The point difference was once again widened to 9 points, becoming Memphis 58:67 Butler!
There were less than 4 minutes left on the clock, and Memphis was still nearly 10 points behind. Coupled with Butler University's terrifying home atmosphere, even Li Kaiming himself felt a little bit troubled.
It’s not going to be easy this time!
Pastner did not call a timeout, but he gestured to the players on the court and shouted a word.
"Delay!"
Memphis players all know that this is Pastner's defensive strategy to deal with Hayward.
In the last five minutes, Hayward almost never missed a shot. If we don't carry out targeted defense, I'm afraid it will create a monster with explosive touch.
On the offensive end, after Kemp came to the frontcourt with the ball, he still called a screen in a strict manner. Williams first cut to the three-point line from 45 degrees, and then suddenly changed to 45 degrees from the other side. Ran out.
Butler's defensive formation also changed with Memphis' movement.
Matt Howard had to switch defenses with Leandeker and followed Williams to the left three-point line.
Kemp, who was holding the ball, saw Howard being attracted to the other side by Williams, and immediately dribbled the ball out of the three-point line, and then lobbed the ball to Li Kaiming at the waist.
Williams acted as a decoy in this offense, moving Butler's power forward Howard away from Li Kaiming's side, clearing space for the latter to play singles.
At the same time, Daniel Mack also stayed as far away from the penalty area as possible to prevent his opponent from suddenly double-teaming Li Kaiming.
When the fans at the scene saw that Li Kaiming was preparing to start his solo show again, they immediately burst out with powerful boos!
"Hush!"
In addition to boos, there were also fans at the scene who spontaneously organized neat chants. When Butler University was defending, everyone was organized by the leader and shouted in unison.
"Defend! Defend! Defend!"
The Memphis players only felt a strong pressure on their faces, as if they were not playing in the arena, but being judged in a court!
They seem to have become the enemy of the entire world!
Under such tremendous pressure, Li Kaiming faced Andrew Smith's defense with the ball and stuck the ball in the midfielder position to prevent Smith from cutting the ball with his hands.
Then he raised his head and glanced at the situation on the field.
Andrew Smith's defensive method is also very clear, mainly to prevent Li Kaiming from breaking through, so he stood one meter away from the latter and then raised one hand.
In this position, with Li Kaiming's height and speed, he only needs to dribble the ball to go straight to the layup, and he has no choice but to guard it.
And Li Kaiming also saw Smith's fear of him. When he took the ball, he first took a tentative step with his right foot.
Smith's center of gravity immediately shifted to Li Kaiming's right side.
Then Li Kaiming quickly retracted his right foot and stepped forward to the left.
Smith had to adjust his focus again.
After these two attempts, Smith's defensive focus had lost its focus, so he had to take a small step back to maintain his balance!
But this retreat doesn't matter. For Li Kaiming, who has a fiery touch at the moment, this small step, coupled with the fact that Smith is already quite far away, will leave him almost empty!
If you don’t invest now, wait until later!
So Li Kaiming instantly rose up from the ground with the ball and shot an elegant jump shot!
Smith tried hard to control his body to interfere, but it was still a step too late.
The basketball flew over his head and fell into the basket with a swoosh amid the boos of a large audience!
60:67!
Li Kaiming comes in again!
Lucas Oil Stadium was quiet for a moment. With this goal, Li Kaiming has scored three goals in a row!
Even the crazy home fans can see at this time that the Chinese guy opposite seems to have a different energy tonight!
Stevens still didn't call a timeout. They had a 7-point advantage and three minutes left, so there was no rush.
During Butler's offensive round, the audience once again shouted Hayward's name.
Their meaning is very clear, give the ball to Hayward, we want to see Hayward's answer ball!
When Hayward gets the ball, he still looks for Andrew Smith to pick and roll, but this time Li Kaiming and Williams will not let them easily succeed.
At the moment when Andrew Smith's screen was formed, Li Kaiming suddenly took a big step, rushed out of the three-point line, and rushed towards Hayward with his teeth and claws open!
Feeling the pressure brought by Li Kaiming's huge size, Hayward, who had no fluctuations in his heart, also had a flash of nervousness in his eyes!
So he had to take a step back while dribbling the ball.
But this one step on the back completely ruined the pick-and-roll between him and Smith.
After Li Kaiming delayed this moment, Williams, who was blocked by Smith, also got rid of the screen and immediately ran over, keeping in front of Hayward.
Butler's first attack was resolved by Memphis!
Seeing this, Hayward knew that it was useless to continue to play the pick-and-roll with Andrew Smith.
Then he packed up his mood and prepared to fuck Williams directly.
The audience was so enthusiastic. If he passed the ball, the morale would be affected!
And his touch is also very good at this moment. As an NCAA star player, he has the confidence to score on Williams' head.
Even if the latter is the best perimeter defender at the University of Memphis!
There are only ten seconds left!
Hayward dribbled the ball to face Williams, and suddenly accelerated with a scissor step. At the same time, his left ball protector jammed Williams' chest to prevent him from easily taking out the ball.
Williams' defensive ability is not limited. His physical fitness is very good, otherwise he would not become Memphis's perimeter defense gate!
Although Hayward's speed increased, Williams always maintained the correct defensive position, leaving no space for the former.
Seeing that Hayward couldn't break through, he changed the breakthrough into a post-up inside the three-point line. He is the No. 3 in the same group and is more than two meters tall. Although Williams's physical fitness is very good, but the height is only 1.96 meters.
No matter how good his physical fitness is, given the 5cm height difference, he will naturally have an advantage when playing from behind.
Hayward arched his back twice, feeling that the distance and rhythm were almost there, he suddenly turned around, came to the baseline, and then took off and shot a fadeaway jumper.
Williams was very fast and pounced on Hayward the moment he turned around. Then he stretched his arms as hard as he could to interfere with Hayward's shot.
Li Kaiming, who was under the basket, saw Hayward take action and immediately occupied the best rebounding position.
This backward arc is very good, but despite Williams' efforts to interfere, it still hit an iron!
Li Kaiming took off and collected the rebound!
The audience at the scene sighed and regretted when they saw that Hayward did not score the goal.
If this goal is scored, Butler's momentum will be even higher, completely overwhelming Memphis.
In the commentary box, before Hayward took the shot, Koslov was still praying in his heart, hoping that the goal could be scored.
But when Li Kaiming got the rebound, Koslov's expression became ugly.
This made the two Sharps on the side laugh. "This is the first time Hayward missed a shot in the fourth quarter. Why do you look like he didn't make a single shot today?"
Hearing Sharp's teasing, Koslov's face turned even darker...
[First update today, thank you all for your support, please vote by the way~]
