Chapter 99: Delay, Prevent It
The margin was stretched to 9 points again, and it became Memphis 58:67 Butler!
With less than four minutes left, Memphis is still nearly 10 points behind, and with the terrifying home atmosphere at Butler University, even Li Kaiming himself feels a little tricky.
It's not going to be easy to fight now!
Pastner didn't call a timeout, but he gestured to the players on the pitch while shouting a word.
"Delays!"
The Memphis players know that this is Pastner's defensive strategy to deal with Hayward.
In the last five minutes, Hayward's shots were almost missed, and if he didn't defend it in a targeted manner, he would probably raise a monster with an explosive feel.
On the offensive end, after Kemp came to the front court with the ball, he still called a cover at a glance, Williams cut into the three-point line from 45 degrees, and then suddenly changed direction and ran out from 45 degrees on the other side.
Butler's defensive formation also changed with Memphis' movement.
Matt Howard had to switch defenses with Ryan Deke and follow Williams to the left outside the three-point line.
Kemp, who was holding the ball, saw that Howard was attracted to the other side by Williams, and immediately dribbled the ball out of the three-point line, and then hoisted the ball to Li Kaiming in the waist position.
Williams acted as a decoy in this offense, moving Butler's power forward Howard away from Li Kaiming's side to clear the latter's space for singles.
Daniel Mack, meanwhile, stayed as far away from the box as possible to prevent his opponent from suddenly trapping Lee.
When the fans at the scene saw that Li Kaiming was about to start his solo show again, they immediately broke out into powerful boos!
"Phew!"
In addition to the boos, there were also fans who spontaneously organized and neatly chanted in unison as Butler University defended.
"Defend! Defend! Defend! ”
The Memphis players only felt a strong pressure rushing towards their faces, as if they were not playing in the arena, but were being tried in court!
They seem to have turned into enemies of the whole world!
Under such tremendous pressure, Li Kaiming held the ball to face Andrew Smith's defense, and stuck the ball to the back position to prevent Smith from cutting the ball with his hands.
Then he raised his head and glanced at the situation on the field.
Andrew Smith's defensive style was also very clear, mainly to prevent Li Kaiming from breaking through, so he stood a meter away from the latter and then raised a hand.
In this position, with Li Kaiming's height and speed, he only needs to dribble the ball to go directly to the basket, and he can't help but be unguarded.
And Li Kaiming also saw Smith's jealousy of him, and first took a tentative step with his right foot to get the ball.
Smith's center of gravity immediately shifted to the right side of Li Kaiming.
After that, Li Kaiming quickly withdrew his right foot and stepped forward to the left.
Smith had to shift his center of gravity again.
After these two attempts, Smith's defensive center of gravity had lost its defensive focus, so he had to take a small step back to keep his balance!
But it doesn't matter if this step back, for Li Kaiming, who has a blazing hand at the moment, this small step, plus Smith is already quite far away, this will leave him almost an empty seat!
Don't vote at this time, wait for when!
So Li Kaiming instantly joined the ball and rose to the ground and made an elegant iron-blooded jumper!
Smith tried to control his body to interfere, but was too late.
The basketball flew over his head and fell into the basket with a thud to the boos of a large audience!
60:67!
Li Kaiming goes in again!
Lucas Oil Stadium was quiet for a moment, and with this goal, Li Kaiming has scored three goals in a row!
Even the craziest home fans can see at this time that the Chinese kid on the opposite side seems to have a different energy tonight!
Stevens still didn't call a timeout, they had a seven-point advantage and three minutes to go, so they were naturally not in a hurry.
Butler's offensive round, the crowd shouted Hayward's name again.
Their meaning is clear, give the ball to Hayward, and we're going to see Hayward's answer ball!
Hayward took the ball and still looked for Andrew Smith to block it, but this time Li Kaiming and Williams will not let them play easily.
At the moment when Andrew Smith's cover was formed, Li Kaiming suddenly took a big stride, rushed out of the three-point line, and pounced on Hayward with his teeth and claws!
Feeling the sense of oppression brought about by Li Kaiming's huge size, Hayward, who had no fluctuations in his heart, also flashed a trace of nervousness in his eyes!
So he had to dribble the ball and take a step back.
But this step on the back leg completely ruined his and Smith's blocking.
After Li Kaiming delayed this meeting, Williams, who was blocked by Smith, also got rid of cover and immediately ran over and stayed in front of Hayward.
Butler's first offense was defused by Memphis!
Seeing this, Hayward knew that it was useless to play another block with Andrew Smith.
I packed up my mood and prepared to Williams directly.
The enthusiasm of the audience is so high, if he passes the ball, I'm afraid the morale will be affected!
And he's also very good at this point, and as an NCAA star player, he has the confidence to score on Williams' head.
Even if the latter is the best defender on the outside at the University of Memphis!
There are more than a dozen seconds left!
Hayward dribbled to face Williams, and suddenly a scissor step accelerated, while the left ball protector jammed Williams' chest to prevent him from easily pulling the ball.
Williams' defensive ability is not covered, his physical fitness is very good, otherwise he would not become Memphis's outside defensive gate!
Although Hayward picked up speed, Williams kept his defensive position right and didn't leave any room for the former.
Hayward saw that the breakthrough was not good, so he was inside the three-point line, and changed the breakthrough to a back play, he was a group size No. 3 position, more than two meters tall, although Williams's physical fitness was very good, but the height was only one meter ninety-six.
No matter how good the physical fitness is, the 5 cm height difference is placed here, and the back play is naturally advantageous.
Hayward arched his back twice, and when he felt that the distance and rhythm were about the same, he suddenly turned around and came to the baseline, and then jumped out and made a step-back jumper.
Williams was quick, pounced the moment Hayward turned, and then stretched out his arm as hard as he could, disrupting Hayward's shot.
Li Kaiming, who was under the basket, saw Hayward's shot and immediately occupied the best rebounding position.
This back-back arc is very good, but under the interference of Williams's hard work, it still hits an iron!
Li Kaiming took off on the spot to collect the rebound!
The audience at the scene sighed and regretted when they saw that Hayward did not score the goal.
If that goal goes in, then Butler's momentum will go to the next level, completely overpowering Memphis.
On the commentary bench, before Hayward made his shot, Koslov was still praying in his heart that the goal would be scored.
But when Li Kaiming won the rebound, Koslov's expression was not good-looking.
This made the two Sharpe on the side laugh, "This is Hayward's first shot in the fourth quarter, why does your expression look like he didn't score a single one today?" ”
Hearing Sharp's teasing, Koslov's face darkened even more......
[Today's first update, thank you for your support, by the way, ask for votes~]