professional shooting guard

Chapter 69 ACC Championship

The game started on March 03, and Duke University got a precious rest day.

After days of fighting, Zhang Zifeng was already exhausted.

On March 03, a day's rest is very important to Zhang Zifeng.

On this day, Zhang Zifeng did not even continue the previous extra training, but just did daily training and shooting practice to maintain his touch.

On March 03, the ACC finals between Duke University and the University of Notre Dame officially kicked off.

Players from both sides of the game began to enter the court to warm up. ESPN's commentators sat on the technical stage and broadcast the game live.

Brin looked at both sides of the court and asked, "Mark, who do you think Duke or Notre Dame will win?"

"I'm not sure. These two teams are very strong, and whoever wins is possible!" Jackson shook his head and said.

"Who do you think wins? Jeff!"

Van Gundy Jr. said, "To be honest, I think Duke has a better chance of winning. The University of Notre Dame has a strong small forward Beechum, but Duke has the best shooting guard in addition to Parker."

……

With the explanation of the live broadcaster, the game officially started.

Notre Dame: Jackson, Connaughton, Beacham, Prueger, August.

Duke University: Cook, Zhang Zifeng, Parker, Jefferson, Plumlee.

Plumlee's jumper gave Duke the upper hand.

Duke took the lead in attacking.Parker faced Beachem, and the two top small forwards faced each other head-on.

Continuous shaking, retreating steps, fake moves and deception suddenly stopped.

"Shh!"

Parker made a jump shot from the penalty area, and the basketball fell steadily into the basket after crossing an arc.

Facing Beacham's defense, Parker made a decisive shot.

Speeding up, Beachim sank, and in the blink of an eye, his fast-moving figure had reached the inside line, received the ball and flew into the air, facing Parker's interception.

Receive the ball, pull the bar, follow the opponent to get the ball to the hoop.

The cross-step dribble, the sudden acceleration of the dribble, and the sudden acceleration of Parker's slender figure, also rushed into the inside line at a high speed, soaring into the air and looking back at the moon, the ball spun and rubbed the backboard and fell into the basket.

As soon as they came up, the core of the two teams showed their determination to win.

Cheers, exclamations, exclamations....

Enthusiastic shouts sounded from all directions, and the sound was deafening.

The warm atmosphere in the arena was pushed to a new climax by the detonation of this ball again.

In this game related to the championship, the two sides are obviously bound to win.

In the first five and six minutes, the score between the two sides was tied at 6:14, with Duke University leading by 16 points.

"The cores of these two teams have performed very well, and it can be said that they have shown their best form!" Brin praised.

Van Gundy Jr. also said: "This game is to determine the league championship, and they will voluntarily go all out to defeat their opponents!"

"In this tense game, which team will take the lead in making changes. For the core of the two teams, Parker and Beachem, which one of them will be better in today's game!" Breen said .

"These two are game-changing people, and their performance can be said to directly determine the outcome of the game!" Jackson said.

Van Gundy Jr. turned his head and asked Brin, "But have you forgotten that Duke also has a super scorer."

"What do you mean?" Brin asked.

"Duke and Notre Dame have good players at small forward, but Duke also has a strong shooting guard Zhang Zifeng. He is one of the best shooters in the ACC. As long as Zhang Zifeng is on the court, Notre Dame can Don’t dare to double-team Parker. As long as Duke University freezes Beachem very well, Notre Dame’s offense will be greatly reduced. But Duke University’s offense is limited, and Zhang Zifeng will take on the heavy responsibility of scoring!”

As the game progressed, the coaches of both sides began to strengthen their defense in unison.

The core players on both sides who were active in the first half began to be restricted.

The score was slowly increasing amidst the anxiety. Players on both sides played very cautiously, for fear of making mistakes, and gave the opponent a chance while waiting for the opponent to make a mistake.

In the 7th minute of the first half, Cook broke through and scored.

"Shh!"

Zhang Zifeng got open, and the accurate pass allowed him to complete a comfortable shot without defense.

Shoot, score, score!
Zhang Zifeng made a three-pointer, but what Zhang Zifeng and Van Gundy Jr. did not expect was Zhang Zifeng's only shot in the first half.

In the 9th minute of the first half, Zhang Zifeng ran out of space.

Parker forcibly broke into the inside line, relying on his height advantage to forcibly dunk on the opponent's head.

In the 14th minute of the first half, Zhang Zifeng ran to the bottom corner and stretched out his hand to signal a pass.

Parker quickly cut to the inside again, jumped up and made a mid-range shot.

In the 18th minute of the first half, Zhang Zifeng took advantage of the cover, ran to the left 45 degrees, waved his hands desperately, and told Parker that I was completely open.

"Shh!"

The top of the arc was beyond the three-point line, Parker turned a blind eye to Zhang Zifeng's waving, and directly jumped up to meet Beachim to shoot.

An arc was drawn.

"Shua!" With a sound, the basketball hit the net.

Parker played unprecedentedly tough and decisive, as if to rely on this fact to overwhelm Beachem.

With the whistle of the referee, the first half ended.

Duke 41:38 University of Notre Dame, leading by 3 points.

Parker performed very well, making 14 of 8 shots and scoring 18 points at halftime.

In the sports game, Zhang Zifeng made a three-pointer.

Old K was quite satisfied with the team's performance in the first half. During the break, he just emphasized that the players should put more pressure on the opponent on defense and try to force the opponent to make mistakes.

Back at halftime, although Zhang Zifeng didn't score many points, Old K still kept Zhang Zifeng on the court.

Zhang Zifeng is the most trustworthy shooter.

Even if Zhang Zifeng doesn't shoot the ball.His defense against Notre Dame on the court is a deterrent, containing the opponent's defense and creating space for Parker to shoot.

This is also the biggest reason why Old Coach K, knowing that Zhang Zifeng had a problem with Parker's cooperation, still wanted to keep him on the field.

In the second half, Parker opened up completely.

He seemed very excited and decisive this time around.

As soon as he came up, he didn't wait for the players from both sides to settle down, and he directly shot a three-pointer.

Parker felt very good today, hit.

Parker belongs to the kind of super player who can't be suppressed once he rises.

In the next round, Parker shook Beachem again and made a mid-range shot.

Parker's strength was vividly displayed, tearing apart the iron wall of the University of Notre Dame again and again.

Whether it is a solo fight or a passing organization, Parker has shown top strength.

Without comparison, there is no depth.

Under Parker's brilliant performance, everyone finally understood why Parker's draft pick was higher than Beecham's in the eyes of scouts.

Seeing Parker's momentum, the University of Notre Dame decisively called a timeout.

Back from the timeout, Beacham, not to be outdone, took advantage of his physical advantage to actively cut into the inside and attack the inside by scoring in the penalty area.

The strong bodies of the University of Notre Dame players endowed them with the capital to attack the opponent's inside line in turn, and Beachem is the core of the offense, and has been fighting Parker in the penalty area from beginning to end.

Of course, it is impossible for the head coach of Duke University not to make any tactical adjustments at such a critical moment.

The tactical change of tightening the inside line was quickly reflected in the offense.

When the offense and defense were switched, Parker cut into the interior with lightning speed on a cover from the outside of Duke University. Facing Beacham's defense, he soared into the air.

Parker, who scored, did not cheer, but shouted loudly while running back in a hurry.

"Get back on defense!"

The Duke University team, which quickly returned to defense, had already returned to the three-point line to arrange the defense line before the opponent attacked, and did not give the opponent a chance to fast break.

Plumlee's tall body and strong physique became a barrier for Duke University's last line of defense.

Under the shrinking defense, the efficiency of Notre Dame scoring in the penalty area is greatly reduced.

The basketball was once again passed to Beacham. Beachem attacked with his back and squeezed into the inside line with strength. Under the attack of Parker and Jefferson, he turned and jumped up, raised the basketball and dunked towards the basket.

"boom!"

Plumlee was under the basket and slapped the basketball solidly to block Beachim with a dribble.

Beachum's huge body lost its center of gravity in the air and almost fell down.

However, Plumlee's block performance caused warm cheers from all the Blue Devils fans.

The Duke University players were also encouraged and their momentum increased.

momentum!

The momentum is up, the blood is boiling, and the performance of Duke University players on both ends of the offense and defense is more active.

With this time as the dividing point, the situation of the game began to deflect.

The head coach of the University of Notre Dame Zhi requested a timeout again at this time.

If the opponent is allowed to continue to widen the point difference, the next game will be difficult to play.

The game restarted with no substitutions on either side.

Notre Dame's players can score well in the paint, but lack good pitchers.

When Duke University hoarded the inside, Notre Dame's players were still vigorous, but the offensive efficiency was not high.

The situation has gradually turned to Duke University.

"Flute!" The whistle sounded, Parker fell to the ground, and Beachim stopped with the ball.

"Bumping and fouling!" The referee gave a firm penalty.

The University of Notre Dame saw that the situation was not good, and the time was slowly passing, so it was anxious, and it couldn't help but make big moves.

Although Beacham is also one of the few small forwards in the ACC, he is still a bit behind Parker.

At least the long-range shooting ability is not as good as Parker.

At this point in the game, Duke University is getting more and more courageous.

Looking back at the University of Notre Dame, Beecham, who has not rested for a minute since the game, is quite tired.

When Parker rested, Zhang Zifeng was still playing with a group of substitutes.

The University of Notre Dame has no one to keep the firepower after Beacham is gone.

17 minutes into the second half, even if they were already 10 points behind.Beacham still didn't give up.

Once again, Beacham proved his tough physicality.

"Bang!" Connaughton's shot hit the iron, and Beachem rushed inside, jumped hard, grabbed the rebound, and then quickly jumped up to hit the basket and score a goal.

Beachim gasped heavily as his feet landed on the ground.Sweating profusely, Beacham's jersey has been completely soaked in sweat.

"Return to defense, quickly return to defense!" Beachim roared loudly, and he ran desperately to return to the basket before the opponent's fast break was in place.

The University of Notre Dame used all its last bit of strength.They are desperate.

Under this desperate defense, Duke University's offense was blocked.

At the critical moment of this game, the Duke University team also showed a desperate momentum.

In the last few minutes of the two teams, the offensive efficiency of both sides was not high.

"Eight, seven, six..."

Duke fans are counting down the clock.

Although the University of Notre Dame did not give up until the last minute, Duke University won the game by virtue of the advantage established at the beginning of the second half.

At 87:73, Duke University defeated the University of Notre Dame by 14 points and won the ACC championship.

Although they won the league championship, although the Blue Devils fans still shouted and celebrated enthusiastically.

But players including Zhang Zifeng felt that the excitement was not as strong as the victory over North Carolina in the previous game.

I don't know if it's because I won more league championships, or because I think beating North Carolina is more important than the league championship.

The enthusiasm of the fans faded a little, and Zhang Zifeng's mood became even worse.

He felt like he was out of Duke's tactical system today. He was still active in running, but he was running around like a headless chicken.

After the whole game, except for a few defensive performances, it was almost useless on the offensive end.

He played 30 minutes, made 5 of 2 shots, and scored 8 points with a few free throws.

Even Hood, who came off the bench for 19 minutes, scored more than himself. He made 13 of 5 shots and scored 13 points.

The only thing that made Zhang Zifeng happy was probably the selection after the game.

With an average of 13.7 points per game, Zhang Zifeng overwhelmed Hood's 12.2 points and was selected into the ACC second team.

After the game, the league selected the ACC first team.

First Team: Ennis (Syracuse), Hancock (Louisville), Parker (Duke), Johnson (North Carolina), Plumlee (Duke)

The second team: Cook, Zhang Zifeng, Beacham, McAdoo, Jackie.

Duke qualified for the NCAA Tournament, although Notre Dame unfortunately did not win the league championship.

But not surprisingly, he will be invited to participate in the NCAA championship.

(End of this chapter)