God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 123
Seeing Colorado State's starting lineup in the second half, Old K's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't expect that the opponent would continue to deploy Palesio. Isn't this guy's three-pointers proven unable to shake Duke's defense? Yet?He glanced at McKay with some doubts, not knowing what this junior was thinking.

In fact, McKay has no other ideas. Palesio is already the best card in his hand. Although the three-pointer in the first half was not very good, he has no other choice.Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Duke's overall strength is much stronger than that of Colorado State University. If they trail behind by 13 points and start the second half, they can only give it a go.

But old K put all his attention on Palesio, and naturally ignored other people in Colorado State University.In fact, McKay did not directly put the starting lineup of this game, but replaced McCance with Svensey, who performed well in the first half, and let Palesio play point guard. Palesio's scoring organization took the lead.

Originally, Palesio was still a little apprehensive. Although Chang Wei once gave him more passing and organization training, he was still a scorer in the final analysis. He was a little afraid that he would not be able to organize the offense well and cause the team to collapse.However, when he stood on the court again, a flame naturally rose in his heart. He still remembered what Chang Wei said to himself during the intermission. As the leader of the team, if he does not stand up at this time, the team Who else can I rely on?

The first offense in the second half was Colorado State University's possession of the ball. Duke's players followed K's instructions and did not come to interfere, but continued to put on a 2-3 zone defense posture.Palesio took the ball from his teammate and moved forward expressionlessly. He didn't stop until one step beyond the three-point line, and began to direct his teammates to run tactics.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he raised his hand and threw a straight pass to the inside. This pass was very beautiful, and the speed was very fast because of its strength. Langdon and Avery didn't react at all.Goodwin on the inside received the ball smoothly, but Duke's players wrapped it up in an instant, and did not give him a chance to turn around and shoot.

However, Goodwin's receiving the ball was just a cover. Taking advantage of Duke's backcourt combination facing away from him, he passed the ball beyond the three-point line and directly gave it to Svensey.In the last 8 minutes of the first half, Svensey had already shown the Duke players his convulsive three-point shooting, and no one dared to let him shoot openly outside the three-point line.

Svensey took the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left, while Palessio called for an off-ball screen at a 45-degree angle on the right. Ford quickly pulled to the high position on the weak side to block people.If Langton and Avery go to double-team Svensey, Palessio can get the open shot; if they both go up one-on-one, Ford's screen is still solid.

Of course Duke's backcourt combination did not double-team, they could not let Palesio be in an absolute open position, so the two quickly made a division of labor, Langdon went to mark Svensey, and Avery watched Palesio.But they overlooked a problem, that is the size, the stronger Langdon should have been allowed to defend Palesio, after all, he can squeeze past Ford in a short time, Avery can't do it, and can only be defeated by Ford Stay firmly within the three-point line.

Although Svensey is a sixth man who likes to fight in chaos, it doesn't mean he can't pass the ball, and it's still such a simple transfer of the strong and weak sides outside the three-point line.One hit the ground, and the ball was in Palesio's hands. Through Ford's huge body, he dribbled, aimed at the basket, took a deep breath, jumped on the spot, and released the ball.

Everyone in the arena looked at the basketball flying in mid-air. The players and fans of Colorado State University held their breaths and prayed silently in their hearts.Perhaps God heard their voices, the basketball flew straight towards the basket, and went straight into the frame. There was a moment of silence in the auditorium, and then there was a burst of cheers and whistles.

People are sympathetic to the weak. In addition to the diehard Duke fans, the neutral fans present also stood up and cheered for Palesio's three-pointer. The NCAA has always been a hotbed of unpopularity. Everyone really wants to see how the rich teams capsize in the gutter. This can be regarded as a little black belly in human nature, right?
With this three-pointer, Colorado State University narrowed the point difference to 10 points, which is a great boost to the team's morale.If they can defend Duke's offense well in the next round, and then score another goal, then the point difference will be reduced to single digits, and it is not impossible to use this as an opportunity to play a wave of scoring spurts to tie the game .

Perhaps it was because of Palesio's hollow three-pointer, Duke hit the ball into the inside in twos and threes, but Maggette's turnaround hook that was bound to be scored was abruptly blocked by Ford.Suddenly the basket was in chaos, Patrick, Goodwin, Maggette and Przybilla fell to the ground one after another, just to fight for the ball in the next round.

Patick, who was the shortest in stature, grabbed the ball quickly with his eyes and hands, and threw it directly to the frontcourt without looking at it. Palessio, who was originally near the free throw line, took a big stride, and happened to be in the third half of Duke's side. Received the ball outside the line.He didn't even look at Langton, who was chasing up. After receiving the ball, he pulled up and shot a chasing three-pointer.

For a long time, Palesio has rarely shot such a ball. According to his usual style of play, fast break layup is the first choice. Even if someone is chasing him, he will wait for his teammates outside the three-point line. All in place, and then start organizing the attack again.But this time he was suddenly blessed, and then he made a blatant shot from beyond the three-point line.

This is not a hasty pursuit of the three-pointer to hit again. In less than 1 minute, Colorado State University narrowed the point difference to 7 points. If this situation continues, there will be a few more Recording three-pointers can really even out the difference.The old K on the sidelines couldn't help being stunned. A half-time break can actually make the same player show a completely different competitive state. What kind of magic did the opponent's coaching staff cast?
In order to interrupt the offensive rhythm of Colorado State University and to re-arrange tactics for the players, Old K decisively called the first timeout of the second half, and now it is only 1 minute and 12 seconds before the start of the second half. Thinking that the team would be forced to this point, he originally thought that Duke could be crushed as easily as in the first half.

(End of this chapter)