Chapter 31: The Showdown with the Defending Champion
The UCLA Bruins have been on a strong streak since reaching the round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament, basically settling battles in the second half within 15 minutes in each game, and their powerful attack and fluid offensive system have attracted the attention of the media and the audience.
The 1995 NCAA championship finals were held in Seattle on April 3, local time, and the Seattle Dome Stadium, which can accommodate 38,540 people, was full, and many celebrities from all walks of life and retired NBA legends came to Seattle to cheer for their respective teams.
"Karim, how does it feel to be in the NCAA Finals again?" John Wooden, who was very interested, said to his proud disciple.
"It doesn't feel good, John, and I wish I could be thirty years younger now and be on the field and fight with this group of young people." The legend, who has been retired for six years, still misses his youth.
"Haha, that's not good, Karim, it's a young man's world now, you can choose another way to fight with them, have you ever considered being a successful coach, Karim?" John Wooden tried to get his disciples to pass on his experience and abilities.
"John, you know, I'm a good player, but I can't be a good coach, every time I stand on the court, all I think about is how I can dominate the game, and watching people perform on the court, I'm going to have a heart attack."
"Karim, you're right, every very successful player can't be a successful coach because their time on the sidelines is so short, haha, most of the time is spent on the field."
The Bruins' opponent today is last year's champions, the University of Arkansas Boars, who won the NCAA finals last year with a 76-72 victory over the Duke University Blue Devils.
The head coach of the Wild Boars, Nolan Richardson, has had a successful NCAA coaching career, and since he took over the Wild Boars in 1985, he has gradually built this previously poor team into an NCAA powerhouse, defeating Duke last year to win the final championship, and the team's small forward Chris Williamson also won last year's MOP (Most Valuable Player of the Final Four). This year, the Wild Boars are looking to defend their title, with leader Chris Williamson more experienced, and shooting guard Clint McDaniel maturing, and the Bruins who haven't won another championship in two decades.
George, the head coach of the Bruins, continued to play small-ball tactics in this game, and the opponent Wild Boars had a strong forward line and was very fast.
"Liu, are you nervous? I can't even find where my hand is! Before the start of the game, Thomson, a substitute center who had a good relationship with Liu Han, said to Liu Han.
"Isn't your hand on your arm? I'm not nervous, but I feel like I want to go to the toilet. "Anyone who faces such a big scene will inevitably feel a little uncomfortable.
"Relax, boys, of course, I have to relax, and to be honest I want to go to the toilet too, haha. Okay, now, we don't need to think about anything else, you're all going to have a great future, you're going to make a lot of money, you're going to be big stars, and in the near future one of you will definitely invite me to his Beverly Hills mansion party, but, that's all in the future, and right now, we don't have to think about that, win this game and everything will happen. "Head coach George Krent's words were inflammatory.
As soon as the game started, the number one star of the Wild Boars, Chris Williamson, began to exert his power, he received a jump ball from his teammates to win the ball, came to the front court, shook off the defender of his Edio Bonno jump shot and hit two points, and the Wild Boars started with a fast pace.
The Bruins attacked, Teus took the ball after half court and Liu Han took the initiative to come up to respond, Edio Bonno ran back and shook off the defender to the bottom corner, Teyus passed the ball to Edio Bonno, Eddie attracted the attention of the Boars who defended Liu Han when he received the ball, and the ball was passed to Liu Han for the first time. After Liu Han received the ball, he didn't hesitate to shoot directly and hit three points, and the offensive speed of the Brown Bears was not weaker than that of the opponent.
Edio Bonno's reputation is much greater than that of Liu Han, who is still a rookie, so the Wild Boars attach great importance to Edio Bonno's defense in this game.
Liu Han defended the Wild Boars' point guard Clint McDaniel, a very fast white player who also has very good shooting ability.
The Wild Boars' offense, they quickly advanced to halfcourt and then handed the ball to experienced small forward Williamson. Fearing that his opponent would break through his opponent again, Adeo Bonno was a little farther away from Williamson this time. Williamson observed that his teammate Clint had relied on his teammates' cover to shake off Liu Han, he passed the ball as soon as possible, Clint received the ball and turned to throw, and when Liu Han chased it, the opponent had already hit it, 4-3.
The Bruins attacked, and Teyus saw that the opposing defender was a little far away, so he was ready to try his touch, but the ball broke out of the frame without accident. The biggest problem with Teus's future draft is that his shooting is not consistent.
The center of the Wild Boars who grabbed the rebound threw the ball to Williamson, who had already run to the frontcourt, and the Wild Boars formed a three-on-one situation, and only Liu Han was in place to defend himself. The experienced Williamson saw that only Liu Han was defending alone and chose to go directly to the basket, Liu Han tightly attached Williamson from the side, but the opponent relied on the height advantage or relied on Liu Han to move the ball up steadily, and the inexperienced Liu Han was also blown foul by the referee, and the score became 7-3 after the free throw.
In fact, Liu Han's defense just now is not too much of a problem, and it is between being judged or not, but the opponent is the MOP of the previous session, and Liu Han is still a yellow person, and the referee will undoubtedly take care of the other party when awarding penalties.
On the offense of the Bruins, Liu Han was closely followed by the opponent's scoring guard Clint, and there was no way to easily receive passes from his teammates. The Bruins' Adio Bonno gave the ball to center Thomson at the top of the arc after the breakaway, but Thomson, who was still a little nervous, actually threw a three-pointer. Clint, the Boars scoring guard who was lucky to get the ball, threw the ball to the fast-breaking Williamson as soon as possible, and the Bruins were still the only ones who defended Liu Han. As with the replication of the previous goal, the experienced Williamson once again played two plus one, 10-3, and the Bruins fell into a passive situation.
George, the head coach of the Bruins, was very dissatisfied with the referee's decision, Liu Han's two defenses were judged to be fouled for the first time, but the second time Liu Han had been very careful to avoid the opponent, but the referee still blew the foul, and Liu Han, who had two fouls on his back, had to go down to rest as soon as the game began.
"Hey, boys, have you used to it, that's the atmosphere of the final, and I have to say, your performance just now makes people wonder how you made it to the final. Now, Liu has to get off the court, we have to make adjustments, George Zidike, when you come on the court, you need to protect the backcourt rebounds, try to compete for the frontcourt rebounds, the opponent's center is not as tall and heavy as you, now you need to play a role. Eddie, I need you to fire with all your might in this game, I'll give you the shot, but you have to make sure you look at the opponent's Williamson. Lads, ditch all the distractions that don't work right now, we're on the side of the championship. ”
Liu Han felt very depressed about not being able to play, but there was no way, if he played now, if he fouled again, the rest of the game of the Bruins would be even more difficult to play, Liu Han is now the most important outside firepower of the Bruins.
"Liu, don't be discouraged, sometimes there are some things on the field that you can't decide. Now you have to watch the game carefully, look for it, see if there are any flaws in the opponent's wild boar team, and then you need to bring the substitutes on the field to catch up with the score quickly. George comforted Liu Han, who was a little depressed.
The situation on the court began to sink into a stalemate after the Bruins' players gradually adjusted to the atmosphere of the finals, and the Bruins were helpless against the opponent's Williamson and Clint outside double, and their baskets were as wide as the sea for each other, and they could shoot whatever they wanted. And the Wild Boars had little to do with the Bruins' single-minded attack on the inside, with the super-physical Edio Bonno and the tall George Zidyk wreaking havoc on the Boars' interior.
About ten minutes into the game, the score of the two teams was 21-14, and the gap has been hovering around seven or eight points.
"John, it looks like my junior brother is in some trouble, and to be honest, I want to go up and help." Abdul-Jabbar, who has retired from football, is still passionate about his last game.
"Karim, don't worry, I'm sure this group of young people will surprise us." John Wooden seemed unrequited and not at all worried.
Safina in the audience felt anxious for Liu Han, who came off the court after a while because of foul trouble.
", this referee is also a stupid X, he's definitely a racist, Liu didn't touch that guy at all when he was defending, if it was in the boxing ring, he would have been thrown tomatoes." LaBeouf, who has always been violent, was unhappy with the referee.
Ten minutes into the game, the two teams gradually replaced the substitutes, and Liu Han also appeared again.
Liu Han was in charge of the ball after coming on the court, as the Bruins didn't have a proper point guard off the bench since Hudson White left. Hudson White quit the team in anger because he was dissatisfied with the new head coach George's care for Liu Han.
Liu Han only played as soon as he got on the court, he first grabbed the opponent's bench player in the offense and grabbed a three-point shot, and then successfully stole the opponent's pass in defense, and scored two points on a fast-break layup, chasing the score of the two teams to 21-19.
The head coach of the Boars, Nolan Richardson, quickly called a timeout. The Wild Boars team, which came back from the pause, strengthened their attention to Liu Han in defense, and Liu Han, who basically had no ability to break through, was successfully limited by the opponent's close defense.
The Bruins had a terrible day with the bench players collectively acting as blacksmiths, and perhaps it was the tension of the final that made the players who had never played in the final feel breathless.
The Wild Boars' bench players were also good, they took advantage of the Bruins' mistakes and began to fight back, and the score of the two teams gradually opened up, and when the game entered the first 17 minutes, the Bruins trailed by 13 points at 42-29.