Chapter 9: The Wildcat in the Whirlwind
The Kansas State Wildcats' locker room has never been quieter than it is today, and there is no cacophony to be heard except for the heavy breathing of the players. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoWhen Rick Chris pushed the door open and walked into the dressing room, he thought he was in the wrong place.
All the players were buried in their heads, except for Michael Beasley, who singled out in the first half. He glanced at his teammates in the locker room with an inherently dismissive look, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
"What's the matter? We're only five points behind ******!" Chris suddenly yelled, startling many people.
"Martins, you say, are you intimidated by that Asian center?"
"No! I ......" Martins wanted to say something, but he didn't seem to have a good performance against Anjie in the first half, but his mind was full of scenes of himself being humiliated, so he stopped talking.
"Don't worry, they had to make a suicidal first half to stretch the deficit to five, but just five points cost them too much. In the second half you're just going to be up against a bunch of guys who are too tired to even move their legs, and by that time you'll be in complete control of the game!" Chris began to encourage his players.
"Beasley, at the beginning of the second half, you still have to sit honestly on the bench for me. When the time is right, I will naturally send you up, and then you will only have one task, to win the game!"
"I know the coach, I won't let you down. Beasley's favorite part of playing that role is that.
On the other side, the Iowa State Cyclones' locker room was still very calm, and everyone knew that there were still 20 minutes left in the game, and only by holding on could they get the final victory.
"I know you've all been exhausted for the last five minutes, but I believe in the results of all of our intense physical training. At the beginning of the second half I was going to put the substitutes on first, I think you've got a lot of rest. Rickard glanced at a couple of rotations on his second team.
"We're all over, sir. Asakin replied truthfully.
'Very good, Beasley definitely won't play at the start of the second half, he's played as long as a couple of your starters in the first half, so he needs to rest just like you. At times like this, I want the rotation players to be able to withstand the situation. I don't want to see the Wildcats settle the fight before Beasley even comes on the court. ”
"As soon as Beasley is on the court, the five of you will play with me! His physical recovery may not be as good as yours, and his offensive efficiency will inevitably decline. Anjie, Morris, in the second half, the two of you continued to beat their inside, and of course the others didn't just watch, they all ran positively. Ricard drew a couple more off-ball pick-and-rolls on the board.
"The strategy of defending Beasley remains the same, sticking to the dead and blocking the blocking. No matter how good he is, he can't afford to spend with the five guys on the field!"
Both coaches have made adjustments to their teams in a short period of time, and the effect will only be known when the players return to the pitch.
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At the start of the second half, as Riccard expected, Michael Beasley was still pressed to the bench. Even three of the Wildcats' five players on the field were bench players. Rickard let out a sigh of relief, the first move was the right one.
Although both sides were basically second teams on the field, the process was still intense. It's just that compared with the crazy five minutes in the first half, the viewing experience has naturally decreased a lot.
The second half was played intermittently for more than six minutes, and the Whirlwinds relied on the efforts of their substitutes to maintain their lead. But Chris is not in a hurry, and Riccard is not complacent.
Finally, after a timeout at 6:47 of the second half, Michael Beasley took the towel around his neck and Chris sent him on!
"Remember what I said! Play more inside! Run aggressively! Look for physical confrontation! From now on, the game is up to you!" Ricard clapped his hands vigorously to urge his starting five to play, and the real decisive battle will only start now.
"Oh, Coach Ricard seems to have already figured out how to deal with it. As soon as the Wildcats were brought on Beasley, Rickard brought his starting roster back on. It seems that the coaches of both sides are ready to give it a go in the final thirteen minutes. ”
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From the first touch of the ball, Beasley decided to vent all the energy he had held back into the attack. However, when he faced Anthony Ben again, he found that the intensity of the physical confrontation at this time was completely improved compared to the first half.
Still, Beasley was able to find a hundred ways to break Ben's defense, and another fifty ways to neutralize Morris's defense. He remained unstoppable in the next few attacks, winning one after another. But what he didn't know was that he needed a lot more energy to score each time than in the first half. Due to the increased defensive intensity, even if you can still score goals, it will take several times as much effort as before.
Beasley kept scoring on the offensive end, and the Wildcats kept losing points on the defensive end. Martins, who faced Anjie, had no confidence in himself, and he was no longer as frizzy as he was in the first half, but instead seemed timid. He was afraid that An Jie would use a fake move to shake himself like a fool, who made An Jie's back body skills comprehensive, Martins couldn't guess which of An Jie's actions was true and which action was fake. As a result, there are often scenes on the field where An Jie makes various offensive moves, but Martins does not react. He just watched An Jie score again and again on his head, and he didn't dare to jump and interfere rashly.
Chris would love to replace Martins and then scold him for a bloody beating, but with his starting center playing like this, who else can he count on? It seems that the problem of weak internal line is much more serious than he imagined.
In addition to An Jie, the other four also have good performances, and their integrity is strong, which may be the biggest feature of this whirlwind team. When An Jie was caught and couldn't complete the attack, there was always a teammate who stepped up to score for him. made Chris struggle with whether he needed to continue to use the bag clip on Anjie.
The Whirlwinds were five men on offense, and the Wildcats' offensive burden was all on Beasley's shoulders. He is now doing the work of five people on the other side, and the physical exertion can be known.
The two sides go back and forth like this, alternately leading. It wasn't until there were two minutes left in the game that Beasley finally couldn't hold it anymore.
His shooting percentage began to decline significantly, and the number of outside shots he chose to shoot gradually began to increase due to physical exhaustion. As for the rest of the Wildcats, their fighting spirit and physical strength have long been exhausted by the undead Whirlwind players. The psychological pressure has all come to the Wildcats, and this kind of helplessness about the impending defeat cannot be broken by one or two goals.
The Wildcats played another minute in passivity, by which time the score was 74-80 and the Whirlwinds held a six-point lead. However, 80 points is already considered a high score in the NCAA.
Beasley didn't give up, he started getting the ball from the baseline and then pushed his way to near the three-point line. He picked up Anthony Ben with a realistic feint of worship, then stepped aside and shot outside the three-point line. It was Beasley's fourth shot after missing three straight shots, but this time, the ball flew into the basket accurately.
Beasley hit a three-pointer! He single-handedly pulled the Wildcats back from the brink. With 48 seconds left on the clock, both sides should have one more chance to attack! "The speed at which Philips commented on the game also became very fast, and the whole situation suddenly became tense.
Mike Taylor was also treated with a tight reception from the opposition this time, and he carefully controlled the ball, step by step, and finally managed to bring the ball to the opponent's half. Taylor looked up to find someone, only to find that Anjie and Morris were being taken care of, and it seemed that he had to think of other ways to attack this time.
Several times with Anjie's high blocking and pick-and-roll effect was not good, and the shooter Cruze has been struggling to run out of position and get no chance to shoot. As for Anthony Ben, who defends more than he attacks, he is locked out of the three-point line by Beasley.
With only ten seconds left on the offensive clock, the Wildcats can contain the opponent's scoring opportunities as long as they don't foul. Mike Taylor had no choice but to change direction left and right, and then a cross step shook off a bit of room for a breakthrough. But the opponent's point guard did a very good job of defending this time, and before Taylor could start it, that gap was filled. Taylor had no choice but to force a shot from beyond the three-point line before the offensive time was up. Mike Taylor wasn't Beasley, and the ball didn't go in, but bounced far into the basket. Beasley jumped up and stretched out his long arm to confiscate the rebound, and at the same time, after seeing Beasley get the ball, Chris immediately used the last timeout of the Wildcats, and he was about to lay out the final shot for Beasley.
"Don't think about it, Beasley is their only option. We don't want overtime! I want you to take the victory away in more than ten seconds! They're going to put Beasley on the ball and shoot threes, we just have to try to contain Beasley, and it doesn't matter if the basket is empty! Anthony, you can keep sticking to Beasley for me later, be careful not to get fouled by him, and give it to him if he wants two points. As long as we defend this three-pointer, the victory will be ours!Shut up the bullshit commentators!We'll be the only winners of this game!" Ricard remembered the comment he had seen about the Whirlwinds this morning.
The short pause was so long in the hearts of the fans, it was as if they had been waiting for a century. They can't wait to see their first win of the season. Although the game is not over yet, the performance of the Whirlwind players has given their fans enough confidence.
Back on the court, the sideline ball went straight to Beasley's hands. He's been in possession near the centre circle since he got the ball, and it seems like he's trying to compress some time.
With ten seconds left before the end of the race, Beasley finally got started. However, this time his teammates did not act as spectators again, but set up a double block cover for him from left to right.
Anthony tried to bypass Martins, who came up to cover, but was blocked by Martins, who was secretly moving.
Ben quickly stretched out his hand to the referee, but the referee ignored it, his attention was all on Beasley, and he didn't see Martins' violation.
"Damn!" Ben quickly turned and pounced on Beasley, but it was too late. Beasley was already holding the ball in both hands at the top of the three-point line, ready to shoot.
Just as Beasley was about to shoot the ball, Anjie suddenly came out from one side.
"This ...... Where did he come from!" Beasley shouted in his heart, under the deterrence of An Jie's height and arm span, if he wanted not to be covered, he had to adjust the arc.
Anjie saw that Ben was blocked and immediately rushed to Beasley, in order not to foul, he didn't really want to block the ball, just wanted to be able to interfere with Beasley's shooting as much as possible.
Beasley, who turned up the arc, was a little uncertain, and no one would know if the ball would go in or not. The air at the scene seemed to be frozen, and tens of thousands of pairs of eyes were staring at the orange basketball.
Because he had to raise the arc, the basketball finally smashed on the neck of the basket. Morris got stuck in position and secured the rebound. He then threw the ball directly to the other side of the court, giving the Wildcats no chance to foul. As the basketball flew to the other half of the court, the whistle sounded for the end of the game.
Suddenly, the entire stadium exploded, and the cheering fans let out their own loudest shouts.
Anjie saw Morris running over as he yelled at him, but he couldn't hear what he was shouting.
Morris rushed to Anjie and hugged the skinny Asian boy.
"We won! We won!" his ear came to Maurice's lips before Angel heard him shout.
The other players also rushed onto the pitch, some hugging each other, some running aimlessly, and some jumping and jumping. Only Ricard was more calm, and after shaking hands with Rick Chrris, he just stood on the sidelines and smiled, then turned his head and gave his wife a thumbs up in the audience.
No one knows where Michael Beasley and his Wildcats have gone at this moment, and no one cares. The group of young men who are carnivaling on the field are the only protagonists on this stage.
This night belongs only to the Iowa State University Whirlwinds, and this night belongs only to Anjie and all his teammates. This evening, only for the winner on the field!