Recently, the men's Asian Cup, European Cup, and Copa America continental qualifiers were held almost simultaneously. The Chinese men's basketball team scored 3 points away and fell to second place in the group standings after losing to Japan. The United States, ranked second in the world, also lost, losing to Cuba by 14 points. Spain, the world's No. 1 player, also saw a dip. After two consecutive defeats, the promotion situation became urgent.
As the team with the most championships in the history of the Asian Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team is in the same group as Japan, Mongolia, and **. After defeating Mongolia in the first game, the Chinese men's basketball team challenged the Japanese team, which has risen rapidly in recent years, in the second game. The Chinese men's basketball team led 13-4 at the beginning, but then intensified and finally lost 73-76. Since the 1936 Olympic Games, the Chinese men's basketball team lost to the Japanese team in the FIBA Asian and Super League for the first time in 88 years.
In the European Championship qualifiers, the Spanish men's basketball team, currently ranked first, gradually lost to the opponent with a lower world ranking.
Spain host world No. 29 Latvia in the first round. With the exception of the third quarter lead, the rest of the games were all behind. As the final quarter could not withstand the offensive of the Latvian team, it ended 75-79. Lose the game.
Now in the second round, they take on Belgium, ranked 30th in the world, away. Spain are still in poor form and have been behind for most of the time. In the end, she lost 53-58, which is 22 points lower than when she faced Latvia in the first round.
After two rounds of the group stage, Belgium and Latvia are both in the top two of the group with four points. Spain and Slovakia suffered two consecutive defeats and finished third and fourth in the group, respectively. At the moment, Belgium and Latvia will not have a hard time qualifying. Spain is in a state of slowness. If he continues to lose, he may not even make it to the European Championship final.
The United States, which is also the world champion, also suffered a lot in this round.
In the third stage of the Copa America qualifiers, the U.S. men's basketball team faced Cuba in the first round. The team was on fire, leading 32-16 in the first quarter and still leading by 17 points at halftime. Although the Cubans were beaten behind in the third quarter and had a lead of only 10 points, the U.S. team fought hard in the final quarter to win 100-79 and get off to an easy start.
Three days later, the United States took on Cuba away and the result was a completely different team. The U.S. scored just 10 points in the first quarter, while Cuba scored 26. At half-time, the difference was reduced to 9 points. However, the U.S. team suffered a collapse in the third quarter, trailing by as many as 20 points. In the end, he lost 67-81. The U.S. men's basketball team lost to the Cuban men's basketball team for the first time in history, setting an embarrassing record.
Another world champion, the Argentine men's basketball team, also suffered a huge upset in the away game against the Chilean men's basketball team, and finally lost 77-79.