Chapter 66: The Battle of Champions (Part II)

If Ye Feng is a time-traveling person, he must think that Warriors head coach Kerr copied Holland's idea in 2014-15. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. biquge。 At that time, the Warriors would often put on a small lineup called the "Death Five" at key moments in the game: Curry 1.91m, Thompson 2.01m, Barnes 2.03m, Iguodala 1.98m, Green 2.01m. Their superior mobility and projection often made opponents despair, and the Warriors won the 2014-15 NBA championship.

But Holland's change of formation is smaller than the "Death Five" in later generations, and not to mention how effective it is, at least his courage is worthy of admiration. In the face of Kevin O'Neal's big four, Holland simply removed Loew and Shipp, and sent Collison and Enrique on the court. At this time, the on-court lineup of the Bruins is: Collison 1.85m, Westbrook 1.90m, Enrique 1.98m, Ye Feng 2.01m, Bamot 2.03m, the average height of this lineup is only 1.95m, and the fans who support them have to sweat a lot: this ...... Is there still an inside line? The Bruins' interior line isn't going to be directly beaten into a sieve, right?

However, in Holland's opinion, this strange lineup is nothing to worry about. First of all, Hill of the Wildcats himself is a rough man who basically has no independent offensive ability, you can let him attack twice and block and pick and roll, and it is absolutely impossible to play with basket footsteps and mid-range jumpers, such a player is not afraid to get the ball even in the low post; Secondly, the Bruins' lineup is essentially similar to the Wildcats, because the tallest Bamot on the team is not very good at shooting, but the other four have offensive range from the basket to beyond the three-point line, and they are all able to carry the ball to create opportunities for themselves. Besides, if you can't grab the rebound, isn't there still Ye Feng? He can even handle Anderson, and will he be afraid of you as a Jordan Hill?

This nerve-wracking has become O'Neal, and the players on the Wildcats are also a little overwhelmed, why did the opposite lineup become like this when they came back from a timeout? Can you still play well? On the offensive end, the Bruins simply lined up outside the three-point line, leaving Bamot cruising around the three-second zone, ready to pull up and block at any time; Defensively, the five of them made full use of their mobility, constantly switching defenses, and always maintaining great pressure on the ball carrier.

In fact, the happiest player in this lineup on the Bruins may be Bamot. In the past, he often went to the high post to block his own guards, but because of the presence of Shipp and Love, he usually pulled to the outside after blocking and dismantling, but there was no basket. It's good now, the inside line is empty, and after blocking and dismantling, he can choose to attack the frame without any scruples, and with other people's passing ability, it is not difficult to give the ball to him who is unguarded to make a violent dunk.

O'Neill frowned, stood up and slowly paced to the sidelines, the more he looked at it, the more shocked he became. He originally thought that this was the Bruins' helpless coping strategy, but he didn't expect the effect to be surprisingly good, completely neutralizing the advantage of his side, and even faintly gaining the upper hand. In a hurry, O'Neal didn't care about what his opponent would hear, and he shouted at Bayles, who was dribbling past half court: "Jerry, run, let everyone speed up!" Bayless nodded in understanding, then gestured to the other players who were in their positions and motioned for everyone to run.

The Bruins didn't hear anything of value because the fans were so loud in the stadium that they saw their opponents picking up speed one by one and burrowing around in the defensive formation like loaches, as long as they had a little bit of intelligence, they knew what the opposing head coach had just given them. Ye Feng smiled mysteriously at Westbrook, Westbrook made an "OK" gesture, and shouted a few words for everyone to speed up. A lot of times on the basketball court is about preemptive strikes, you make the first move, and the opponent can only make some responses after seeing clearly, and the Bruins passively increase speed and slower by a beat, Bayless breaks through to the layup and scores the ball.

O'Neill saw that his arrangement had an immediate effect and sat back in his place satisfied. But when he saw Holland also sitting firmly in the Diaoyutai platform, he felt a little incredible: You trust your players so much? Trust that they can solve the problem on their own? Don't be funny, okay? How can a group of kids who are still in college have any tactical minds? If you let Holland know what he's thinking, he'll tell him, "Yes, my players don't really know much about the tactical changes, but they're better than you, is that okay?" ”

Absolutely! Isn't the Bruins just using their speed to be tough with the other side now? Although this kind of confrontation without considering the consequences is very much in line with the characteristics of young people who are prone to hot-headedness, the gap between the two teams was widened after ten minutes. Yes, it wasn't the Wildcats who extended their lead, it was the Bruins who came from behind to take a 12-point lead at halftime, 48-36!

In fact, it is not surprising to play such a scoreline, just look at the state of the two sides when they leave the game. The five members of the Wildcats, except for Jordan Hill, were all pale, and beads of sweat were dripping down their foreheads like a faucet on the floodgates, while the Bruins only Enrique was a little vague in his footsteps, and the others were all calm, as if they were not the ones who had just turned the basketball game into a track and field game. That's what O'Neill overlooked: the opposing players were much better physically than on their own side. Maybe the Wildcats will be able to take advantage of the game for a round or two, but when the Bruins start to pick up the pace, they get exhausted.

Originally, Bayless's and Battinger's physical strength was not bad, but Westbrook and Ye Feng were not at the same level as them at all, and calling them beasts was like an insult. In addition, Bamot himself is a black African from Cameroon, and Africans have always been known for their explosiveness or endurance, and he mostly stays on the inside to watch Hill without much effort. As for Collison, he is a small man himself, and the physical exertion is relatively not so great, and the Wildcats have not adopted any tactics such as back-to-back singles against him, so in the end, only Enrique is a little tired.

Holland's change of formation undoubtedly poses a problem for O'Neal, either everyone will continue to use the current lineup, and I will run you to death; Either everyone goes back to their regular lineup, and I can crush you as well, and you can say which way you want to die, right? Until the end of the break, O'Neill didn't come up with any good solutions, and he could only send his substitute lineup to buy more rest time for the main players. The Bruins are a lot more extravagant, relying on their ace backcourt combinations are unfathomable metamorphoses, Holland is relieved and bold to let Ye Feng and Westbrook take turns to stay on the court to lead their teammates to charge, and other positions are changed depending on the situation, so that everyone can get enough rest time while ensuring the team's offensive firepower.

That's bullying, but how can you not use a good hand? There can be mercy before the game starts, but after the whistle blows, it's a life-and-death war, no one doesn't want to win, and you can even pay a huge price to win, it's normal to bully and bully the opponent's weakness, and the greatest respect for the enemy is to defeat them. Even die-hard fans of the University of Arizona thought that the outcome of this game was already obvious, and the Wildcats were crushed by their opponents after exerting too much physical strength, and it was only a matter of time before they lost.

It is true that O'Neal's decisive change of formation caused a lot of trouble for UCLA, but Holland, who entered the industry later than him, quickly found a way to restrain him. Most of the time, a coach's age is directly proportional to his ability, but looking at the win percentage before this season, O'Neal was much worse than Holland, and it's not surprising that he was spotted this time. However, the University of Arizona did well during the regular season, and although it only finished seventh in the Pacific 10-School League, it still has a good chance of being selected by the committee to reach the top 64.

It was a really exciting match, with the two teams battling each other to feast the eyes of the fans who came to the scene. However, as a Chinese, Ye Feng is quite low-key, if he plays with Westbrook, he will quietly make a gun on the outside, if the coach rests Westbrook and let him lead the team to attack, he will create many open shooting opportunities for his teammates, and give the ball to his teammates at the right time. His idea is very simple, since the victory is in hand, then he might as well help his teammates brush up the data, as for himself, as long as the scouts and reporters are not blind, they can see their huge role in the whole team, and to talk about the data, the regular season has also brushed enough, the most important thing now is to save energy and wait for the tournament to come.

In the end, the two sides also played a high score, UCLA won 92-84, which was the result of Holland's big hand in the final stage to replace the full bench lineup. After all, everyone is in the same league, and it doesn't seem good to abuse the opponent in such an important game, so it's better to save some face for the opponent if the rules allow! For this result, O'Neill could only smile bitterly and say that he was very satisfied, in fact, he didn't know what he thought in his heart, maybe he was complaining that the big move he had worked hard to get was easily broken by UCLA, right?

However, Holland and his players were in no mood to care what their opponents were thinking, and when the final whistle blew, everyone couldn't help but cheer, and the UCLA Bruins finally qualified for the NCAA Round of 64 tournament as the champion of the Pacific 10 Collegiate League!