Chapter 18: Fight for defense
Liu Xiaodong's continuous assists made Hecheng University's offense fully open. It also allowed Wang Zekai's University of Petroleum to end the first half of the game with 49-52, 3 points behind.
The home crowd used strong boos to give the players of Hecheng University who walked into the tunnel of the away team's players, venting their frustration in their hearts. I thought that without the leadership of Liu Mu and Guo Cheng in the second quarter, Hecheng University would plummet, but I didn't think that under the tandem of that freshman, it would surpass the score.
The audience looked at the big LED screen with a depressed face, and the score was so dazzling that they had an urge to tear off the screen and throw it in the trash.
In the away team's locker room, Zhang Tiejun was holding a tactical drawing board and arranging tactics for the resting players.
"Xiaodong, in the second half, you go back to the quarterback, and then defend Wang Zekai, you will give me a face-to-face defense, don't leave him any more shooting space!"
"Liu Mu, while you defend the opponent's center, you must also pay attention to Wang Zekai's breakthrough, as long as he dares to rush to the penalty area, you will give me a little fierceness, let him know how powerful you are!"
"Everyone else, let me go to defend against people, this is a revenge game, the opponent doesn't need your mercy! We have to defend with a steel wall to make the opponent's head bleed! ”
There was not much time left at half-time, and the players of both teams began to walk into the tunnel one after another. When the players from Hecheng University walked out of the players' tunnel, there were shrill boos in the gymnasium again.
When the players of the University of Petroleum came out, the audience burst into thunderous applause, although the University of Petroleum team was founded relatively late, but the basketball atmosphere in recent years has been really good, especially with a group of radical fans who support them.
At the beginning of the second half of the game, Li Jie dribbled just after half of the court, and was closely guarded by Guo Cheng, and he had no choice but to pass the ball out.
Wang Zekai received the ball and turned his back to get past Liu Xiaodong, but after turning around, he found that Liu Xiaodong was still in front of him, and he couldn't help but sneer.
"You can't stop me!" Wang Zekai handed the ball to his left hand, kicked the floor with both feet, and rushed over against the right side of Liu Xiaodong's body.
Liu Xiaodong could only follow closely behind Wang Zekai, he had gone all out just now, but he still couldn't stop Wang Zekai, who was bursting with strength.
Wang Zekai controlled the ball and rushed into the penalty area, and in the face of Liu Mu standing under the basket, he jumped up without any hesitation. Looking at the movement of his right arm back, it seems that he wants to block the provincial No. 1 center in front of him!
"You're still far away!" Liu Mu roared and jumped up, his outstretched right arm had already swung towards the basketball that Wang Zekai had dunked.
Everyone thought that Wang Zekai's hat was going to be decided. The home crowd has closed their glasses so as not to see the scene of the star of the house being blocked.
Wang Zekai, who could raise his right arm in the air to prepare for a dunk, suddenly retracted the ball to his chest, dodged Liu Mu's right hand, turned his body sideways in the air, and threw the ball from under Liu Mu's right arm to the basket.
Yanagi looked at the basketball that was about to reach the height of the basket with a look of surprise on his face, and he wanted to turn around and cover the basketball that was still rising, but his body had dropped sharply.
"Smack!" A loud bang sounded in Wang Zekai's ears, he looked up at the air with a face full of disbelief, Liu Xiaodong had already racked the ball to the rebound.
The willow wood that landed on the ground jumped up quickly, holding the rebounding basketball firmly in his hand.
"Pass!" Guo Cheng ran out of the three-point line and shouted, and Liu Mu did not hesitate to pass to Guo Cheng, who dribbled and quickly rushed towards the halfcourt.
After Liu Xiaodong landed, he and Wang Zekai next to him rushed to the half court at the same time, and the two also pushed each other in the run.
Li Jie rushed inside the three-point line and spread his arms to stop Guo Cheng, who quickly slapped the ball in search of a breakthrough.
"Pass!" Liu Xiaodong rushed across the three-point line and shouted without hesitation. Guo Cheng glanced at Wang Zekai, who was blocking Liu Xiaodong, and still hesitantly passed the ball over, after all, he had no better choice.
"Newcomer, you want to score in front of me, don't dream!" Wang Zekai hugged Liu Xiaodong and said fiercely, he was very angry with the cover just now.
"You'd better defend seriously, I'm going to dunk on your head!" After Liu Xiaodong finished speaking, he began to shake his shoulders continuously, and it seemed that he was about to break through.
Wang Zekai listened to Liu Xiaodong's arrogant provocation, and saw Liu Xiaodong start to accelerate his dribbling, he took a step back and lowered his center of gravity, fully prepared to prevent a breakthrough.
Liu Xiaodong suddenly took a step to the left, and then pulled the basketball back to the right. Wang Zekai had long seen that Liu Xiaodong's breakthrough to the left was a feint, and he put all his energy on the right side.
Just when everyone thought that Liu Xiaodong was going to break through the right side, he took a step back and made a jump shot.
Although Liu Xiaodong's shooting is not very stable, it does not mean that he can't shoot, especially in the middle distance position without interference, he still has a certain accuracy. The basketball arcs through a precise arc and lands steadily into the basket.
Coach Li Zijiang on the home team's seat had a different face, he didn't understand that in the video against the University of Chemical Technology, Liu Xiaodong had no shooting ability, how could he still throw the ball in the face of Wang Zekai now, could it be that he hid his strength in the first game?
On the away team's seat, Zhang Tiejun looked at Liu Xiaodong who ran to the half court to defend with a look of relief, assisting, defending, scoring, Liu Xiaodong used all his means to help the team, and the future star finally regained his confidence!
"You're so shameless, you don't have any integrity at all!" Wang Zekai ran to Liu Xiaodong and mocked. He was very contemptuous of Liu Xiaodong's shameless behavior just now, if it wasn't for Liu Xiaodong's panicked words, he would definitely be able to prevent the shot just now.
"You also believe the words of your opponent, you are mentally retarded or an idiot!" Liu Xiaodong retorted unceremoniously.
Just 1 minute and 15 seconds into the third quarter, Coach Li Zijiang walked to the technical table. He knew that if he didn't call a timeout, Hecheng University would have to play with momentum, and it would be difficult to win the game.
After returning from the pause, Wang Zekai's defense of Liu Xiaodong is sticking defense, as long as Liu Xiaodong receives the ball, other players from the University of Petroleum will also come forward to wrap up.
Liu Xiaodong is not Wang Zekai, his shooting is unstable, his breakthrough is limited, and he can only use the pass to contribute to Hecheng University.
At the same time as Liu Xiaodong's offense was extinguished, Wang Zekai on the opposite side showed his sharp fangs, and he threw the ball into the basket with various unreasonable shots.
In the last 2 minutes of the third quarter, Coach Zhang Tiejun replaced the exhausted Liu Xiaodong with Hou Wei, who was afraid of Wang Zekai, and the attack of Hecheng University was repeatedly blocked.
By the end of the third quarter, Tsurujo University was 62-68, six points behind the home team. Hecheng University, which originally overtook the score, was ruined by Wang Zekai's crazy attack.