Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 20
The University of Arizona is located in Tucson, Arizona, and was founded in 1885. Their school team, the Arizona Wildcats, has trained many talented guards for the NBA. In 1997, they defeated the University of Kentucky to win the NCAA championship. The team leader at the time was Later Kings point guard "White Devil" Mike Bibby.In addition to Bibby, a large number of players including Arenas, Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson and Iguodala are from the University of Arizona.

But this time, Ye Feng's opponent was also a freshman named Jerry Bayless, who was selected to the best team in Arizona by "Arizona Republic" four times in a row during high school.At the same time, their small forward should not be underestimated. Chase Budinger, a high-quality wing who averaged 15.6 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, was the Wildcats' leading scorer.

Holland doesn't care too much about the strength of the opponent's players. No matter how strong Bayless is, he can't deal with two people at the same time. His only concern is that the two rookies in the starting lineup, Ye Feng and Love, can't cope with the noise of the away fans. Voice.After getting out of the car, he pulled Westbrook over and asked in a low voice: "Russell, as the captain of the team, have you explained to the two rookies how to deal with the away game? You must know that this is your responsibility as the captain. one."

Westbrook patted his chest and said, "Of course, I ran directly to their dormitory and told the two of them." At this moment, Love passed by the two of them. Although he was white, his face was even more serious now. He seemed pale, obviously hearing the loud drumming noise in the arena.He had tried his best to maintain his composure, but his trembling legs betrayed him.When stepping on the last step, Love almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, his teammates quickly helped him, which saved the team from reducing staff before the game.

Holland shook his head and asked suspiciously: "Did you really tell them?" Westbrook was also dumbfounded, and he said aloud: "I really... really told them... I can swear ..." Holland sighed, and said: "Forget it, forget it, what are you swearing? But this game is difficult inside!"

When they walked into the arena, other players had already started warming up under the leadership of Black. Of course, Love was still out of shape, and his usually accurate mid-range and long-range shots hit the basket directly. Dezhi frowned.The fans who entered the field early also noticed this big white man who had become a habit of making iron, and soon they would start applauding as soon as Love made a shot, obviously booing.

Westbrook went up to pat him and said, "Kevin, this is just a warm-up match, don't be nervous, but you'd better learn to adapt to such a scene as soon as possible, because in the future the away fans will boo you. More." Love nodded stiffly, but it seemed he didn't listen at all.

In stark contrast to him is Ye Feng standing on the free throw line.He kept catching, shooting, and hitting the ball, as if cutting off all the sounds of the outside world, and only sent the ball into the basket again and again according to his own movements.Westbrook asked strangely: "Ye, why did you suddenly start practicing free throws? And under such interference, you actually scored all free throws!"

Ye Feng smiled lightly: "Didn't you notice? In fact, we rarely notice the interference from the sidelines during the game, especially when we are attacking with the ball, our attention will be completely on the ball. It is difficult to take into account some things outside the court. But free throws are different. In my opinion, this is the easiest but hardest way to score on the court, because free throws are most likely to be interfered. So I will experience it in advance now. The feeling of booing free throws."

Westbrook's eyes widened. He felt that Ye Feng was not like a rookie who just started playing in the NCAA. His idea sounded quite feasible.As for why Love has been stuck in a tense mood and cannot get rid of it, Westbrook attributes it to the difference in understanding between people.

Seeing that Love was obviously out of shape, Holland solemnly said before the start of the game: "In this game, we will start from the outside, pay attention to rebounding inside, don't pull outside the three-point line after the pick-and-roll, and go straight down to attack the basket ...Kevin, you are in poor form, you came off the bench for this game and Lorenzo started."

Everyone was stunned. Although Loew seemed to be out of shape, he didn't expect the coach to put him on the bench directly.As for Lorenzo, everyone sees his strength during training. He can only be regarded as a qualified substitute. blow up.

After the game started, everything was as expected. UCLA and Arizona are almost as good as water. If you make a shot from outside the three-point line, I will directly eat it in the low post. One is the main outside line and the other is the main inside line. It seems to be somewhat harmonious.As everyone in UCLA thought, Lorenzo couldn't stop Arizona's center Jordan Hill in the low post, and was even repeatedly scored by the opponent's smaller players.

The backcourt combination of Westbrook and Ye Feng firmly suppressed Bayless, but on the basketball court, it is obvious that the closer to the basket, the easier it is to score. Hill's shooting percentage is higher than theirs, not 01: 30 points, the score is very stable.And on the defensive end, Bayless still caused some trouble to UCLA's backcourt. His strategy is: I can't score, and you don't want to score easily.

In 15 minutes, Bayless only scored 4 points. It can be said that the defense of Westbrook and Ye Feng played a big role, but Hill scored 8 points and 6 rebounds on 14 of 5 shots, almost hitting UCLA's inside line. became a sieve.Facing a "black and tough" center like Hill, Lorenzo had no choice but to rely on hard resistance. Even so, he had committed two personal fouls early on. In desperation, Holland quickly let Lorenzo In the end, Loew was sent.

Some fans began to laugh when they saw the white center who was crazy about ironing before the game was replaced.The fans who came into the stadium just before the start of the game looked confused and asked others. After learning the reason, they also laughed, and soon began to "cheer" Love with boos.

Ye Feng frowned. According to what she knew about Love, this guy was already frightened by the boos of the away fans. Let alone attacking and defending at the basket, he was lucky to not make mistakes after giving him the ball.He was about to tell his teammates not to hit the ball inside, and Westbrook passed the ball to Love with a hit.

Originally, according to Love's technical style of play, it is natural to face a rough guy like Hill, but at this moment he is already in a mess, and his movements with the ball are not as smooth and natural as usual.The power forward Johnson, who was assisting the defense, took the ball away at the right time. A successful counterattack by Arizona widened the point difference to 11 points.

It's only been 20 minutes, and few coaches will call a timeout now, basically it's up to the players themselves to adjust to the situation on the court.Ye Feng and Westbrook glanced at each other, both of them felt helpless, Love had become the team's weakness, he couldn't hide on the defensive end, and he didn't help much on the offensive end.Now one can only hope that Love's screens can be a little bit more normal, otherwise this game will be more difficult.

But again they were disappointed.This time Westbrook gave up the ball to Ye Feng, and he went to the bottom corner to prepare for an inside cut.Ye Feng was controlling the ball at the top of the arc, shouting loudly for Love to pull out to make a pick and roll, but Love turned a deaf ear to it, and when Ye Feng called for the second time, he seemed to be awakened, and ran to the ground honestly. One step inside the three-point line to make a wall.

Ye Feng breathed a sigh of relief: It's fine if he can play pick and roll.But when he bypassed the screen and went inside, Loew lost his mind, and Ye Feng was almost dumped by the opponent.Seeing that Love didn't keep up, Ye Feng cursed secretly, so he jumped up and passed the ball to Shipp on the 45-degree flank. It's not that he didn't see Westbrook guarding the bottom corner, but now he's in the three-second zone It's already packed like a can of sardines, even if you break through from the bottom corner, you can't get to the basket smoothly, let alone Westbrook's very unreliable outside long-range shot.

Hipp had no other way, he took a step inside, pulled it up and shot.The ball bounced a few times on the rim, and it went straight in. It was a lucky ball, and the point difference returned to 9 points.Now the University of Arizona fans were dissatisfied. They all stood up and booed Shipp who just scored a goal. Suddenly, there was almost no sound in the arena except for the overwhelming boos.Fortunately, Shipp is already a proven veteran (2004-05 season began to play for the UCLA Bruins), these boos may make others feel uncomfortable, but to him it is nothing more than a trivial matter.

The two sides fought back and forth for a few more rounds, just as Ye Feng expected, Loew became a burden on the field, his confidence had been destroyed by ferocious boos, although his personal mistakes seemed insignificant. Many times, but teammates made mistakes many times due to their own problems, and the point difference gradually widened to nearly [-] points.

After Budinger hit a three-pointer, the University of Arizona led UCLA by 22 points, and Holland had to call the fourth timeout of the first half.Love sat down on the chair, covered his head with a big towel, and said nothing.The teammates stepped forward to comfort them, but were stopped by Black.It can be said that such a huge point difference is almost all due to the failure of the inside, and Love is the one who is most responsible, even if his downturn is due to the boos of the fans.

Holland's face is very serious, and the situation is not optimistic now. Whether it is Lorenzo or Love, Hill on the opposite side can get whatever he wants in the interior, and as the game progresses, it is difficult for outside players to continue to guarantee their shooting percentage .

He took a deep breath, and was about to arrange tactics for the players, but Ye Feng's voice sounded from the side: "Coach, why don't we play small ball!"

(End of this chapter)