While the game was going on, the discussion on the game was also in full swing online.
Many people have questioned Butler University's performance.
"What is Butler doing? What is Stevens doing? What is Hayward doing? Who can tell me, how does Butler manage to play back and forth with a team that has a much worse lineup on paper? Are you kidding me?"
"To be honest, if you look at the statistics, the Butler players performed very well tonight."
"They are all very good, but that's just on the offensive end. A team built on defense abandons its best defense and starts to play against the opponent. Doesn't it look very good?"
"Stevens made a major mistake in his strategy tonight. How could he let Li Kaiming score so many points in his penalty area?"
"I still believe Stevens can adjust. Pastner and he are not on the same level..."
And many well-known NBA commentators are also following this game factually.
Barkley tweeted, "Memphis got to this point tonight almost because of Li Kaiming. This guy destroyed Butler University's penalty area and Stevens seemed to have nothing to do about it."
Sir Ba is still optimistic about Li Kaiming without any reservation.
Of course, in addition to Barkley, a Hall of Fame star who is optimistic about Memphis, another heavyweight also participated in tonight's discussion.
Moji Jackson, the first player in the history of the Lakers, the first point guard in NBA history, and the father-in-law of all people, also rarely expressed his opinions while watching the game.
Magic tweeted, "Respect Memphis, but Butler will win!"
Magic's participation made the entire game even more popular on Twitter, not only because of his Hall of Fame superstar status, but also because of his attitude of firmly supporting Butler when Butler fell behind.
The vast majority of people are still optimistic that Butler University will enter the finals.
The timeout of the game passed quickly. After the Butler University players came on the court, all of them looked serious, as if there was a timeout and a new group of people had changed.
The effect of Stevens' adjustment was immediate. Butler's first ball came up, allowing Matt Howard to find an opportunity in the middle distance on the left. Then Howard caught the ball and made a steady hit.
Butler's bigger change was on the defensive end. When Memphis attacked in the next round, Kemp faced Zach Hahn as if he was going to eat him, leaving no space for the former.
Kemp had to call Coleman over to cover.
But the moment Coleman came over, he also brought over his defender Gordon Ford.
The moment the screen was formed, Ford and Hahn surrounded Kemp tightly. Even an experienced veteran like Kemp couldn't find who was in the open position for a while.
Although Coleman is unguarded in the mid-range, this guy is just a wooden post after leaving the basket, and passing to him has no effect at all.
Just when Kemp was still thinking about who to pass to, Gordon Ford suddenly stretched out his hand and slapped him hard on his dribbling arm.
The force of this palm was not small, and Kemp lost control of the ball in the next second.
However, because Ford and Hahn surrounded referee Kemp so tightly, the referee did not see the specific process of cutting the ball at the first time, so the whistle was not blown.
How could Ford give up such a fast break opportunity? He immediately rushed towards the ball, then dribbled to the backcourt and made a gliding dunk!
Butler University suddenly broke out and scored two goals in a row!
The Lucas Stadium crowd once again roared like a wave of cheers.
…
Time passed minute by second, and with Stevens' timeout, Butler University suddenly exerted its strength in the second half. In just ten minutes, it overtook the score again and opened the point difference to 8 points.
There are 5 minutes and 30 seconds left before the end of the game.
At this time, Li Kaiming was sitting on the bench. Pastner's rotation tonight was different from before, allowing him to rest from ten minutes into the second half until now.
This is also one of the reasons why Butler can widen the point difference. It is reasonable for Memphis without Li Kaiming to be beaten by Butler.
Now, there are more than five minutes left before the end of the game. Although Memphis is still 8 points behind, today's starting lineup has plenty of energy. Pastner believes that when it comes to the critical moment to compete for the starting lineup, no one in Memphis is weak!
Isn't this a coincidence? Li Kaiming thought the same way. After getting the [Key Scorer] badge in the locker room, he couldn't wait to try its effect.
After this timeout, Pastner replaced all the starting players, and Stevens on the opposite side also knew that the bayonet was about to see red at the last moment, so he also replaced the starting players.
This 5v5 fair competitive game has ushered in the final moment that determines the victory.
The spectators at Lucas Stadium also resisted the urge to urinate from their brains, because they knew that if they resisted going to the toilet for the next five minutes, their bladders would not burst, and if they gave up the game and went to the toilet, they would Then there is the risk of missing a critical moment.
In professional competitions, the situation on the scene changes rapidly, and anything can happen.
The score at this time is Butler 59:51. If they can limit Memphis to less than 60 points tonight, then this year's championship will basically be guaranteed.
No team can challenge this defense.
Li Kaiming took a deep breath as he stood on the court. His teammates on the Tigers also had expressions of excitement and nervousness on their faces.
If you win today, it will be a huge profit. You will be a dark horse starting from the first round and going dark all the way to the March Madness finals!
It’s exciting just thinking about it!
At the start of the game, Butler served first.
At this time, the ball will naturally be in the hands of the core of the team, and Butler, who is team-oriented, is no exception today.
After Zach Hahn dribbled the ball across half court, he passed it to Hayward who was at a 45-degree angle, then trotted away and squatted in the bottom corner.
Pastner also made a bold change before taking the field.
He asked Daniel Mack and Elliott Williams to switch positions. In this case, the person facing Hayward on the defensive end became Williams.
Williams had plenty of rest today and had enough energy to deal with Hayward in the last five minutes.
Although Daniel Mack's defense is not a hindrance to the team, it is not enough when compared with Williams.
When Hayward saw that the person facing him turned out to be Williams, the expression on his face changed slightly.
Although he is not afraid of the latter, it is still more difficult to beat Williams alone than Mike.
Hayward, who relies on his brain to play, naturally would not force it, but waved to Hahn on the other side and asked him to come up to cover.
As long as Hahn's screen is successful, Memphis will inevitably switch defenses. In this case, if he uses his body in the third position to bully Kemp in the first position, isn't that easy?
[First update today, please vote~]
