Chapter Thirty-Nine: Chaotic War
"I think Coach George Ricard has figured out how to deal with Brooke Lopez, who didn't score a point in the last two minutes. On the contrary www.biquge.info, the Whirlwind team took advantage of the opportunity to counterattack and cut six points in one go, and the giant team Stanford University is now six points behind the Whirlwinds, which is incredible!"
The commentators couldn't believe their eyes, and the Stanford fans reacted in the same way. In previous games, as long as Brook Lopez was on the court, the Stanford Crimson team would not stop scoring. But now, the Whirlwinds have allowed Brooke to go two minutes without a point, something that even UCLA's Kevin Love can't do.
Kevin Love was a one-man defender of Brook Lopez throughout the game, so of course he couldn't contain this guy. However, the Whirlwinds used a risky bag to defend them, and the integrity is not only reflected on the offensive end.
However, Brook Lopez has always been the brightest star center of this season of defenders, and Anjie was able to get rid of the double bag against the University of Kansas, so Brooke can do the same now.
After switching to holding the ball in the high post, Brook Lopez was still tightly packed by the Whirlwinds. But outside, it's much easier to pass the ball.
Brook Lopez's pass to the pack was still reluctant, but at least he didn't make a mistake when he passed the ball high to the perimeter. After winning the ball in the open space, Markle also showed his superb shooting ability, and a three-pointer chased the Whirlwinds' six-point advantage to just three points.
If the Whirlwinds continue to use the bag, then Brooke will still be holding the ball in the high post. And after a few rounds, Robin also saw that his brother needed to answer, and if Brooke passed to him, then Robin would still be able to score points in the face of Asakin's defense. It can be said that Myers did not call a timeout, and the two Lopez brothers solved the problem of being caught in the bag themselves. Brook Lopez wrote three novels during his college years, and this aspect that has nothing to do with basketball can also show how nimble this big man's head is.
Sure enough, this kind of trick that came up at the moment can't defeat this talented big guy, and if you want to pass the level of Stanford University, you have to rely on hard power to break through.
When Brooke confronted An Jie again, the Whirlwind team really didn't dare to rush to the bag anymore. Brook Lopez and Anjie went one-on-one, and after a circle, the game returned to the two centre-forwards.
Brooke broke his two-minute scoring drought with a simple turnaround jumper, and Anjie was already trying his best to defend, he thought that his palm had completely blocked Brooke's vision, but Brooke could shoot the ball.
On the offensive end, as long as Anjie gets rid of Robin, he will find that Brooke can always make up for the basket in time. If it weren't for the different hairstyles of the two brothers, An Jie might have thought that Lopez would be a doppelganger, because whether it was breaking through or retreating, he could always see these two identical faces.
And after a few turns, the slow Brooke didn't follow Asakin's pick-and-roll for Mike Taylor. As a result, Mike Taylor couldn't get around Brooke's defense, and he tried to pass the ball to Asakin, who was unmarked in the high post, but Asakin didn't let Brooke down, hitting zero of three shots, which is Asakin's mid-range shooting percentage today.
The two sides go back and forth on the court, and they see each other. The Stanford Crimson not only equalized the score, but also took a five-point lead. Coach Ricard had to call the first timeout since the start of the second half, and his set-up did work, but Brook Lopez's ability to adapt was much stronger than he thought.
Wu Hua stared at the eyes in the stadium and was reluctant to blink, this game was so exciting that it lived up to the hype of the media before the game. At this moment, he has long forgotten that he is a journalist, and he is now enjoying the purest joy that basketball brings him as a fan. As for taking pictures for An Jie, he had long been thrown out of the clouds.
The NBA's scouts have also had a lot to gain from this game, and the players who have occupied the top picks this season are all outsiders, but the presence of these two big men may break the pattern.
"If you can persuade Anjie to participate in the draft, then hurry up and arrange it, because you don't want to miss out on such a good player. That's a quote from a scout when he reports to his manager.
Anjie and Brook Lopez, they have not been able to beat anyone on the court so far, although it seems that Brooke has the upper hand at the moment, but Anjie's counterattack ability in the first half is not unseen by the audience.
After returning to the court, the entanglement between Anjie and Brooke continued, and this gorgeous duel between the center forwards was far from over.
As the two kept switching between offense and defense, the cheers of the fans of the two teams never stopped. In this era of outside players, it is really a different kind of enjoyment to be able to enjoy such a peak duel between center forwards.
Brooke scored on a hook hand here, and Anjie shook his shoulders in the other half and made a jumper. The volatilization of technique and pace, the collision of muscles and muscles. Everyone else seemed to be a foil, and the two big centers continued their performances to their heart's content.
What else can the coaches of the two teams do? The strongest offensive firepower of both teams is the center, and both centers are very smart. The use of various tactics can no longer limit these two guys, and now they are left to solve the problem on their own.
With eight minutes left in the game, Stanford leads by eight points.
With seven minutes left in the game, the Whirlwinds narrowed the gap to just two points.
With six minutes left in the game, the Whirlwinds took a one-point lead.
With five minutes remaining, Anjie and Brook Lopez were both substituted by their coaches.
It's time for these two guys to rest, it's impossible to pull away the score in a short period of time, now it's just a matter of letting them recover as much as they can, and then send these two big men to battle it out at the last minute.
With three minutes remaining, Stanford University again put the deficit in the lead, and now they have a seven-point lead heading into their final timeout.
"I'm sure you won't be satisfied with stopping at the round of 64!We're not here to go through the motions of the March Madness, we're going to go through the motions!We're going to win!We're going to win!The last three minutes, win and go home!Who of you wants to go back as a loser!?" Ricard looked around at his players.
"We're not going back!
Unlike Ricard's mental adjustment, Coach Myers of Stanford University talked about tactics unhurriedly before the final battle.
"Brooke, you go back to defend that Chinese, Robin, you play back to the power forward position, so that their outside line does not dare to break through rashly." They won't have much to do, and that Chinese is our biggest threat. But I trust you, Brooke, and you're going to beat your opponent and get us to the next round. Miles looked at his proud disciple with a determined look in his eyes.
"We're here to compete with UCLA, and losing to the Whirlwinds won't make Westbrook and Kevin Love laugh off their big teeth?" Brooke remembers the three-point loss of the league's regular season title, and he doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes in March Madness.
Brook Lopez hit his back, carried Anjie into the three-second zone, and then completed the attack with a hook hand.
Anjie used his nimble footwork to make Brook Lopez's center of gravity waver, and finally after a few consecutive feints tricked Lopez into jumping, Anjie scored an easy low-handed layup.
Mike Taylor's breakthrough caused Stanford's position to shrink to the basket, and he jumped up and passed the ball beautifully to the unmarked Anthony Benn, who plunged headlong inside, and the entire Stanford defense was thrown into chaos. I don't know when, Cruze suddenly received a basketball flying out of the restricted area, and then hit it from outside the three-point line. Anthony Ben's second weapon is the elusive legend!
Robin Lopez easily turned past Asakim, and his powerful dunk felt like the basket was about to be pulled off by him. That's not all, Robin after the dunk was over, and pushed Asarkin to provoke.
A minute passed, and the Whirlwinds had only narrowed the deficit by one point. As long as it lasts for two more minutes, Stanford University can stride forward to the next round of popularization. But the Whirlwind team didn't give up the word in their dictionary, and they were determined to fight Stanford University to the end.
With Anjie's blocking, Mike Taylor once again broke through Brooke, who had switched defenses, and Anjie mentioned that Brooke couldn't sit idly by and watch it when he was in a high position. Robin immediately made up for the basket, and in his opinion, Mike Taylor was completely here to give him a block.
On the offensive end, though, there's one guy on the Whirlwind team that is always overlooked.
Taylor faked a layup and pulled the ball down, then put his arm around Robin Lopez's back in the air and passed the ball. The receiver was Asakin, a center who averaged just 3.6 points per game.
After Robin was tricked into jumping up, Asakin was faced with an empty basket. He struggled to jump to the rim, and Robin had already completed his second jump after landing. Seriously, Robin's bounce speed and bounce height are completely incomparable to Asakin's. If you still want to dunk, you will definitely be covered, and Asakin turned his wrist and turned the dunk into a layup. The basketball hits the white frame of the rebound and then refracts into the net.
"Four! In the most critical moments, Asakin stepped up!" Although the sports commentary should logically be neutral, Paul Philips has expressed his love for his hometown team. Anyway, his and Bill's commentary is only played locally in Ames City, so they don't have to worry about whether their partiality in the commentary will have bad consequences.
After Asakin scored, he forced Robin Lopez's forced layup on the defensive end. Robin yelled at the referee for a foul, but the referee did not respond, just silently walked away from Robin. It was a ball that could be blown or not, but Asakin had been playing very clean and restrained all along, so the referee subconsciously felt that Asakin would definitely not foul.
Robin didn't get back in time because of his theories with the referee, and that's a good opportunity for Mike Taylor to burst into the box. Without the deterrence of the block king, Taylor completed his second throw, and the crosshair was still the same.
Two points away!
Stanford gave the ball to Brook Lopez just to be on the safe side, and after he was in the low post, the Whirlwinds used another trap tactic!
Robin tried to run out of position to pick up his brother, but Asakin didn't give him a chance to connect the ball like kraft candy.
And Anjie didn't give Brooke a chance to pass the ball, he saw the opportunity to slap the basketball in Brooke's hand with a palm, and the quick-eyed Cruze fell to the ground and held the ball firmly into his arms.
Before the Stanford players could grab it, Cruze threw the ball on his stomach on the ground. McTaylor picked up the basketball with Foster, and Foster suddenly lost his center of gravity in the confrontation with Taylor and also fell, and the scene looked very chaotic.
Although the scene was chaotic, Mike Taylor, who was already in his third year, had a clear mind, he picked up the ball and immediately advanced quickly, and on the other side, Anthony Ben was also on the right offensive line, and the Whirlwinds were now playing two against one in the frontcourt!
"Is it going to be an air relay!?" the ESPN commentators recognized Anthony Ben's excellent bounce today, and they expected Anthony Ben to dunk another one.
Markle knew that Mike Taylor was a pass-first point guard, so he unconsciously took a few steps towards Ben, and he thought Taylor would definitely pass the ball.
Stepping on the free throw line, Mike Taylor raised the ball with both hands in Ben's direction. Markle jumped up immediately, and he had to intercept the pass.
But this is not the first time that Mike Taylor has used his feints and realistic eyes to deceive people, whether it is a pass or a shot? No one but Mike Taylor himself can guess what he will do next.
It was a beautiful European step layup, but the first step was like a pass. With Taylor's layup, the Whirlwinds tied the score in the final minute.
Coach Larry Myers immediately called a timeout, and the situation was out of his control.
At the last minute, the dark horse was still biting the giants. In the next minute, a single mistake could have wiped out the first 39 minutes of effort. Whether it is the wealthy or the grassroots, they are only one step away from death at this moment, and they are only a fraction of a millimeter away from victory.