God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 84
At 3:30 p.m. local time on March 7, the 1997-98 NCAA National Championship Finals was held at the Alamo Dome, the home of the Spurs. According to the convention, the NBA game on this day will make way for the NCAA Finals.

The 65000-seat stadium was packed, and even the aisles were packed.Although the publicity in the media has been overwhelming, in the eyes of Americans who prefer college basketball, even a crushing game with great disparity in strength and weakness has a strong appeal and can attract many fans to watch the game.

When the Wildcats of Villanova University played, the cheers and screams of the fans almost toppled the ceiling of the arena. Standing on the sidelines, Chang Wei could feel the vibration from the ground, even with the people around him. People speak out loud.Last year, Villanova stopped in the national semi-finals, so he has never seen such a big scene.

Fortunately, several of Villanova's stars are not stage frightened, especially McGrady, this guy's desire to perform is almost breaking through the sky.Everyone else behaved well when they came out, at most waving to the audience, but McGrady performed a funny street dance on the spot. Although the dance was not very good, it managed to raise the cheers of the audience even higher. How many decibels.

In contrast, the Kentucky players didn't have such pomp when they played. Although the fans still cheered with dignity, the momentum obviously couldn't be compared with the courtesy received by Villanova.However, they should have been psychologically prepared for this, everyone's expressions were very calm, and they had no sense of being weak at all.

After all the players of the two teams showed up, they returned to the locker room to make final preparations for the game.Rappers did not arrange specific tactics for the players, but said angrily: "I will use a regular lineup for this game, and I will also play regular tactics. It's been a season, so I don't need to teach you more." ? If we win this game, we will be the champions, and our strength is far superior to Kentucky. Don’t worry about it, just take it easy, we can win.”

In Rappers' view, if the opponent is a strong enemy like North Carolina, it is not too much to be cautious as if facing the enemy.But this season's Kentucky is far behind North Carolina. Since Villanova can easily beat North Carolina, it is certainly no problem to win Kentucky, so there is no need to be nervous and arrange targeted training for the players. tactical.

But Rappers obviously forgot that a lion needs all his strength to fight a rabbit. If you don't take your opponent seriously, then you have to be prepared to be slapped in the face.At the beginning of the game, Kentucky quickly entered the state, and their top scorer Jeff Sheppard came up to the head start, hitting two consecutive three-pointers to help Kentucky start 6-0.

But Villanova's players didn't seem to wake up, or they just forgot their shooting touch in the hotel room.McGrady missed a jumper, Brand missed a hook at the basket, and the worst thing was that Allen even dunked an unguarded dunk. A strange aura spread over the Villanova players Diffuse.

Before Rappers could react, Kentucky had already led by double digits, but Villanova only scored a poor 3 points, including only one open goal.Seeing such a score, the fans on the sidelines were in an uproar. Before the game, everyone believed the predictions of the major media. They all believed that Villanova's championship was basically in their hands, but looking at the current score on the field , It is obviously different from what the experts said. It seems that Kentucky is more like the team that wants to win the championship.

Rappers had to take advantage of the dead ball to call a timeout. He felt that the process of the game was a little out of control, and he had to call a timeout to interrupt the opponent's scoring momentum.However, he is also a little puzzled about the state of the players. Is it wrong to let them relax before the game starts?
In fact, it is right for the players to unload their burdens and play the game, but combined with the pre-match media predictions, it is obvious that the players are a little too relaxed.When they can't get nervous during the game, the performance on both ends of the offense and defense can be imagined. To say that they are careless is flattering them. Do you still want to win like this?

Seeing the dejected looks of the players, Rappers was so angry that he pointed to the scoreboard and shouted: "Open your eyes and take a good look at the numbers on it, don't you think so? Are you ashamed? Judging from the score, we are the weaker team! With your current state, what qualifications do you have to talk about the championship? If you want to make the predictions of the media before the game come true, then give me Come up with the strength to breastfeed!"

During the entire timeout, Rappers did not arrange specific tactics, but kept cheering up the players, hoping to arouse their fighting spirit.After all, the team's basic tactic is the point forward, and the second tactic is the point center. These two sets of tactics have run through almost the entire season, and it seems that it is not necessary to take it out.

What Villanova lacks now is a spirit. As long as they can find the attitude of the last game against North Carolina, it will be easy to beat Kentucky, but who can stand up and lead the team forward?
Chang Wei didn't know, and Rappers didn't know either. Logically, McGrady should be responsible for this task, but this guy seems to have been dazed by the pre-match hype. Whether he can help the team stop the bleeding in time is still a problem.However, a three-core team has the benefits of a three-core team. If one core is misfired, there are two alternatives!

Battier is the first to stand out in Villanova's team. Although he is the only player who has not been assigned a lot of tactics, since Chang Wei used Dantley's talent card for him last time, his offensive desire There is a significant improvement.Even if he doesn't specifically arrange tactics for him, he can make full use of the loopholes in the opponent's defensive system.

Evans, who is facing him, can only be regarded as a role player. The only bright spot is his 58.2% two-point shooting rate, and his defensive contribution is close to none.And his height is less than 2 meters, Battier can shoot on his head.And Battier did just that. He singled Evans in the low post for two consecutive rounds, and easily sent the ball to the basket, giving Villanova a good shot of blood and scoring points. The difference narrowed to single digits.

Battier's performance also made Brand active. When McGrady was still a little confused, he resolutely took over the power to organize the offense and began to direct his teammates to play the tactics of organizing the center.Anyway, even if McGrady doesn't catch the ball, Kentucky will send someone to defend him, as long as he can hold the opponent's defense.

(End of this chapter)