for space, and then directly passed the ball to Wiggins for a one-on-one.

Wiggins had a big advantage backing down Abudushalamu, and then turned around for a fadeaway jumper.

"Swish!"

The basketball went into the net.

Wiggins was putting in the effort he used to play against the Cavaliers against the Chinese team.

Tang Tian continued to hold the ball in the front court, but this time he signaled for Yi Jianlian to come out to the perimeter.

This was the benefit of having a stretch four on the team; clearing out the paint made attacking much easier.

He still broke through to the basket, and Canada still double-teamed from the weak side.

This time he passed the ball to Abudushalamu, who displayed his playmaking ability, broke through and passed the ball to Zhai Xiaochuan, who cut to the basket and scored another 2 points with a quick layup.

Not letting Zhai Xiaochuan hold the ball to attack, his off-ball movement was the best for this Chinese team.

The Chinese team scored 4 consecutive points to start the game, and their momentum was hot.

Canada's offense had a turnover, Powell couldn't catch Joseph's pass, and the ball went straight out of bounds.

These first few possessions completely exposed Canada's teamwork problems.

Whether it was on the offensive or defensive end, their coordination with each other was very poor.

This was why they had the strength but couldn't display it against Brazil yesterday.

Tang Tian broke through and passed again in the front court, and this time Yi Jianlian caught the ball and fired from the outside.

7 to 2!

China's momentum was soaring at the start.

And the key was that Tang Tian hadn't taken a single shot!

Tang Tian's second game in the national team was even more relaxed and skillful than his first!

"Defense! Defense!"

The enthusiasm of the Wuhan fans reached a peak, and the cheers and shouts were deafening.

Canada still couldn't coordinate. Alexander was going to pass the ball to Wiggins for a one-on-one again.

But he didn't pay attention to Tang Tian when he passed the ball, and Tang Tian directly stole the ball from him.

After stealing the ball, Tang Tian made a fast break to the front court and, to the fans' expectations, performed his signature windmill dunk.

9 to 2!

Canada immediately called a timeout.

The fans were jeering.

Thompson's comments were naturally reported by the media.

What happened to Canada just having problems with jet lag yesterday?

What happened to Canada being able to win easily?

This doesn't seem to be what you said!

After the timeout, Murray came on to replace Alexander.

After Joseph dribbled the ball to the front court, he signaled for Murray to cut to the weak side and then lobbed the ball to Wiggins.

Wiggins continued to back down Abudushalamu, turned towards the basket, and after meeting Yi Jianlian's help defense, he made a sudden stop and fadeaway.

"Swish!"

The ball went in again.

Wiggins had scored on two consecutive possessions after the start.

The Chinese team's offensive possession in the front court didn't score, and Thompson secured the defensive rebound.

Canada dribbled the ball to the front court, and Joseph continued to signal for Wiggins to post up.

This time, Abudushalamu fronted him, but Joseph was smart and made a high lob pass.

Wiggins turned to the basket, jumped to catch the ball, and went straight up for a layup.

Yi Jianlian came out to help defend, and Wiggins showed off his athleticism, making a reverse layup in mid-air.

Yi Jianlian couldn't stop his body and was called for a foul. Wiggins held his breath and made the reverse layup while losing his balance.

It was an and-one!

There was a commotion on the sidelines.

Canada had only scored 6 points so far, and all 6 points were scored by Wiggins alone.

Wiggins had really kicked over his own thermos.

And as he said in the pre-match interview, he was really giving it his all.

Wiggins had a chance for a free throw.

Braving the boos from the crowd, he made the free throw.

He accounted for all of Canada's 7 points!