Chapter Forty-Seven: Tug of War

The difference of 12 points is not much, but it is definitely not a lot. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 InfoUCLA fans reveled in joy in the stands, convinced that no matter how black the horse was, it would never be able to get past UCLA.

"In the second half, we played a joint defense!" Ricard drew on the whiteboard in the dressing room for a minute before finally speaking.

"Joint defense?" Like the first half of Anjie's singles, the Whirlwinds have not played joint defense this season. The players looked at each other one by one, they had only practiced joint defense in training, and now they suddenly used it in actual combat, is it okay?

Not only in the NCAA, but even in NBA games, joint defense has been rarely used by coaches. One is that the current NBA league emphasizes more individual ability and fast pace, so joint defense is contrary to this concept. The second is that the NBA's three-point line is relatively far away, so the area of zone defense expands, resulting in increased defensive difficulty.

However, although it is rarely used in the NBA, it is not without successful examples. The most recent was the 2-2-1 defense used by the Spurs in the Finals in '07, and Popovich made LeBron James very uncomfortable with this move.

Ricard knows that a team's chemistry is required of a team, and that a team's pace can be greatly reduced. However, these also happened to be the playing style of the Whirlwinds, so he decided to give it a try.

"No matter how they block and break through, I want you to stick to your zone!2-3!" Ricard slapped the whiteboard hard.

Against an opponent like UCLA, conventional tactics won't work. Now Ricard can only take the plunge and play something different. In the first half, Anjie's single-play tactics allowed him to solve the problem of attack, and now he has to bet on defense with joint defense.

Since it is a joint defense, An Jie doesn't have to follow Lefu everywhere. His only task now is to defend the basket, which is also more conducive to the play of Anjie, who has a strong desire to defend today.

Attacking for the time being, he couldn't play wholeness, so Rickard used joint defense to bring wholeness to the defense.

At the beginning of the second half, the Whirlwinds faithfully executed Rickard's tactics, not even a single smoke bomb for UCLA.

"The Whirlwinds are a defensive ...... Could it be that Coach Ricard set up a joint defense?" This is the second time Philips has been surprised by the Whirlwinds' strategy today.

Ben Holland didn't expect the Whirlwinds to make changes defensively first, and how the tactics were arranged will depend on how many rounds the players played.

Westbrook hasn't seen the change yet, still waiting for his teammates to get out of the gap with an off-ball pick-and-roll. However, a few seconds passed, and he didn't even see a single empty seat!

Westbrook took a few steps back, ready to break through.

With a few simple crotch changes, Westbrook burst in against Mike Taylor. The gap between the two people's physical fitness is too big, and Mike Taylor is weak.

Successfully breaking through, the Whirlwind team's defense of the mid-range is relatively large, which is also one of the shortcomings of the joint defense. Although it was a little bigger, it was not completely empty, Westbrook still gave up the idea of a pull-up jump shot, and he was still a little jealous of Anjie's super large defensive range.

Lefu ran towards the bottom line, Westbrook controlled the ball and waited for An Jie to withdraw from the penalty area, but An Jie just watched Lefu run away, without the slightest intention of following the defense.

"What's going on?" Westbrook was ready to pass, and when he looked up for someone, he realized that Love didn't get an open shot, and the defender was Anthony Benn.

"Joint defense!?" As a point guard, Westbrook's tactical accomplishment is still very good. But his reaction was still a little slower, and at this moment Westbrook was already in the middle of the attack.

There was also Anjie's defense in front, Westbrook didn't dare to mess around, he passed the ball out again, ready to reorganize the attack. But UCLA passed several handballs, but couldn't find a gap. The Whirlwind players are very well versed defensively, and everyone can not make mistakes in their positioning, and there will be no situation where two people defend one person at the same time and miss the other.

Seeing that the time to attack was running out, Westbrook had to attack towards the end. In the end, under the interference of Cruze's struggle, Westbrook's mid-range and long-range shot still missed the basket.

Love is a rebounding talent, and a big double-double is a regular occurrence for him. However, Lefou, who is now floating outside the three-point line, is unlikely to teleport to the restricted area to compete with An Jie for rebounds, even if he is talented.

An Jie, who had been cruising around the three-second zone, was stuck early, and he didn't give UCLA a chance to play a second offense.

Lefou, who had three fouls on his back, did not dare to make any big moves on the defensive end, and he was afraid that once the Chinese seized the opportunity, his foul count would only continue to rise. As long as you don't have anything wrong with your fight, then people who fake falls won't find a chance.

However, basketball is a fierce sport, and there is no such thing as a completely clean basketball.

Lefu was timid at the beginning, so An Jie's attack was more relaxed. The inside line that Lefu can't prevent, and no one in UCLA can put it down. That's exactly what George Ricard wanted. Ben Holland decided to just go with the Whirlwinds to see if Love was ejected first, or Angel was tired first.

However, when Anjie made Lefou's fourth foul, Ben Holland's heart was a little shaken. If Love leaves the game with full fouls, then UCLA's offensive firepower will also be greatly reduced.

"Coach Ben Holland had to replace Kevin Love, he was so uncool on defense today!" "The commentator didn't know, Love was very calm, but once Anjie found that there was an opportunity to use the rules, he would never let it go.

"That damn liar!" Kevin Love pointed at An Jie on the court and yelled at him, and An Jie took free throws on the court like a nobody.

"Okay, okay, I know, I replaced you to send you up at a critical moment. "Ben Holland has never seen Lefu make such a big fire, what did that Chinese do to him?

Westbrook's breakthroughs hit a wall and he could get away with Mike Taylor in all sorts of different ways, but whenever he burst in, Angel was always waiting for him. Apart from two mid-range pull-up jumpers, Westbrook didn't make a difference in the second half.

UCLA's offense is in a quagmire, but without Love's defense, the Whirlwinds' offense is getting better and better. An Jie did not have any obstruction on the inside line, and he used his fists and kicks.

However, this situation only lasted for a few minutes, and the powerful UCLA will not be so easily defeated at the feet of the joint defense. Westbrook was the first to disagree.

Both Collison and Bamot became overly cautious after hitting the wall, but Westbrook continued to challenge the Whirlwinds' defense.

He tried to burst into the penalty area several times to face An Jie, once he was blocked, twice he scored directly, and once he caused An Jie's defensive foul. This kind of efficiency has made Westbrook's confidence soar.

Watching the minutes pass, the Whirlwinds still couldn't equalize the score. Ricard didn't expect the point guard to be so tenacious.

Westbrook was not reconciled, and he was covered up behind O.J. Mayo and Derek Rose. He felt that he was no worse than those two talented guys, but with a few good teammates around him, Westbrook was often overlooked. Today, he's going to let the whole country know the name Russell Westbrook!

Two tough and powerful guys, both intent on leading their team to victory. The two sides are incompatible, and the only way is to use all their strength to knock each other down.

The stubborn Westbrook gritted his teeth, and An Jie, whose physical strength was declining, took a few breaths. Unless one of them falls, the two of them won't stop.