Today's Lucas Oil Stadium is packed with seats, but what is different from the previous times is that more than 80% of the audience today are either wearing dark blue Butler University short-sleeves or holding up their hands to cheer for Butler University. Looking at the cheering sign, there are only a few Memphis fans among the sea of people. If you don't squint carefully, you can't find anyone there!
Before the game started, around the half of Memphis' warm-up, fans had already begun to boo the Memphis players, especially Li Kaiming.
If his ball goes in, the audience under the basket will shout loudly, "Hurry up and shoot, you won't be able to make the shot when the game starts!" followed by uniform boos!
If he doesn't make the shot, the fans will yell, "If he doesn't make the shot now, he won't make the shot when he comes on the court!" followed by a tsunami of boos.
Li Kaiming was amused by these cute fans, so his way of coping was that once the ball failed to go in, he would immediately rush into the penalty area, pick up the missed basketball, and then perform a shocking dunk!
Listening to the whine coming from the baskets and baskets on the court, the fans on this side are obviously not so active.
This guy is so violent!
Many fans began to wonder in their hearts, this Chinese boy is so fierce, can their own players be able to withstand him?
The game started immediately. Pastner called all the Memphis players over, and then said to the players gathered in a circle, "Remember what I said, don't be reckless, follow our pre-game strategy, if all If our tactics fail, then give the ball to Lee and Elliott!"
Everyone nodded seriously.
Seeing the players walking onto the court, Pastner stared at their backs and slowly clenched his hands.
You always say that I will be beaten by Stevens, let's see...
It has never been just Li Kaiming or the Memphis players who have to prove themselves. Pastner also needs a hearty victory.
At the referee's signal, the players from both sides gathered in the center circle, and the others stood evenly outside the circle. Li Kaiming and Butler center Andrew Smith stood in the circle, preparing to jump the ball.
The referee took a look at the positions of the players on both sides, then signaled to the technical table, ready to start the timer, then walked to the middle of the field, held the ball above his head with one hand, then a whistle blew, and threw the ball vertically into the sky!
The NCAA March Madness semifinals have officially begun!
Li Kaiming and Andrew Smith took off almost at the same time, but Li Kaiming's explosive power once again gave him the upper hand. The ball flew to the highest point and he flicked it, and the ball was in Memphis' hands!
The Butler University players immediately returned to their backcourt and began to lay out their defense.
Stevens on the sidelines nodded slightly. This guy was very fast, just like what he saw in the game video.
Kemp slowly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt amid boos from the audience, and then began to direct his teammates to move.
Butler University adopted a regular 2-3 zone defense formation today. The most restrained defensive formation is breakthrough players, but it will be defeated by inside players with shooting range.
It seems that Stevens has also studied Li Kaiming very deeply. Although Li Kaiming averaged a high score per game after starting, the distribution of scores was basically inside the penalty area, with only a few sporadic attempts outside the penalty area in each game.
As for the three-pointer, Stevens, who believes in mathematics, still classified it as luck.
Thus, today's defensive tone was simply set.
But Butler's 2-3 zone defense is different from other teams' zone defenses. In addition to being restrained by inside players with range, players with strong passing abilities can also cause devastating blows to the zone defense.
Therefore, in order to make up for this shortcoming, it is necessary to have two extremely fast-moving forwards on the flanks to act as "free men" in the zone defense formation. That is, wherever there is need for defense, these two people will be close to the corresponding area.
By coincidence, Butler University has just such a configuration.
The forward configuration of Gordon Haywood and Matt Howard is considered luxurious in the entire NCAA!
In addition, these two guys are not very efficient on the offensive end, so the previous teams always died under the rotation of these two men on defense, and were repelled by their rigorous offense when they turned around.
Therefore, the key to cracking Butler's defensive strategy is to disrupt the double rotation of Hayward and Howard.
Li Kaiming discovered this when he caught the ball in the first round.
As usual, he received the ball at the waist. When he looked up, it seemed that the only opponent in front of him was Andrew Smith. However, Hayward and Howard at the top of the arc and the bottom corner on the same side were all staring at him. Once he broke through with the ball, What awaits him is a pocket array!
Naturally, he would not stupidly drill in, but gave the ball back to Kemp, allowing him to organize the attack again.
The attack time is as long as 35 seconds, so there is no rush.
Of course, Pastner's four or five days of closed-door research was not without effect, and he formulated countermeasures before the game.
Kemp handed the ball to Williams, then ran to the bottom corner on the right, with his hands open and ready to catch the ball. Except for Li Kaiming, the other two players were also outside the three-point line on the other side. Open, Williams holds the ball, and Li Kaiming goes up to pick and roll.
If Butler still adopts a zone defense, then Memphis has three options to deal with.
If the zone defense chooses to surround Li Kaiming, then Williams will go in or shoot directly. If he chooses to defend Williams, then three people will be attracted to the line by Li Kaiming and the two, and only two people will be at the remaining three points. Guard, there will inevitably be a vacancy!
Choose a cup of twice the poison!
Although Memphis' substitutes have stretched hips, their starting lineup is definitely at the level of a strong team, and every one of them has the ability to punish opponents from the outside!
Stevens is worthy of being a Hall of Fame coach. He has trained the team's defense to the point of proficiency. The moment Li Kaiming and Williams formed the pick-and-roll, the zone defense formation changed to man-to-man defense, and Smith, who was guarding Li Kaiming, It sank instantly, allowing shooting guard Grant Liendecker to chase Williams.
This transformation is simply a work of art!
But Pastner is not a vegetarian. Since you have become man-to-man, I will take advantage of one-on-one. Williams directly passed the ball to Li Kaiming on the edge of the penalty area.
At this time, Li Kaiming got the ball again and faced Smith's defense, but this time, the latter did not have the rotation of teammates to cover up, and had to face Li Kaiming's impact alone!
Li Kaiming didn't hesitate and took three steps after receiving the ball. His speed advantage can only be used when he rushes forward. If he fights slowly in a positional battle, it will be a waste of martial arts.
Andrew Smith is a typical white center. The advantages of this kind of player are superb skills, good awareness, sufficient lower body strength, and suitable for top defense and frame protection. Such players have strong team attributes.
But the shortcomings are also obvious. His physical talent, especially his running and jumping ability, is far inferior to that of a black center of the same height. Therefore, he is better at protecting the frame on the defensive end, but his lateral movement is slower.
Li Kaiming's speed is among the best among NBA centers, not to mention Smith, a white center. Although he consciously took a step, Li Kaiming still rushed up and then lightly picked the basket on the right side of the basket.
Score in! 2:0 start!
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