Chapter 026: The Taste of a Champion

"North Carolina wasted their chance to pull away, and in the final stages of the first half, they couldn't successfully defend against UCLA's offense, and maybe they should cut back on Kayce."

Kenny Smith is still feeling sorry for North Carolina.

"No, I feel like North Carolina stuck to their defensive strategy and we could see Kayce passing the ball all the way in the last few minutes, but the UCLA guys withstood the pressure and scored the ball."

Reggie Miller gave his opinion and once again praised the UCLA players.

"Are you still optimistic that UCLA will win this game? Now they're lagging behind. Kenny Smith then asked.

"Of course, you know, when the game goes to a stalemate, the role of the stars comes into play, and Kayce has the ability to do that!" Reggie Miller blows again.

In the UCLA locker room, everyone's mood was still stable, after all, Li Ze's relaxed expression also made their tension dissipate a lot.

'We did a good job in the first half, we didn't let the other side pull the score away, in the second half we had to give it our all, their outside shooting percentage would go down, they couldn't beat us!'

The old man roared and shouted out this sentence, at this time, chicken soup had to be served, and tactics or anything were useless.

"I don't want to rotate too much in the second half, the interior players protect the foul first, don't let them go to the free throw line too early, Kayce shoots when he has the opportunity and believes in his shot!"

"No problem, we're going to win the game, they didn't pull away in the first half, they didn't have a chance at all, we're going to beat North Carolina!"

Li Ze's tone was very firm, what he wanted at this time was a breath, as long as everyone was unified, they could win the game.

In the North Carolina locker room, the coaching staff is laying out tactics, and with only 20 minutes left to win the championship, no one will relax at this time.

"Our defensive rotation should be fast, pay attention to the position after the pinch shot, don't give UCLA too many open shooting opportunities, and everyone should echo when defending!"

Danny Green was tired enough in the first half, he was the first barrier to defend Li Ze, and when the interior assisted the defense, the outside defense also needed him to constantly run to fill the position.

But he didn't say at this time that he didn't need to help defend, he knew that he would be beaten by Li Ze if he defended alone, and he was tired, it was better than being easily scored by Li Ze.

"Ellington, pay attention to the opportunity after the block, give the ball to the inside first, and let the ball be transferred!"

Ellington immediately signaled that he understood that he felt that he was hot in this game, and that he still wanted to get a MOP.

Soon, the second half of the game officially began, and the crowd in the Lucas Oil Stadium began to cheer for their home team again.

Collison was substituted and after a half-half break for most of the first half, he felt like he was in good shape and should be fine in the final period.

It is still a classic Spanish block, Holiday bounces outside to catch the ball, Li Ze passes the inside player's off-ball cover, and Holiday has a hand-to-hand, and the defender facing at this time becomes Ellington.

A crossover step directly shook off Ellington, stepped back, and shot directly from beyond the three-point line.

The 3-point goal was scored, and Li Ze immediately beckoned his teammates to return to defense.

"Very beautiful goal, Kayce was just a simple change of tempo to shake off the defenders, maybe he was going to explode in the second half!" Reggie Miller sent a song of praise to Li Ze.

On the defensive end of the second half, Li Ze was in charge of marking Ellington, and Danny Green handed it to Holiday .

Ellington tried to find an opportunity with off-ball coverage, but Li Ze wrapped tightly around the defensive end and never let him receive the ball comfortably.

The badge combination of [Running Killer Without the Ball] + [Marking Master] greatly increases the oppression of Li Ze's defense without the ball.

In the end, with 12 seconds left in the offensive time, Lawson handed it to Ellington, and in the face of Li Ze's defense, he clicked and lucked, but Li Ze saw the opportunity to break the ball directly.

"Unbelievable, Kayce steals Ellington directly face to face with this ball, good opportunity, facing the defender to score the ball, and there is even a foul and a chance to score a 3-point!"

Reggie Miller almost burst the pitch and was excellent on both ends of the floor.

Li Ze stood at the free throw line, adjusted his breathing, scored free throws steadily, and while retreating, he shouted at North Carolina: "You can't stop me, it's too easy!" ”

UCLA successfully tied the score, and the North Carolina coaching staff immediately signaled their players not to panic.

Lawson can't suppress Collison now after the consumption of the first half, after all, the two of them are about the same height, and he also feels a little difficult in the face of Collison's oppressive defense.

After blocking and dismantling again, he gave it to Hansbro, and after receiving the ball, he relied on two hits to receive a small hook that turned around, but as soon as the ball was shot, he was split by Li Ze, who sneaked over from the side, and covered his face with a big hat.

Go to your basketball dreams!

In the first half, UCLA had been defending alone, but in the second half, it naturally changed its defensive strategy, and Collison controlled the ball and passed directly to Holiday who was fast down.

Holiday held the ball and accelerated directly to the basket, leaned on Ellington, who was back to defense, and steadily scored the ball, UCLA overtook the score!

"Ahh Holiday pounded his chest excitedly and roared.

The UCLA fans inside the stadium began to cheer and shout wildly, and their team finally took the lead.

“Defense! Defense! Defense! ”

The emotions of the fans were completely high, and they began to cheer for UCLA constantly.

In the North Carolina offensive round, Ellington blocked and dismantled at the top of the arc, and Li Ze squeezed directly through the cover, and at the same time signaled his teammates to help defend to prevent Hansbrough from attacking the basket directly.

At this time, Ellington suddenly came with a step-back mid-shot, Li Ze was not shaken off the center of gravity, and successfully interfered with the opponent's shot with his excellent arm span.

"Bang...", but Hansbrough picked up the rebound in the pile and threw it directly to Lawson on the outside.

The 3-pointer went into the net, and Lawson was not relentless.

"It's okay, be patient, protect the rebound!" Li Ze motioned to his teammates to stay focused, there was still a lot of time.

In the next 8 minutes, the two sides alternated the lead, and North Carolina withstood UCLA's counterattack, and the two sides fought to a 46-all draw, and the coach called a timeout.

"Pay attention to the rebound, we have to get stuck in the position in advance, especially the control of the long rebound, once we collect the rebound and seize the opportunity to counterattack, North Carolina can't run anymore, and we will win."

Not only North Carolina can't run, but only Li Ze and Holiday are physically good on the UCLA side, and the rest are a little unbearable.

"We don't play pick-and-roll, Kayce, whether it's shooting or breaking, we need you to put the ball in the basket, we need to speed up the offensive rhythm and drag the opponent down!"

Li Ze signaled that he understood that the coach was an old routine again, betting that the opponent's shooting rate was not as good as his own, striving for a wave of leads, and then it was a big deal to start foul tactics, and at the last moment, free throws were not so easy to score.

After the pause, Holiday held the ball over half the court, UCLA began to hand around the figure 8, Li Ze received the ball and faced Danny Green's defense, lowered his center of gravity, and accelerated directly with the ball in his left hand.

After dribbling two steps, he directly stopped and jumped out.

"Huh..."2 points were scored steadily, and the [Hot Zone Hunter] near the free throw line ensured Li Ze's shooting rate.

"Danny Green's defense was as good as he could, but Kayce shot too high and hit the shot anyway." Kenny Smith has some sympathy for Danny Green, which is really hard to guard...

North Carolina's offense was given to Hansbru after continuous conduction, and after the low post was played, Holiday suddenly stepped forward to interfere, and the ball was ironed.

The rebounding ball was scrambling between the two sides, and finally Ellington touched the bottom line, and the UCLA backcourt ball.

After Collison held the ball, he quickly passed the halfcourt, handed the ball directly to Li Ze, and faced Danny Green's defense again, and after consecutive crotch dribbles, he made a large change of direction in front of his body and dodged the defense.

The players in North Carolina's supplementary defense directly contracted the defense, and Li Ze jumped up and threw the ball to Collison in the bottom corner, who received the ball and shot directly.

The 3-pointer was scored, and Collison excitedly celebrated with Li Ze.

This kind of pass can only be passed by tall players, and the short ones are covered, which is basically a mistake.

"Excellent passing vision, Kayce used his pass to dismantle North Carolina's bag!" Reggie Miller immediately blows.

North Carolina's offense began to be impatient, and after successive pick-and-roll screens did not show up good opportunities, the ball returned to Ellington's hands, and in the face of Li Ze's continuous forward change of direction, he could not get rid of the defense.

The time for the attack was almost up, and he had no choice but to retreat and shoot, and was interfered with by Li Ze again.

"Bang...", the long rebound was controlled by Holiday and slowly dribbled through the half, still handing the ball to Li Ze.

In the face of Danny Green's continuous crotch dribble, Lawson quickly stepped forward to wrap up, and Li Ze passed directly to Collison on the side, and then pretended to make a hand hand and rushed directly to the basket.

Collison understood, a just right pass, Li Ze took off directly after receiving the ball, faced Hansbru in the air, and after dodging the block with his right hand, he directly dunked with one arm.

The ball was smashed into the basket.

"Wow, you almost got me covered!" Li Ze was spewing trash talk while slowly recovering his defense.

"Ahh UCLA fans went crazy, and the dunk ignited their enthusiasm and they were really going to win the game.

With less than 3 minutes left in the game, UCLA led by 8 points, and both fouls had already reached the state of additional penalties, and North Carolina called a timeout again.

"It's hard for North Carolina to chase points, their top scorer Ellington is under Kayce's marking, missing all 6 shots from the outside, Danny Green looks like he's at the limit of his fitness, Lawson should step up at this time!"

Kenny Smith is still expecting a response from North Carolina.

North Carolina's successful sideline ball tactics, Lawson hit the basket directly after covering, but under the interference of the interior players, the ball came out of the basket, and Li Ze protected the rebound and dribbled directly across the half court.

Li Ze controlled the ball and began to press the time, and at the moment of the pinch, he passed directly to Collison, who did not stop the ball and continued to pass to Holiday .

Catch the ball and open the defense, directly break through the throw, score 2 points again, Holiday shouted wildly!

With 1 minute left in the game, after North Carolina passed halftime, Ellington blocked and made a direct three-point shot.

"Bang...", still playing iron, and the long rebound was controlled by Collison.

And with this three-point goal, North Carolina reluctantly began to foul tactics, and just like that, the game time slowly ran out.

"Wow! Wow! "UCLA fans set off a sea of white, and it was their moment of celebration.

"The game is over, 66-58, UCLA defeated the University of North Carolina, and the championship belongs to UCLA!" Reggie Miller exclaimed excitedly.

The players on the bench also rushed into the field, Li Ze was surrounded by his teammates, and everyone screamed excitedly!

Following everyone to celebrate wildly, Li Ze's heart was extremely satisfied at this moment.

"The perfect college curtain call, the championship feels so good, hehe!"