Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 34 The speed of life and death

Both Ye Feng and Holland trusted the foul-making ability of Westbrook and Love, but they underestimated the tactical quality of Iowa State coach O'Neal.After the timeout ended, the Iowa State big center served and Peterson received the ball near the three-point line.He observed the situation on the court, with a sly smile on the corner of his mouth, and it was Westbrook standing in front of him at this time.

Peterson made a very experienced trial step, Westbrook was not fooled, he still firmly occupied the position to prevent the opponent from waiting for an opportunity to break through.Peterson was taken aback, but it wasn't too different. It would be a joke if UCLA's captain lost his position so easily.He patiently pulls the ball back, doing a series of crotch dribbles, trying to swing past opponents.Westbrook smiled contemptuously, and stretched out his arms, as if to cast Peterson in his shadow.Suddenly Peterson retracted his right foot while holding the ball over his head in a shooting position.

Although Westbrook still had some doubts in his heart, his athletic instinct made him react immediately-the whole person rushed directly to Peterson, as if to block the opponent's shot.His reaction was exactly in Peterson's arms. If he paid attention to his feet, he would find that Peterson didn't take off at all. Facing a point guard with a strong body like Westbrook, shooting directly without jumping is no different from looking for death. is a wise man.

Seeing Westbrook rushing up, Peterson had a successful smile on his face.When Westbrook's hand was about to touch him, he jumped up and threw the ball casually. Westbrook couldn't dodge in time, and slapped him hard on the arm. "Beep!" The randomly thrown ball naturally missed, but the referee signaled that Westbrook made a three-pointer foul, and Peterson got three free throws.

Seeing his opponent walking to the free throw line calmly, Westbrook's face was full of annoyance, and he secretly blamed himself: Why can't you control your hands and feet?I didn't even look at whether the other party was a fake move, and the whole person jumped on it directly. Is this all right?Give the opponent three free throws!If all free throws are scored, the team's momentum of chasing back will be interrupted again!

Peterson didn't feel the resentment in Westbrook's heart, and he made a steady free throw into the basket, and the score gap returned to 13 points.Shipp, who had the longest ball experience, saw some clues, he went up and patted Westbrook on the back, and said in a deep voice: "Russell, three-pointers are nothing, we just hit back in the next round! Westbrook nodded emphatically, signaling Love to send the ball to himself.

This time Westbrook vowed to avenge his shame, but he was still very steady and let Love pull out to set himself a screen, blocking Peterson on the other side, and he dribbled the ball directly into the paint.Seeing Westbrook rushing in easily, Wesley snorted coldly and came up from the weak side to defend.At this time, Westbrook's speed had already rushed up. Seeing that an opponent's player was blocking his way in front of him, he subconsciously made a turning motion.But I didn't expect Wesley to be very experienced. The coach gave them the instruction to cause the opponent to foul as much as possible under certain circumstances. Westbrook's high-speed dribble turn is undoubtedly a flaw that can be exploited in their eyes.

Just when Westbrook thought he could pass Wesley with this turn, the latter fell straight to his left elbow, looking like he was hit by his elbow .After Wesley fell, the referee's whistle also sounded, look at his gestures, this is Westbrook's offensive foul!Westbrook is going crazy, he's pretty sure there's hardly any physical contact between him and Wesley, and even if there is, there's no way he's going to knock him out with his elbow on the turn.

But the referee doesn't care what you think, he only believes in his own eyes.In his opinion, Wesley was indeed elbowed by the opponent, but it was just an incidental action when Westbrook turned around, so he only called a common foul.If Westbrook has obvious active intentions, then he will not be given a simple offensive foul, and the possibility of whistleblowing a malicious foul is not even ruled out.

Holland frowned. Westbrook's current situation is very bad. He has been called for personal fouls for two consecutive rounds, and the number of fouls has accumulated to four times in an instant. The NCAA rule is that when a certain player He will be sent off when his personal foul reaches five times, but now there are more than ten minutes before the end of the whole game, and it is quite difficult to survive the only remaining foul to the end.

And Westbrook's expression is no longer helpless, his expression is even a little hideous, because these two fouls are likely to ruin the team's efforts all night.In his opinion, this is the naked home whistle. If it weren't for UCLA's away game, these damn whistles would definitely be much less.

Seeing Westbrook getting into foul trouble, Ye Feng was also very anxious off the court.He stood up and begged Holland: "Coach, if you don't want to lose, let me play. Iowa State is obviously trying to catch Russell and make fouls. As long as he commits another foul, he will be off the field. At that time, our team can only be slaughtered!" Holland still stared at the players on the field without saying a word.

Westbrook, who was carrying four fouls, began to become restrained and kept avoiding physical confrontation. Rolle's strength was not enough to fight against the combination of Peterson and Garrett. For a while, Iowa State's backcourt was completely revitalized , Even the flanks and insiders became active one after another. UCLA can only give the ball to Love again and again, hoping that he can use the inside singles to continue the team's life.

But in this way, Iowa State's defense looks easier, they only need to focus on Love.Moreover, as an inside big man, it is difficult for Love to guarantee his physical strength after consecutive singles, which makes it impossible to get stuck in position when fighting for rebounds.If Mbah a Moute and Shipp hadn't consciously circled around the basket every time they scrambled for backcourt rebounds, UCLA's rebounds would probably have been blown out by their opponents.

Soon the game came to the last 5 minutes, and UCLA was still 18 points behind.Ye Feng couldn't bear it anymore, he strode up to Holland and said: "Coach, I have recovered now, I think the whole team is unwilling to lose here, but if I want to reverse, I must win now." Play! 5 minutes and 18 points, you still have a chance if you work hard!" Holland took a deep look at Ye Feng, but was instantly moved by his gaze.This is definitely not the look a patient should have!Sharp, fanatical, full of desire for victory, and a little worried about his teammates, Holland suddenly understood that Ye Feng would never be treated like an ordinary person!

Time was very short, he signaled Marshall to hurry up and measure Ye Feng's temperature.Ye Feng smiled: The coach is not as indifferent to the outcome of this match as he said before!Marshall checked the reading of the thermometer several times over and over again, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I can only say that we are lucky, Ye can play now."

The entire UCLA bench was jubilant, and Holland laughed too. He immediately asked the referee for a timeout, and asked Ye Feng to go to the player tunnel to do simple warm-up exercises.The five people who walked off the court were all confused, especially Westbrook. He finally saw the flaws in the opponent's defense and was about to go straight to Huanglong, but was interrupted by a timeout.

However, when the substitutes told him that Ye Feng could play, his complexion suddenly changed from cloudy to clear, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.At this time, Ye Feng had already returned, and there were slight beads of sweat on his forehead, obviously after warming up.Westbrook grabbed his shoulders and said with a smile: "Ye, I didn't have the confidence to win until now, you must come and save us later!" Ye Feng rolled his eyes: "Don't be yourself!" Just find a foul and get sent off."

Holland interrupted the two of them angrily, and said seriously: "After Ye comes on the court, he needs to shoot more three-pointers from the outside and try to form a deterrent, so that the pressure on the inside will be greatly reduced. Of course, a breakthrough is needed. Sometimes you still have to break through, and Russell alone can't handle it. I don't need to talk about defense, you can figure it out, if necessary, you can decide whether to use the frontcourt press, and continue to defend 2-3 at other times."

After Holland dry-mouthed and worked out the tactics for the players, the other four surrounded Ye Feng in the middle, and everyone had relaxed smiles on their faces, even though it seemed like a comeback was just a dream.Love smiled honestly and said, "Ye, it's really great that you can play, so that many of our tactics can be realized, and we are also looking forward to you showing a three-pointer to the five opponents!" Several other people nodded beside them.

Ye Feng clenched his fist quietly, but he still couldn't exert himself. It seems that the low fever really affected his condition.But he didn't admit this to his teammates, especially when they desperately needed him to lead the team to comeback and win.He smiled and said: "Kevin, I'm not as important as you said, am I? Anyway, I'm just one person. If I want to win this game, your help is indispensable. Now there are only 5 minutes until the end of the game." , but we are still 18 points behind. I know it is difficult to win, but if we don’t try, how do we know we can’t do it? Even if we lose in the end, we can still have a clear conscience because we have worked hard.”

He looked around and said firmly: "From now on, every second of ours cannot be wasted. This is no longer a game, but a life-and-death war! Our only goal is to keep ourselves alive !"

(End of this chapter)