Chapter 36: The Elite Eight (Part II)
Zhang Zifeng made a wonderful layup with a lever to help the Blue Devils open the scoring.
In the next few minutes, it became Zhang Zifeng's performance time.
In the next round, Zhang Zifeng received the ball in the front court, shook his body, feintmed, and jumped up after taking a step back from the dribble.
Goss reacted and jumped up, and Zhang Zifeng waved his hand to throw the basketball.
The ball spins and falls into the net, brush!
Score the ball, score!
Zhang Zifeng looked at Goss, who was defending him, and shouted, "Hey, buddy, you know what? I'm already thinking about my opponent for the next round! ”
It's only been less than three minutes since the game started, and you dare to say you're thinking about the next round of opponents!
Goss's darkened face turned red, "You bastard, you're going to regret saying that." ”
The angry Goss worked harder to guard Zhang Zifeng.
In the tournament, the single-elimination system made Zhang Zifeng excited, yes, very excited. Like a shark that smells blood, it can't wait to open its sharp teeth and bite its opponent.
In order to ease the relationship between his teammates, Zhang Zifeng sacrificed his shots.
But now that his teammates can't open it, Zhang Zifeng doesn't have to worry anymore and lets it go.
Zhang Zifeng, who had suppressed two games, suddenly began to soar as if a volcano had erupted.
Zhang Zifeng's accurate shooting and breakthrough made Goss unguarded, and he could tear through the opponent's defense and penetrate the opponent's basket every time.
Breakthrough layup, pull-up jump shot, boom! Swish! Swish! Zhang Zifeng kept using various ways to send the basketball into the basket of the bulldog.
Zhang Zifeng transformed into a crazy score-grabbing master, which caught the bulldogs off guard.
At 10:15, Zhang Zifeng scored 12 points alone, helping Duke University lead by 5 points.
Coach Mark Foyu saw that Goss alone couldn't stop Zhang Zifeng from scoring crazy points, and immediately shouted loudly on the side of the court, "Matthews, help Goss keep an eye on Zhang Zifeng!" ”
Mark Foyu: Goss and Matthews are two people who trap Zhang Zifeng.
Receiving the ball in the front court again, as soon as Zhang Zifeng got the ball, Matthews gave up Winslow and ran over to wrap Zhang Zifeng with Goss.
Seeing that the opponent has changed his defensive strategy, Zhang Zifeng, who has been trained by the bag, already understands how to deal with this situation.
Zhang Zifeng immediately made changes.
Zhang Zifeng continued to use his pulling power to confuse the opponent's defense, instructing Cook and Winslow to take the opportunity to run out of the open space.
Cook has three points, Winslow is very strong, second only to Zhang Zifeng in the Blue Devils.
Breakout, dunk, mid-range shooting, rebounding, etc., is a very comprehensive small forward.
The pit bull chose to wrap Zhang Zifeng to give Winslow and Cook enough space to display their skills.
After receiving Zhang Zifeng's accurate pass, they easily tore through the defense of the pit bulls and scored a goal.
Zhang Zifeng single-handedly led the Blue Devils' offense, and the Blue Devils went on a 23-12 run to lead by 11 points.
Seeing the score pulled away, Bulldogs head coach Mark Foyu called a timeout.
In response to the weakness of the Blue Devils' interior height is not as good as the bulldogs, Mark Foyu changed his strategy and decided to adopt a three-two zone defense strategy.
Replace Matthews and bring on 2.08m substitute Domantas Sabonis.
Domantas Sabonis is the son of NBA legend and international basketball legend Avidas Sabonis.
Despite being 2.08 meters tall, Domantas Sabonis is not a traditional insider.
He has excellent shooting skills, and he also has a lot of experience in switching offense and blocking and pick-and-roll.
In the race, he often moves between the number 3, 4 and 5 positions.
Sabonis moved to the small forward position, and the Bulldogs have three long men: 2.11 Canoveski, 2.08 Verche, and 2.08 Sabonis.
The three elders of the pit bull stick to the penalty area and use the advantage of height to defend inside the line.
Goss and Pagos are two people on the three-point line, Goss is staring at Zhang Zifeng, and Pagos is staring at Cook.
After the pause, when Zhang Zifeng received the ball on the outside, he found that the pit bulls team did not cover him.
Goss defended himself closely, Zhang Zifeng found that there was no shooting space, retreated a little, opened up the space, used cross-steps to break through the opponent's defense, and killed towards the inside.
Goss followed sideways.
When Zhang Zifeng entered the forbidden area, the pit bull immediately contracted, and the three elders besieged Zhang Zifeng in the forbidden area.
Zhang Zifeng fell into the crowd of the opposing party, and seeing the opponent's jerseys all around, it was difficult to find the location of his teammates.
When jumping, the six raised hands made it impossible for Zhang Zifeng to shoot at all.
Zhang Zifeng was blocked by Sabonis.
The head coach of the Bulldogs, Mark Foyu, knew that Goss alone could not completely limit Zhang Zifeng, so Mark Foyu's instruction to Goss was to give up blocking Zhang Zifeng, limit his shooting on the outside, and force Zhang Zifeng to break through.
Once Zhang Zifeng cut in, the pit bull immediately contracted the encirclement and trapped Zhang Zifeng in the restricted area, unable to throw or pass.
No matter how wonderful Zhang Zifeng's breakthrough is, with the advantage of the height of the bulldogs in the restricted area, Zhang Zifeng will hit his head and bleed.
Pargos grabbed the basketball, and he slowly dribbled the ball to the front court until his teammates were in position.
With the Pagos, the height advantage of the pit bull is maximized.
With the help of Canoveski, Pargos immediately slotted inside and passed the ball comfortably and accurately to Vilche, who was roaming the perimeter in the crowd.
Wilche immediately made a jumper, 15-23.
Jefferson served, Zhang Zifeng received the ball and brought it to the front court, using a few feints to successfully break through Goss.
As soon as he hit the inside line, seeing that the three elders of the pit bull were about to surround again, Zhang Zifeng hurriedly passed the ball to Okafor.
Okafor struggled in the penalty area of the Bulldogs' inside line of Carnowski, Wilche, and Sabonis, and had no chance to shoot at all, so he had to pass the ball out.
Cook was fully targeted by Pagos and didn't have any shots.
Although Winslow can be inside and out, his three-point shooting rate is not high, and his breakthrough is limited like Zhang Zifeng on the inside line.
The ball was finally passed back to Zhang Zifeng.
At this time, the offensive time was almost gone, and Zhang Zifeng only had to bite the bullet and force his shot against Goss's block.
Bang, the ball hits the iron.
Goss pestered Zhang Zifeng on the outside, and he didn't let go.
Once Zhang Zifeng entered the inner line, three opponents immediately surrounded him.
The three of them formed a small encirclement, and there was no room for passing and shooting at all.
Zhang Zifeng's shooting hit again and again.
Duke was in a scoring crisis, hitting just one of 12 shots, and the Gonzaga University Bulldogs took the opportunity to hit a 16-4 spurt to take a 31-27 lead.
With only 4 seconds left in the first half, Zhang Zifeng received the ball from the backcourt, carried Goss, threw the ball the middle line, and scored a long-term three-pointer.
The whistle blew and the half was over.
Touch! The ball is unexpectedly ironed!
Goss looked at Zhang Zifeng who landed on the ground and said sarcastically, "Hey, buddy, you know what? I'm already thinking about my opponent for the next round! ”
Syllable! Zhang Zifeng felt that his face was slapped!