So I am the god of basketball?

Chapter 24 Watch carefully, I will only teach you once

The California Golden Eagles belong to the ancient giants of the NCAA.

In team history, it has won one championship and entered the Final Four three times. But these glories all occurred in the ancient 1s.

In the past 20 years, they have not reached the NCAA top 64.

But this year is different. With the recruitment of Jason Kidd, one of the "strongest high school students", and Lamond Murray, the Golden Eagles have their own "double gun."

ESPN recently rated each team in the NCAA Division I league, believing that this team is likely to represent the Pacific Ten Conference and enter the final national competition this year.

This is a very strong team on paper.

Even if Duke is fully equipped, it will not be easy for them to face such a team (the media believes).

Now that Old K has put Meng Lang on the bench, the initiative between the two teams suddenly belongs to the Jinxiong team.

Jason Kidd's ball-handling organization turned Murray into a precision-guided spear, hitting wherever he pointed, posing a great threat to Duke's flanks.

The two of them had an effect of 1 plus 1 being greater than 2.

The Jinxiong team, playing away from home, started the game with an 8-3 lead.

NCAA only has two halves, each half plays 20 minutes. And the attack time of each round is 24 seconds, which is longer than the NBA's 35 seconds.

This greatly reduces the offensive and defensive rhythm of both sides.

Therefore, the final scores of many NCAA games do not look very high.

A 5-point difference is already a big advantage.

It's just that the Golden Eagles seemed to have just finished their warm-up. Then they took the initiative to call a timeout. After the timeout, they began to defend Hurley and Grant Hill in a targeted manner.

Golden Lions head coach Lou Conant was keenly aware that the defending champion was without Laettner and lacked a stable shooting point. Therefore, after playing again, the Jinxiong team's defensive formation was very small.

Grant Hill made 3 of his first 2 shots, and Murray was completely unable to limit his breakthrough. To a certain extent, Lu took the initiative to call a timeout because he saw that he could still rush into the paint gracefully to complete the score. ——The Jinxiong team came with the belief of winning. Defeating the defending champion before the start of the new season helped them build confidence. Lu is very satisfied with new aid Jason Kidd. He believes that among this year's newcomers, there is no one better than this newcomer.

His change of formation was successful, and Hill's elegance was gone.

The worse thing is:

Hurley has been guarded by Kidd.

Regarding Kidd, in his scouting report, it is more about his organization and his passing.

But in fact, his defense, which he learned from "Glove" Gary Payton, is also the reason why he is so good.

At 12 minutes and 34 seconds into the first half, the score difference opened by the Jinxiong team reached 9 points!
  The point difference is almost in double figures!
  Cameron Arena, which was agitated before the game, was a little dull now.

They thought that today, facing the Golden Eagles, Duke would win the game with a clean victory and start their new season.

Why are they now the ones being completely abused?

We can't win without Laettner, right?
  Leitner is indeed our "eternal god" at Duke!
  At this moment, the Duke people in the audience missed Laettner even more deeply.

Just start singing directly:

Come back, Lightner!
  My proudest belief.

The 32nd is still fresh in my mind, and tears are flowing inexplicably.

I vaguely remember your appearance and your awesome kills.

Defeat all the enemies and you will not be tired even if you defend your title.

Old K's brows were already knitted together.

He arranged for Meng Lang to start as a substitute in this game, which may also be his only substitute game at Duke. I just want all Duke people to see clearly what Duke needs without Laettner, and what it can provide when Meng Lang comes on the court. ——This is very important. If you don’t do this, even if you win this game and the win is so beautiful, these Duke fans will think that it was Grant Hill who led the game. He is the leader at Duke. As a head coach for so many years, I know the arrogance and arrogance of Duke people very well!

To put it bluntly, he set up a stage for Meng Lang, just like Chuck Daly wanted the "Dream Team" to understand the team from losing and hired the NCAA sparring team.

This is what Leitner owed to Meng Lang.

If Leitner hadn't spoken out in front of the media, Meng Lang wouldn't have been subjected to so many extreme voices.

His "son" got into trouble, and as a "father" he had to wipe his "son's" ass.

However, looking at the Duke people who were being unilaterally abused on the court, for a moment, Old K suspected that he had underestimated the importance of Leitner and overestimated the abilities of these bastards.

Even without Meng Lang, he never expected that Duke would be beaten by his opponent. He couldn't help but worry whether Meng Lang's appearance could reduce the score for the team...

Do not!
  The high-spirited look of the Jin Xiong team was reflected in Old K's eyes. He doubted whether Meng Lang could stabilize the situation if he came on the court.

He is indeed a perfect newcomer, but he is just an 18-year-old kid!
  "give it to you!"

So much so that when he changed into Meng Lang, his entire lips trembled slightly.

The atmosphere in the auditorium is very depressing now. If Meng Lang fails to stabilize the situation and is further opened up, the Duke people's hostility towards him will definitely lead to overwhelming abuse.

Old K felt like he had messed up a bit.

He even felt that he had underestimated the Duke people's hostility towards Meng Lang.

Because when he stood up from the bench, there were boos immediately.

"Grant, have you had a bad stomach? Don't tell me you haven't. If you are beaten like this, you must have a bad stomach. Otherwise, it will ruin your perfect image in my heart!"

The good news is that Meng Lang came on the court amid boos from the audience, and as before, he made a joke with Grant Hill first.

This relaxed look made many people in the audience lower their heads. ——Meng Lang came on the stage. There were boos in the audience, but a dozen people immediately took out their notebooks and prepared to record them.

The super-trafficked rookie who was rumored to have kicked Jordan's butt is finally going to play.

Seeing that he was still calm and composed in such an environment, they quickly recorded this trait, and their eyes that were raised again showed curiosity unconsciously.

A very magical scene happened:

Before this substitution, Duke, whose offensive system was already shaky, actually made the first attack after the substitution very smoothly.

They also saw Meng Lang's playing style.

Grant Hill held the ball from the outside and crossed with him, then quickly gave the ball to his hands.

In front of the three-point line, facing another wing of the Jinxiong team who was only 1 meters tall according to visual inspection, Meng Lang, who was 90 meters tall, took a three-pointer and hit it directly.

The difference is 7 points!
  Scores were scored right from the start, and the ones who were most shocked were the Duke students in the audience.

The shouting boos immediately died down.

Everyone stared with wide eyes as they watched Meng Lang jogging back to defend on the big screen.

"Grant, let me teach you how to defend the strongest high school student in the United States. Watch carefully. I will only teach you once!"

The Jinxiong team's offense was smooth, but the key was that Kidd, who was holding the ball and organizing the game, played too easily.

Old K is also very aware of this. During this period, he made a defense switch, allowing Hill to face Kidd, but the defensive effect was not obvious. Hill didn't become an outstanding wing defender until the end of his career. Before his serious injury, his main energy was focused on the offensive end.

In response to Meng Lang's words, Hill just smiled and did not respond.

heart...

There are hundreds of millions of people who don’t believe it!
  Just [-] million points!
  Mainly because he is now familiar with Meng Lang's abilities.

The attitude and defensive awareness on the defensive end are really good. However, limited by his physical fitness and strength, his defense is only based on the toughness of his big frame, and his more aggressive personal entanglement ability is not outstanding.

Not much better than him anyway.

Kidd's explosive power is very strong. Even if he is not careful, he may be passed by in one step while being close to him.

How to deal with Meng Lang, who is not as explosive as him...

Eh?
  What are you doing standing there?

You should stick it up!

Hill was stunned...

Not only was he stunned, but Old K on the sidelines and the Duke fans in the audience, including Jason Kidd who held the ball to the top of the key, were also stunned.

Because Meng Lang did not defend Jason Kidd personally like Hill did before, but stood one step in front of the free throw line, set up a defensive posture, and just looked at him.

Kidd took a deep breath and silently uttered one word in his heart:

Gan!
  (End of this chapter)