Seventy-nine, bag clip
"Now the score is 30-16, the Lions are already 14 points behind, and I wonder if Mr. Miller, the coach of the Wildcats, will give his main players a break." Kenny Smith said.
"I don't think it's the time to rest, especially since Hollis Jefferson's touch is very hot right now, and it's hard to know if he can play again if he takes a break. And I'm pretty sure Lee won't get off the court, and while the Wildcats have decent bench depth, they didn't have the strength to defend Lee, giving the Lions a chance to chase the points this time. The Zen master analyzed rationally.
"Oh! So, Mr. Phil, which team have you favored so far in this game? Do you think the Lions are still likely to chase points? Barkley asked.
"I think whether the Lions can win this game depends on whether Lee can step up, and if the Wildcats can limit Lee's scoring, then it will be the Wildcats who make it to the final four, but we have to pay attention to one important factor: the lads from the Lions and the Wildcats just finished a game two days ago and need to undergo some tests in terms of fitness, and Lee has proven that he is more physical than the others, so we can't rule out the possibility that the Wildcats will be dragged down." The Zen master said.
While analyzing in the commentary seat, Li Wu received a pass from Maodore again, and immediately chose to make a dry jump shot after taking advantage of Ossetkovsky's blocking and pick-and-roll cover. Stanley was already a step slower when he bypassed Osettkowski's pick-and-roll defense, and Li Wu used his ability to stay in the air to make his hasty jump defense ineffective, and Li Wu only shot when Stanley fell down, and this time, he hit a shot and scored 3 points.
The score was rewritten to 30-19.
"Another shot from the air! If Lee can take advantage of that in the next few rounds, Coach Miller will have to change his defensive playbook. Barkley said.
In the next three rounds, Li Wu scored 9 points with a mid-air shot, plus the previous 9 points, he has scored 18 points, and the Wildcats' Hollis Jefferson also scored two goals in the next three rounds to score 4 points, and one ball was interfered with by Jeff and did not score.
By the 13 minutes and 50 seconds of the game, the Wildcats had a 34-28 lead over the Lions, but because Li Wu scored three consecutive three-pointers, the Lions' trailing margin narrowed to single digits.
At this point, Miller, the coach of the Wildcats, couldn't sit still any longer, and he walked to the sidelines to ask for a timeout.
"Stanley hasn't played yet, but his Lee has stopped Arizona, which is really surprising." Barkley said with a smile.
"It's not surprising that when a guy can shoot from the air, you get a lot of headaches, and although Lee is not as tall as Stanley, I found that this lad has a longer arm than Stanley, and it doesn't look like Stanley has the same advantage as his height to block his shot." Kenny Smith said.
At this point, on the bench, Coach Smith clapped his hands and said, "Well done, boys!" I'm willing to bet Miller would never dare to replace his starters right now. Because the score difference is too small! But I think Lee is going to get caught in the next few minutes, so, Lee, you have to make a smart choice when you're facing a pack, you can pass to your teammates in the open space, but if you think you're hot, then you can also shoot, but if you miss twice, I want you to focus on the ball. ”
Li Wu nodded in agreement, and then the timeout ended, and the game continued. Li Wu, who played again, really received a bag, and it was from small forward Hollis-Jefferson, this 201cm tall forward player has very good defensive ability, and under him and Stanley, Li Wu's ball space is almost blocked.
In desperation, he then turned around and dribbled the ball a few times to the halfway line, opening up space and redirecting the ball to the empty small forward Jeff Cowbe.
As soon as Jeff Cobbe received the ball on the wing, Wildcats power forward Brandon immediately stood in the elbow zone, and the 206cm tall only needed one step to step into the paint or into the horn area, blocking all of Jeff Cobby's path.
Jeff Cowbe was originally the starting small forward of the Lions, but because of his poor finishing ability and poor passing vision, he was squeezed to the bench by Cohen, and he has been playing in garbage time in recent games and has not played much time, so in the face of Blanton, who is tall and armed, he didn't even have the sharpness to break through, and seeing that small forward Hollis-Jefferson had returned to his direction, he immediately passed the ball to Maodore who was standing on the wing.
After receiving the ball, Maodore found that Hollis Jefferson was walking in the direction of Jeff, while Stanley followed Li Wu, and he only had McConnell in front of him who was 185cm tall, and he immediately chose to play singles with a height of 190cm.
He used a crossover to snatch half of the identity and then went to the paint, although the underheight McConnell stuck to Maodore all the way, but could not stop his progress, Tazouski, who was standing on the inside, saw this and chose to save when Maodore made the first step, he opened his arms and pressed forward, not only blocking Maodore's line of impact on the basket, but also blocking Maodore's passing route to Osetkowski behind him.
But Maodore didn't plan to shoot at all, after stepping twice, he chose to pass the ball back to Li Wu who came to the wing, Li Wu received the ball and started to shake off Stanley and kill towards the paint area, the vacant position of the Wildcats McConnell was still in the paint area at this time, and found that Li Wu rushed in again, and immediately subconsciously made up for it, completely ignoring Maodore who ran towards the opposite wing.
Li Wu had already passed the ball to Maodore standing outside the three-point line with a ground-hitting pass when he took the second step, a change that neither Stanley nor McConnell expected, and Maodore immediately jumped from outside the three-point line and shot a three-pointer unmarked.
"Beautiful! I thought the Lions were going to miss this scoring opportunity because the basketball stopped at Jeff Cowbe! Unexpectedly, Lee and Maodore still brought the ball to life, and McConnell and Stanley's defensive distribution this time was disrupted by the two Lions' guards. Barkley said.
At 34-31, the Wildcats only led by three points. McConnell then used Brandon and Tazuski to score a three-pointer and rewrite the score to 37-31 against Maodore, barely holding back the Lions' comeback.