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The U.S.'s last loss before that was against Greece, in the 2006 World Championship. That this most recent loss came in an exhibition, however, was in a way even rarer. Saturday's loss at the hands of a firespitting Patty Mills was only the second exhibition defeat for Team USA since 1992; the first came 15 years ago, when it lost 95-78 in Cologne, Germany, to an Italy team that couldn't miss from behind the arc.
对于美国来说，上一次失利要追溯到2006年世界杯上输给希腊。然而，最近的这次失败是一场友谊赛，这在某种程度上来说更为罕见。上周输给了手感火热的米尔斯，这是美国队自1992年以来第二次在友谊赛中失利。追溯到上一次还是在15年前，当时在德国的科隆以78比95的比分输给了一支三分线外神准的意大利队。
Team USA is still the favorite to win World Cup gold, but the playing field is more level than it's been in more than a decade. At its peak, the U.S. men's national basketball team experience is akin to an Avengers moviegoing experience: big stars, big explosions, big, mind-deadening fun.
美国梦之队现在仍然是夺冠热门，只是今年看起来跟其他球队的实力差不多。在巅峰时期，美国梦之队的比赛类似“复联”电影情节一般：大明星、爆炸级表现、令人记忆深刻的比赛。
This is a perfect time to root for the underdog, to root for chaos, to discover a nation's folk favorite. Because, as if foreshadowing the NBA season to come, it seems as though anything could happen in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
对于其他的球队来说，他们需要更加努力，因为他们的机会来了，让自己国家对篮球的热爱能被世界所料解。因为，似乎就像即将到来的NBA赛季一样，在2019男篮世界杯上什么都可能发生。
This time around, he'll set foot in China as the second-best player in the tournament, behind only Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo. And for the first time in his international career, Jokic will serve as the undisputed focal point of his national team.
这一次，他将以第二大牌的身份来到中国，仅次于希腊字母哥。在国际赛场上，约老师将第一次成为国家队无可争议的焦点和核心。
With its depth, size, and star power, Serbia has become something of a cofavorite to win the whole damn thing. And that is without one of the most recognizable Serbian stars of several generations, passing wizard Milos Teodosic, who suffered a foot injury earlier this summer in a game against Lithuania.
拥有不错的从深度，丰富的队员类型还有出色的球星能力，塞尔维亚已经成为某些预测中的本届世界杯冠军大热门。这还是在塞尔维亚几代人心中信仰，传球大师特奥多西奇因伤缺阵的情况——夏天早些时候对阵立陶宛的比赛中因为脚踝扭伤无缘世界杯。
Serbia's biggest advantage over the field may lie in its ability to dictate style of play. The team is enormous; half its roster consists of players 6-foot-10 or taller, and both of its point guards are listed at 6-foot-6. All four of its centers have NBA ties: Jokic, of course, is an All-NBA player; Boban Marjanovic; Nikola Milutinov ,Miroslav Raduljica.
塞尔维亚比赛上最大优势在于他们有着控制比赛的能力。这个团队非常庞大，一半的球员身高在6尺10英寸以上，两名控球后卫身高都在6尺6寸。它的四名中锋都登陆过NBA：约季奇是NBA的一名全明星球员；博班·马扬诺维奇；尼古拉·米卢蒂诺夫；米罗斯拉夫·拉杜利查。
Rudy Gobert is the clear headliner, and the Stifle Tower will offer both offensive and defensive structure to a French roster that will largely be determined by its perimeter play. Nicolas Batum (who is somehow only 30 years old) has certainly seen better days in the NBA, but his two-way versatility across several positions and roles should alleviate some of the pressures now put on young Knick Frank Ntilikina, who projects as the team's starting point guard.
鲁迪·戈贝尔无疑是这支球队最引人注目的人物，而“法国神塔”将为法国队提供攻防结构体系基础，同时他们的体系很大程度上也取决于球队外线的表现。尼古拉斯·巴图姆(其实他才30岁)在NBA已经度过了美好的时光，但他多个位置上的攻防能力会减轻年轻后卫的弗朗克·尼利基纳身上的压力。
France's best lineup against Team USA might just be a four-out attack that leverages its massive defensive presence in the paint and perimeter shooting across positions, with Gobert manning the 5, Batum sliding up to the 4, Evan Fournier at the 3, Nando De Colo at the 2, and Ntilikina at the 1. That would put four capable offensive initiators on the floor at once. All five also have NBA experience;
法国队打美国队最好的阵容是一大四小，利用神塔在内线的保护和牵制以及外围的投射和冲击，给对手施压去影响比赛。戈贝尔5号位，巴图姆打4，埃文·富尼耶站三号位 ，德科洛和尼利基纳搭档后卫线。在这套阵容中，四名有组织能力的球员可以同时在场。这五个人都有NBA的经验；
The case for Greece is simple: They have the undisputed best player in the tournament, a guy who was named the most valuable player in the best professional basketball league in the world. There's just not much most teams will be able to do if Giannis Antetokounmpo simply decides to drop 30 points in a game.
希腊的情况很简单：毫无异议，他们拥有本届世界杯上的最佳球员，一个在全世界最好职业篮球联赛中被评为MVP的球员。如果字母哥想在一场比赛中砍下30分，那大多数球队都难以阻挡。
The hope is that the rest of the Greek team—one with many familiar names like Ioannis Bourousis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Nick Calathes, and notorious NBA flameout Georgios Papagiannis—can hold up its end of the bargain.
但是希腊希望自己球队的其他球员，能够打出自己的比赛特色——包括许多令人熟悉的名字，如扬尼斯·博洛西斯，帕帕尼科拉乌，卡拉西斯，还有在NBA多次被裁掉的帕帕扬尼斯……
Giannis changes everything in a setting like the World Cup; it fully explains the level of attention given to the Greeks as legitimate medal contenders. But 2019 could wind up as merely a preface. It's not hard to imagine all four Antetokounbros leading the way in the near future.
字母哥有能力在世界杯中改变一切；这也解释了为什么人们把希腊当做夺冠大热门来关注。但2019年可能只是一个序曲。不难想象，在不久的将来，安特托昆博四兄弟将会率领希腊掀起新高潮。
Gasol, now 34, remains the team's cornerstone, and it will be hard to ever envision a Spanish team not playing in the image of the country's two best-ever basketball products. The Gasol brothers have all but instilled the synaptic, read-and-react basketball reflexes into the country's DNA.
已经34岁的小加索尔仍然是西班牙队的基石，我们简直很难去想象一支没有加索尔兄弟的西班牙队。这两位西班牙最出色的标志球员，他们的一切，篮球临场反应、阅读比赛能力，都嵌入了这个国家篮球的DNA。
This will be Spain's 12th FIBA World Cup appearance, the most of any European nation in the tournament. It's no longer the front-runner, but after a decade-plus of watching this team rise to the top of the basketball world with an earnest team-as-family ethos, it's hard to count it out when a good chunk of the core remains intact.
作为第12次参加篮联世界杯的国家，西班牙是参加世界杯最多的欧洲国家。对于他们来说，可能不再是领跑的佼佼者，但十多年来，在这支球队以一种认真的“团队篮球”的精神登上世界之巅后，当大部分主力仍然在队时，你很难忽视他们。
Valanciunas is the established star at this level of competition: At 7 feet tall, with a mammoth wingspan, touch around the basket, and range out to the FIBA 3-point line, Valanciunas is the player most teams will base their game plans around.
瓦兰是本届世界杯内线中公认的明星球员：身高7尺，有着巨大的翼展，能够封锁篮下，并能覆盖到FIBA的三分线。大多数球队都会围绕着大瓦兰制定比赛的攻防计划。
The Pacers organization has said that Sabonis and frontcourt mate Myles Turner will be spending more time on the court together in the 2019-20 season, but should the two meet in China, we might get some useful fodder for the Which Big Should the Pacers Actually Build Around? debate.
步行者球队表示，在2019-20赛季，萨博尼将会跟内线迈尔斯-特纳一同搭配更多时间。但是如果他们在中国赛场上相遇，我们可能会得到关于“谁是步行者最好大个儿”更多一些材料吧？哈哈哈……
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