no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 59 Idol, Did You Choose It?
At halftime, the score was 48-38, with the Tar Heels leading.

Although under the leadership of Xu Yong, the Devils played very hard, but there is a gap in the strength of the two teams. You must know that Ed Davis and Taylor Zeller are still sitting on the bench for the Tar Heels. A future NBA lottery player.

Of course, what is more important than the difference in strength is that the Tar Heels had a good outside touch in the first half. They made 12 of 6 shots from outside the three-point line, and their 50% three-point shooting rate made the Devils unable to shrink on the defensive end. .

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

Xu Yong's continuous blocks are very beautiful and enough to boost morale, but he can't do it every round.

Of course, the team's backwardness cannot conceal Xu Yong's excellent performance in the first half.

他半场得到了全队最高的10分，外加3篮板2助攻4盖帽1抢断。

This performance that filled the data column allowed him to be interviewed by reporters at the end of halftime.

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

However, in this short interview, the answer to one of the questions caused cheers and whistles from the scene.

That was when the reporter asked Xu Yong why he played so well and played so positively in the first half.

"Because Michael Jordan, he is my idol, I feel very motivated to see him on the scene." Xu Yong said truthfully.

When Xu Yong finished this sentence, the live camera was shown to Jordan for the first time.

Jordan smiled, then shook his head.

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

Now Xu Yong said it directly in front of the reporters, and said that he played well because of the motivation he gave him, which was tantamount to bragging about him in a different direction, so he must be happy.

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

He was the key to the Devils winning the score in the first half. Without him, the point difference would have been 20 points.

If he played so well in the second half, it's really uncertain who will win this game.

Others may not have reacted so quickly, but as the god of basketball, how could he not know about the touch.

North Carolina's outside 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 is his idol, he is very happy, but if Xu Yong finally led the team to kill North Carolina, he would not like it!

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

On the other side of the commentary booth, Kenny Smith asked "Magic" Johnson a question.

The commentary guests for this game have been settled long before the start of the semi-finals, and Johnson is one of the guests.

"Of course, they proved that they can come to this stage. If they can maintain the state of the first half, they have a good chance." Johnson replied without thinking.

He has to say this, because Arizona State University eliminated Michigan State University and entered the finals. If there is no chance, wouldn't it appear 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 personality, the other party would definitely be upset if he said that.

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

Of course, he didn't go deep into it. After all, it's up to God to feel like a three-pointer. Who said that North Carolina will definitely have cold hands in the second half?
The 15 minutes passed quickly, and after the intermission, the main players of both sides continued to return to the court.

The [-] fans at the scene continued to be agitated. The [-]-point difference is not too big even in the NCAA. It is really hard to say who will win.

And from the facial expressions and body language of the members of the Devils under the camera, it can be seen that as the lagging side, they are still fighting high.

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

Up to the offense of the Tar Heels, facing the tight defense of the Devils, they did not get a good chance to break through.

Lawson passed the ball to Ellington after a failed drive attempt.

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

"when!"

The ball bounced well, but ended up hitting the edge of the rim and coming out of the frame.

Jordan frowned, and Johnson felt his heart beating.

Although theoretically speaking, it is possible for the continuation and cooling of North Carolina's hand feeling, but in fact, these two possibilities are not subconsciously divided.

Because the matter of feeling hot is itself a small probability event.

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 protected the defensive rebound.

Offensive and defensive transition, the Tar Heels' defense is still airtight.

Although the three-pointer feels cold, it does not affect their defensive performance.

And they are now the leading side, and they can completely score two points with the Devils one after another.

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

At this moment, Qiao Dan unconsciously looked at Xu Yong.

One of the things he was worried about had already happened, and if the other happened again, tonight would be a night of carnival for the media.

Defense against Xu Yong was Thompson, who stood slightly behind.

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

Seeing this, Xu Yong directly changed direction to the left and made a posture to break through from the left, and Thompson's center of gravity quickly tilted to the left.

Among North Carolina's five starters, 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 meters tall and has a wingspan of 03 meters. He is a serious gibbon.

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

Green became a second-round pick by relying on his physical fitness and organizational talent, so he can only lose the draft.

Speaking of the present, the speed is too slow so that Thompson can only rely on the swing of the center of gravity to maintain the defensive position.

This gives Xu Yong a lot of room to play, and his current control ability is very handy against this type of player.

I saw him dribbling the ball under the crotch and quickly pulling it back to the right side. When he pulled it back, he directly hit the ball with a falling step, and then jumped up.

Thompson was completely dizzy, but his consciousness was good, so he jumped up and rushed out.

Although, this obviously late save will not cause much disturbance to Xu Yong.

After reaching the highest point in the air, Xu Yong exerted strength with his forearm, ecstatically pulled out a three-pointer and opened his hand to throw a .gif.

There was already a sound of admiration at the scene, not to mention whether he scored or not, the shot was so handsome.

After the basketball passed over Thompson's head, it drew a perfect parabola in the air.

"Shh!"

Hit the basket with precision!

"beep!"

The red light on the sidelines also turned on, it was just a buzzer!

"Hey, are you still defending against Xu Yong? It's a six-pointer here and there!" Zhang Weiping laughed and said in the live broadcast of Yangwu.

48:41.

Following Xu Yong's three-pointer at the buzzer, the mentality of both sides began to change.

Especially for the Devils, as the team behind, they can narrow the point difference as soon as the second half comes up, which is very strong psychologically.

They can catch up and they can reverse the game!

And at this time, Sandek quickly made tactical adjustments on the sidelines.

Under his signal, the Devils retreated to the defensive end and directly launched a 2-3 zone defense.

He caught the Tar Heels feeling cold on the outside, and then responded quickly.

Of course, he also has a gamble in doing this. If the Tar Heels throw a three-pointer, it will backfire, and it will bring a huge blow to morale.

The Tar Heels also had a very high tactical quality. Seeing the Devils put up a zone defense, Lawson quickly fired from a 45-degree angle on the left after passing the outside line back and forth.

Cooksix's hard-fought defense was a little slower, and the interference from this ball was very limited.

"when!"

But Lawson didn't make the shot!

The North Carolina fans at the scene were restless.

An NCAA game has 40 minutes. In these 40 minutes, there will be at least seventy or eighty rounds of offense and defense, and fifty or sixty shots. Among them, some rounds and shots will be called "critical moments."

This is also sometimes when we watch a game, there will be an intuitive feeling that a certain team loses because a certain ball is not scored.

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

Lawson's three-pointer just now belongs to this critical moment.

Sandek's excited punching reaction also illustrates this point.

If Lawson makes this three-pointer, he will give up the zone defense directly, because his bet is not much.

But now that Lawson doesn't make the shot, the zone defense will become the "weapon of mass destruction" of the Devils. Not only in terms of defensive effect, but also psychologically, it will put tremendous pressure on the Tar Heels.

In the transition between offense and defense, Harden signaled the weak side to pull away, and then passed the ball directly to Xu Yong to form the strong side.

The Devils are a team. Before DeRozan was in good shape, he would be fed more balls. Tonight, Xu Yong felt hot, and he would naturally give him more balls.

And the buzzer kick in front showed that Thompson couldn't defend Xu Yong one-on-one.

Xu Yong received the ball. This time he had plenty of time. He was not in a hurry to attack, but first observed the defensive formation with the ball in his hand.

After seeing that the Tar Heels had no intention of pinching, he quickly started with a falling step.

Thompson rushed forward immediately after seeing it, because he was afraid that Xu Yong would make another three-pointer.

Xu Yong kept his eyes on Thompson's shoulder when he fell down. After seeing Thompson's reaction, he didn't join the ball. Instead, he stepped on the ground with his right foot and directly passed Thompson in one step.

"Hey! Look, it's like going over a stake!"

Accompanied by Zhang Weiping's commentary from Yangwu, Xu Yong went straight to the penalty area of ​​the Tar Heels.

At this time, Ayers cleverly moved to the bottom corner. Hansbrough originally wanted to come to help defend, but Xu Yong's fake pass in the direction of Ayers directly forced him back.

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

"Oh!"

A tomahawk dunk directly to complete the end.gif!

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

5 points!
Xu Yong scored 5 points in a row in the second half, and the Devils were only 5 points behind!

The scene shot was once again given to Jordan.

Jordan looked up at the score at this time, with a serious expression.

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

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

　It’s another rough night, please vote~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)