At halftime, the score was 48-38, and the Tar Heels took the lead.

Although under the leadership of Xu Yong, the Devils are playing very hard, but there is a gap in the strength of the two teams, you must know that the bench of the Tar Heel team is still sitting with future NBA lottery players such as Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller.

Of course, more important than the difference in strength is that the Tar Heels felt too good on the outside in the first half, they shot 6 of 12 from beyond the three-point line, and their 50% three-point shooting rate made the Devils unable to shrink on the defensive end.

The result of not being able to shrink is that it is not able to form a good protection of the penalty area, which has been reflected in the opening game.

Xu Yong's back-to-back blocks are beautiful and morale-boosting, but he can't do it every round.

Of course, the team's backwardness could not cover up Xu Yong's excellent performance in the half.

He scored a team-high 10 points in the half, plus three rebounds, two assists, four blocks and one steal.

This performance that filled the data column allowed him to be interviewed by reporters at half-time.

The interview was not long, the team was behind, and Xu Yong wanted to go back to the locker room earlier.

But it was during this short interview that the answer to one of the questions drew cheers and whistles from the audience.

That's when the reporter asked why Xu Yong played so well and behaved so aggressively in the first half.

"Because of Michael Jordan, he's my idol, and I'm so motivated to see him live." Xu Yong said honestly.

When Xu Yong finished saying this, the live camera gave Jordan for the first time.

Jordan smiled, then shook his head.

From the moment Xu Yong's continuous block caught his attention, he knew that the little guy wearing No. 23 was his fan.

Now Xu Yong said it directly in front of reporters, and said that he played well because of the motivation he gave, which is equivalent to changing direction and blowing him, and he must be happy.

But the problem is, Xu Yong is now at Arizonada State University!

He was the key to the Devils' bite in the first half, and without him, the margin would have gone 20 points.

If he had played so well in the second half, it was really uncertain who would have won or lost this game.

Others may not react so quickly, but as the god of basketball, how could he not know the things about the feel.

North Carolina perimeter players were so hot in the first half, who can guarantee that they will still be hot in the second half?

So Xu Yong said that he was his idol, and he was very happy, but if Xu Yong finally led the team to really kill North Carolina, he didn't like it!

"Magic, do you think Arizonada State still has a chance in the second half?"

On the other side of the commentary seat, Kenny Smith asks "Magic" Johnson a question.

The commentators for this match were set long before the start of the Final Four, and Johnson was one of them.

'Of course, they've shown what they have to do to come to this stage and if they can maintain their form in the first half, they have a good chance. Johnson replied without even thinking about it.

He had to say this, because Arizonada State University eliminated Michigan State University to enter the finals, and if this is no chance, wouldn't it seem that Michigan State University is very weak?

This is actually the reason why he persuaded Jordan not to come to the scene, he knew that with Jordan's character, he would definitely be unhappy if he said this.

"Of course, North Carolina has a better chance because they are still leading by double digits." However, he immediately added that he really didn't want to have a bad relationship with Jordan because of the commentary of a game.

Of course, he didn't say it deeply, after all, it depends on God for this kind of thing to feel like a three-point hand, who said that North Carolina will definitely be cold in the second half?

Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and after the half-time break, the main players of both sides continued to return to the court.

The 80,000 fans at the scene also continued to be restless, and the difference of ten points was not too big even in the NCAA, and it was really difficult to say who would die.

And it can also be seen from the facial expressions and body language of the Devils team players under the camera that as the lagging side, they are still high-spirited.

Amid the cheers of the fans, the second half of the game continued.

Coming up to the Tar Heels team's offense, they didn't get a good chance to break through in the face of the Devils' tight defense.

Lawson gave the ball to Ellington after a failed attempt.

Ellington and Thompson played a similar pick-and-roll in the first half, and he made a quick three-pointer from the outside.

"Phew!"

The ball's trajectory was good, but it ended up hitting the rim of the basket and smashing out of the frame.

Jordan's brow furrowed, and Johnson felt his heart be pounded.

Although theoretically speaking, it is possible for North Carolina to feel continuous and cold, but in fact, these two possibilities are not subconsciously open.

Because the feeling of heat is a small probability event in itself.

This also means that the probability of North Carolina feeling cold in the second half is much greater than continuing to be hot.

Ayers successfully defended the defensive rebound.

The offense and defense switched, and the Tar Heels team's defense was still airtight.

Although the three-point shooting felt cold, that didn't affect their performance on the defensive end.

And they are now the leading side, and they can completely grind two points with the Devils one by one.

There was not much time left to attack, and the ball finally reached Xu Yong's hands.

Jordan's gaze at this time also looked at Xu Yong unconsciously.

One of the things he feared had already happened, and if the other happened again, it would be a media night of revelry.

It was Thompson who defended Xu Yong, who stood slightly back.

In the first half, Xu Yong only made one mid-range shot, and the remaining few goals were all for the basket.

Seeing this, Xu Yong directly changed to the left to make a breakthrough on the left side, and Thompson's center of gravity quickly tilted to the left.

Among the five starters in North Carolina, only Thompson failed to enter the NBA in history, and finally played for the CBA Liaoning team.

It's not because of his poor talent, he is 2.03 meters tall and has an arm span of 2.20 meters, a top gibbon.

His problem, similar to Draymond Green's, is that the pace is too slow.

Green relied on his physical fitness and organizational talent to become a second-round pick, and he naturally had to lose the draft.

In retrospect, the slow pace has left Thompson with a swing of his center of gravity to stay in defensive position.

This gives Xu Yong a lot of room to play, and his current ability to control the dribble is easy to deal with this type of player.

I saw him dribble under his crotch and quickly pull it back to the right side, and at the same time as pulling it back, it was directly a falling step to close the ball, and then he jumped up.

Thompson was completely stunned, but his consciousness was good, and he jumped up and pounced.

Although, this obviously late save didn't actually cause much disturbance to Xu Yong.

Xu Yong exerted his forearm force after taking off to the highest point, and the ecstasy pulled out three points and opened his hand to throw .gif.

There have been exclamations at the scene, don't say it first if you don't go in, this ball is called a handsome.

After the basketball went over Thompson's head, it cut a perfect parabola through the air.

"Huh!"

Hit the basket with precision!

"Toot!"

The red light on the sidelines also lit up, and it was a whistle ball just now!

"Hey, are you still guarding against Xu Yong? It's a six-point shot on the outside! Yang Wu's live broadcast seat, Zhang Weiping said with a laugh.

48 to 41.

With Xu Yong's three-point shot, the mentality of both sides on the court began to change.

Especially on the Devils' side, as the lagging side, they can narrow the gap as soon as they come up in the second half, which is very strong in psychological implications.

They can catch up with the point difference, they can turn the game around!

And it was at this time that Sandike quickly made tactical adjustments on the sidelines.

At his signal, the Devils retreated to the defensive end and went straight to a 2-3 combo.

He caught the outside of the tar heel team feeling cold, and then quickly responded.

Of course, there is also an element of gambling in his doing, and if the Tar Heel team throws in three points, it will backfire and will be a huge blow to morale.

The Tar Heel team also has a very high level of tactical literacy, seeing the Devils put on a joint defense, and after the back and forth transmission of the outside line, Lawson fired at a 45-degree angle on the left.

Cooks' hard save was a little slower, and the ball gave very little interference.

"Phew!"

But Lawson didn't make the shot!

North Carolina fans at the scene were restless.

An NCAA game has 40 minutes, and in these 40 minutes, there will be at least 70 or 80 rounds of offense and defense, and 50 or 60 shots, and among them, some rounds and shots will be called "key moments".

This is also the intuitive feeling that sometimes when we watch a game, we have the intuitive feeling that a certain team loses because a certain ball was not scored.

This kind of round or shot is not limited to the decisive moment, as not every game has a decisive moment.

Lawson's three-point shot just now belongs to this kind of critical moment.

Sandek's reaction to the excited punch also illustrates that.

If Lawson had made this three-pointer, he would have just given up the defense, because he didn't have much at stake.

But now that Lawson is not throwing, the joint defense will become a "weapon of mass destruction" for the Devils, not only in terms of defensive effect, but also psychologically, which will put huge pressure on the Tar Heel team players.

After switching offense and defense, Harden signaled the weak side to pull away, and directly passed the ball to Xu Yong to form the strong side.

The Devils are a team, and DeRozan will feed him more of the ball when he is in good shape before, but tonight Xu Yong's hand is hot, and the ball will naturally be more at his disposal.

And the whistle ball in front of him can be seen that Thompson can't prevent Xu Yong one-on-one.

Xu Yong received the ball, this time there was plenty of time, he did not rush to attack, but first observed the defensive formation with the ball in one hand.

After seeing that the Tar Heel Team didn't have the idea of pinching, he quickly started with a crash.

When Thompson saw it, he immediately pounced forward, which was because he was afraid that Xu Yong would pull another three-pointer.

Xu Yong's eyes kept staring at Thompson's shoulder when he fell, and after seeing Thompson's reaction, he didn't close the ball, but kicked the ground with his right foot, and directly exploded to pass Thompson in one step.

"Hey! You see, it's like a stake! ”

With Zhang Weiping's explanation on the Yang Wu side, Xu Yong went straight to the penalty area of the tar heel team.

Ayres moved a little more to the bottom corner at this time, and Hansbrough originally wanted to come over to help defend, but Xu Yong's passing feint in the direction of Ayres directly forced him back.

In the next second, Xu Yong kicked the ground with one leg and took off into the air......

"Bang!"

Directly a tomahawk slam buckle to complete the end .gif!

The Arizona fans at the scene instantly burst into overwhelming cheers.

5 points!

Xu Yong scored 5 points in a row as soon as he came up in the second half, and the Devils only had 5 points left behind!

The live footage was given to Jordan again.

Jordan glanced up at the score at this time, and his expression was serious.

The sense of crisis was already very strong, but there was no way, Barkley and Johnson both advised him not to come, but he finally [chose] to come.

Because he is such a character, if you don't persuade him, it's okay, the more you persuade him not to come, the more he will come.