Chapter 65: The Battle of Champions (Part I)

In the process of competing for the league championship, basically no one of the participating venues is chosen as the venue for the competition, even if it is the top four or even the first team. www.biquge.info Of course, the NBA won't give way to a mere league championship game, but UCLA was lucky, and on the day of the game, the Clippers were on the road and the Lakers didn't play, and the Pacific 10 League easily applied to the Staples Center as the venue for the championship game. This arrangement is beneficial for UCLA, since their school is not far from the Staples Center, and the University of Arizona is a long way away.

Although he defeated the University of Arizona twice in the regular season, it was already the final moment, and it was not yet known whether the opponent had a hidden ultimate, and Holland did not dare to relax at all, he has always been an obsessive-compulsive person in this regard, and since the team is playing so well, he cannot end up with a defeat before the tournament, even if he is basically sure that UCLA will have no problem qualifying for the tournament. As long as the minds of those on the NCAA selection committee are not in the water, UCLA will definitely be on the tournament stage. But if he doesn't qualify as the league champion, he'll feel that there will be some flaws in the regular season at UCLA.

It has to be said that Holland's caution is justified, because the coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats, our dear Mr. Kevin O'Neal, has already started closed training, and even if there is an interview with the media that can't refuse, O'Neal will only let the reporters shoot the warm-up and shooting drills, and when it comes to tactical training, he will politely but firmly ask the reporters to leave the training hall, and even let the security personnel be on guard. It didn't take long for the news to reach Holland's ears, which made him more convinced that his opponent must have a potential tactical plan that could upend their system for the entire season.

However, Holland thought about it and felt that there was nothing to be afraid of, after all, the execution of tactics still depends on the players, and the NCAA is not like the NBA where there are all kinds of trades, players either go directly from high school to college to join the team, or leave because they participate in the draft or graduate, which is the only way to change the roster. And most of the players still have to rely on the players to improvise on the field, not that you set which tactic to play in the next round will definitely play that tactic, if the situation on the field is not right, then the players have to take another tactic immediately.

Holland, who had figured it out, felt that all the baggage on his body had been thrown off, and he felt that there was no need to let his opponent lead him by the nose, even if his actions had always been kept secret. So he strongly asked the players to be fully familiar with all the team's tactics in the training session, so as to prevent everyone from forgetting how to run tactics because they were too nervous during the official game, but he would also open a small stove for the starting five people in addition to the training session, of course, he showed everyone the video of the players who were about to match. Holland's idea was very simple and crude: I don't care what your tactics are, I just have the players in the right position to suppress your players.

As the two teams prepared for the finals, the media in several states near the West Coast of the United States began to build momentum for them, with the exception of California and Arizona, which were unequivocally supportive of their teams. But whoever it is, it was expected to be a good match, and while the University of Arizona were winless against UCLA during the regular season, they had won a lot of popularity by winning back-to-back games against two teams above them, and they had mysteriously started training behind closed doors, clearly prepared. They have sent a large team of interviews, hoping to introduce the game to their readers as soon as possible.

Soon the day of the finals arrived, and the Staples Center also replaced the floors with the UCLA Bruins and University of Arizona Wildcats crests ahead of time. This is just a small case for the arena staff, who usually do too much of this kind of work, after all, the Staples Center is the only arena in the entire NBA that has become the home of both teams at the same time, and it is not uncommon for the previous game to be paved with the Lakers logo, and the next game has to be replaced with the floor of the Clippers logo.

As a local Los Angeles team, UCLA was allowed to use the Lakers' locker room, after all, former Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also came from UCLA. I have to say that the NBA's locker room is much more luxurious than the NCAA, after all, the NBA is a commercial league, and the owners of the team are willing to throw money at the team, not to mention the old giants like the Lakers. The whole Bruins team entered the locker room just like Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden, everyone saw everywhere, and exclaimed: "This physiotherapy room looks very professional, much better than ours." "It's too high-class for me to go to their shower, right?" It's worthy of the NBA, and the shower is so awesome! ”……

Holland saw that his players were all looking like turtles, out of breath, and their faces were dark, he coughed heavily, clapped his hands vigorously, and waited until everyone's attention was focused on him, and then he said solemnly: "Boys, it's your last game before the tournament." I have to say you've been pretty good this season, do you want to end with a defeat? I don't know if you want to, but I don't. I'm not a god and can't guess what tactics the Wildcats will use, but I believe in your strength and hope you can bring a victory to UCLA! ”

Holland's words weren't very emotional, and it was obvious that they were a bit of a rehash, but saying it before the finals was like a shot in the arm, and everyone on the Bruins began to breathe heavily, their eyes seemed to be beating with fire, and a fighting spirit that could not be seen but could be felt gradually rose in the locker room, and at this moment they all had only one thing in their hearts, which was to defeat their opponents and advance to the tournament as the champions of the Pacific Ten School League.

Holland was very pleased to see the mental state of his players, but that good mood disappeared without a trace when he saw the Wildcats' starting list. It's no surprise that Bayless, Buddinger and Hill are on the roster as the Wildcats' thunderous starters, but apart from the three of them, two other names didn't appear in the starting lineup for any of the Wildcats' regular season games: Nick Wise and Javan McClellan. This change of formation is familiar to Holland, but it's hard to imagine that this is the Wildcats' lineup, obviously it's a three-guard lineup, or Hill's big and four small, and Holland is almost certain that the Wildcats will bet all their treasure on outside shooting in this game.

After the game began, the Wildcats' new tactics quickly paid off, and the five Bruins starting the team all felt the pressure, perhaps only the backcourt combination of Ye Feng and Westbrook could easily deal with it, after all, they were strong in their own right, and they were also speedy defenders, even if the opposite side was a three-back lineup, they did not show any hurry. The other outside Bamot has a hard time, although his speed is faster than the inside player, but the Wildcats are a real small guard against him, and he is much better than him in terms of speed, so he has repeatedly become a hole that the opponent makes full use of on the outside.

As for Shipp and Love, who are guarding the inside, they are even more aggrieved, Loew is a little better, after all, the Wildcats still sent Hill to protect the rebound, he at least has something to do, although it is annoying to face the opponent's small guard who continues to attack with the ball, but it is still within the range he can bear. But Shipp has almost become the most difficult one on the whole team, the Wildcats play a big four lineup means that Badinger is on top of the No. 4 position, and it is clear that their rebounding is completely handed over to Hill, although Badinger is a power forward, but still a small forward's style of play, whether it is in speed, technology or attack range, Shipp has no strength but no strength. Especially when Bardingra went to the outside to shoot a three-pointer, it was obvious that Shipp couldn't keep up with him, and could only let the opponent fire on the outside, and the only thing he could do was pray that the ball would be missed.

In the face of the Wildcats' new lineup, the Bruins were caught off guard, and if it weren't for the amazing destructiveness of Ye Feng and Westbrook on the offensive end, perhaps the Wildcats would have opened up the score gap in the first five minutes. Rao is so, Shipp is already sweating profusely in such a short period of time, and his pace is a little shaky, although he can easily use his height to suppress Badinger on the offensive end, but he expends a lot of energy on the defensive end, and even does a lot of unnecessary switchback runs, which can not only prevent the opponent, but also has a great impact on himself.

Just over halfway through the first half, the Bruins trailed by eight points at 15-23, and it was an absolute shame for them to score 15 points in 10 minutes, let alone nearly 10 points behind. When Holland called a timeout, everyone walked off the court with a gloomy face, obviously this is not a very rare routine, but it forced them to run for their lives. Of course, it was Shipp who felt it the most, and now he couldn't wait to drink a large barrel of sports drinks to refuel himself, and he was really tired for ten minutes.

Seeing that everyone was looking sad, Holland knocked on the tactical board and said loudly: "This little thing will knock you down?" Well? It's as if they've just been kicked by someone, and they all look up for me! It's just one big and four small, let's do a big one, and treat others in the way of others! ”