overlooking the pitch

Chapter 15 Spartan Defense

On April 4th, the semi-finals will start with the Duke University Blue Devils playing against the West Virginia University Mountaineers. The players of Butler University will naturally watch the whole game. After all, if they continue to go on, then the two The winner of the team will be their opponent.

The West Virginia Mountaineers did not continue their fairy tale. After reaching the Final Four again after a lapse of 41 years, facing the Duke Devils, they were directly almost missed by the Blue Devils troika in the first half. Breaking through, trailing the Blue Devils 31-39.Not only did they fall behind on the court, but the Blue Devils fans also completely suppressed the Mountain People's fans in the audience.

In the second half, they suffered a bigger blow. The core of the Mountain Rangers, Dashion Butler, was directly seriously injured after a pick-and-roll. With his expression and injured position, he has withdrawn from this game, and his eyes are full of unwilling tears, because he knows what his serious injury means to this team.

"They lost, there is no hope!" Coach Stevens shook his head, and he had no hope for the Mountainers to win this game.

Sure enough, in the next game, the Mountaineers, who lost Dashion Butler, did not show the spirit of sacrificing their lives. They were passive on the scene, passive in the score, and passive in mentality. Even if Duke slowed down Their offensive rhythm can still continue to expand their lead.In the end, Duke won easily.

"Okay, it's our turn, boys, let's continue our winning streak!"

However, in the locker room, Hayward was a little nervous and a little excited, and his hands trembled slightly. He looked at An Sheng, who was relaxing by his side listening to a song, and patted his shoulder: "Ann, are you not nervous at all? This is the final four!"

Seeing Hayward whose hands were trembling with excitement, An Sheng took off his earphones and smiled: "Gordon, if your hands keep shaking like this, I won't dare to pass the ball to you. Come on, man, you are ours." Offensive core, future lottery pick! Besides, Indiana is our home game, so we don't need to be afraid of them."

Stevens, who saw that the team was a little nervous, was still a little anxious, and he didn't calm down. He was hit by a wave of climax at the beginning of the game, so the next game would be difficult to play.But this guy An Sheng didn't feel nervous or stage fright at all when he played such a big game for the first time, and even started to do spiritual counseling.

"That's right, you don't have to be afraid at all. This is our home stadium. Your task is to go up and kick their ass hard and drive them back to Michigan, go, bulldog!" He roared out gracefully, and now that it was time to fight face to face, Stevens also lost his former demeanor, and his roar seemed to arouse the fighting spirit in the hearts of the Bulldogs.The team members chanted the slogan "go bulldog" and walked towards the field.

The Bulldogs tasted the sweetness of the small lineup in the last game. Even without the frame protection ability of the big center, they can still use the small lineup to quickly rotate defense to solve the defensive end problem.

The Spartans lost their core player Carlin Lucas before the start of the championship. Their outside line was point guard Corey Lucas who replaced Carlin Lucas. The guard team is now the scoring leader Darrell Summers, but there are sophomores Draymond Green and Remar Morgan in the interior.All of them are very good defensive players.

The arena of the Final Four - Indianapolis Arena is only 5.6 miles away from Butler University. This arena has gathered tens of thousands of Butler fans. Some of them are college students and former college students. They are one by one All wearing Bulldog support T-shirts, including Anson's parents and Emma Watson, and they sat in the front row.

As the basketball soared into the air, the Bulldogs and Spartans battled for the final championship seat in this arena, as in the Colosseum.

Matt Howard got the ball first by virtue of his height. After receiving the ball, Shelvin Mack quickly advanced to the opponent's half. The first attack is very important.

The Spartans' defensive level remained very good. The Bulldogs failed to find a chance for several passes, and finally had to be handed over to the inside to finish.However, under the interference of Drummond Green, Matt Howard hit the iron directly with this ball.

Anson didn't run out of space in the first attack, and he didn't get a chance to catch the ball. Remar Morgan's defense against him was very successful. Since yesterday, his coach Tom Izzo has mentioned this China to him. Man, on the defensive end, I have to stick to him.

"Chinese boy, don't try to get rid of me easily today." The No. 2 forward of the Spartans is very tough in defense, and he is just an ordinary member of this Spartans team.

This team of Spartans is like the group of people in ancient Greece, using their own physical strength to continuously oppress the bulldog's offensive space.In terms of physical confrontation, the bulldog is obviously inferior to the Spartan.Despite the psychological preparation, the Bulldogs were beaten 12:5 by the opponent in the opening game. For the game between the two defensive teams, this point difference is conspicuous enough.

All three of Hayward's shots hit the iron, Shelvin Mack, a strong guard, fell into a fierce body collision with the opponent, and Anson even only touched the ball three times.Every player in the Bulldogs is limited.

"Referee, these are not normal basketball actions. You shouldn't indulge them like this." Stevens was so excited that he almost walked into the field. In his opinion, this was not a basketball game at all, but a football game. "Even though we're playing football, we're playing basketball."

However, Stevens' angry protest did not have any obvious effect. The referee had already had a clear idea of ​​the scale for the penalty in this game, which was to encourage physical confrontation.

"The game has fallen into a very wrong rhythm. The Bulldogs seem to be unable to find a way to break the Spartans' defense!" Reggie Miller was very calm about the situation on the court, which was different from the previous offensive battle. In this game where the physical confrontation is not strict, it is destined that whoever defends more resolutely and fiercely will win the final victory.

(End of this chapter)