The intermission ended quickly, and at the beginning of the second half, both teams replaced their starting players.
It seems that even coach K does not dare to be careless about the championship game.
In the second half of the game, Duke started the game first.
After Jon Schell received the ball, he moved to the frontcourt. He no longer insisted on singles Kemp. After calling a screen, facing Daniel Mack, he suddenly stepped back and made a three-pointer.
After a twenty-minute rest, Scheer's touch began to cool down, and the basketball hit the basket and was collected by Li Kaiming under the basket.
Duke University directly gave up the attempt to hit the frontcourt because they had to rush to the backcourt to defend Li Kaiming's fast break.
This resulted in no one competing with Li Kaiming for backcourt rebounds. He didn't even have to jump, just waiting for the rebound to fall into his arms.
In Memphis' offensive round, after Williams returned in the second half, Memphis' tactics became much richer.
The duo of Williams and Kaiming Li makes it difficult for Duke to defend.
However, they still chose to block the more threatening Li Kaiming and give Williams a little space.
For no other reason than because Li Kaiming's shot was close to the basket. Obviously, compared to Williams' outside shot, Duke was more afraid of Li Kaiming's penalty area attack.
Williams' touch is very good. Duke gives him a little space and he can make the shot!
36:39!
The difference is only one goal!
The Duke players took their time, Scheer and Smith communicated with each other on the outside, and Singler used the screen to come out on the other side.
Smith, who holds the ball, immediately passes the ball!
Singler caught the ball and threw it, and the basketball almost passed Daniel Mack's fingertips!
But Singler still made the shot!
Currently, his three-pointers are 4 of 4, a 100% shooting rate!
The score difference returned to 6 points.
This time after Li Kaiming and Williams started a pick-and-roll, the former chose to roll outside, while Williams went in with one step.
Duke University's penalty area is very tightly protected. As soon as Williams stepped into the penalty area, he was blocked by people from three directions.
In desperation, Williams had no choice but to pass the ball. Kemp connected on the outside and got the ball smoothly. Memphis' first offensive attempt failed.
Li Kaiming immediately came to the penalty area from outside the three-point line, took the ball from Kemp, leaned against Zubek twice, and then turned around and made a hook!
Zubek was pushed away and Li Kaiming's hook fell into the basket.
After the strength bonus, he can even easily back-up heavy centers like Zubek. Before that, he could only rely on speed to face the basket.
Looking back, Duke wanted to use the same tactic, but Memphis saw it through. Nolan Smith and Singler started from the bottom corners on both sides to circle the figure of 8, using the two inside lines and the cross-cover between each other. Finally, Smith The bottom corner on the other side is open again!
Duke scores another three-pointer!
In this offense, Li Kaiming was double-teamed by Duke as soon as he got the ball in the paint. Witherpoons was released on the same side, and Li Kaiming immediately passed the ball over.
Witherpoons listened to Pastner's words, took a very crisp shot after catching the ball, and then hit an equally crisp iron.
The rebound bounced to the opposite side, and even if Li Kaiming wanted to grab it, he was unable to do anything.
Nolan Smith got the ball and started the fast break directly!
He started from the backcourt and was extremely fast. He rushed to the frontcourt with the ball in a few seconds! Williams, who was guarding him, was also trying his best to keep up, but it was still very difficult for the charging Smith to slow him down. Williams could only provide some interference from the side.
At this time, Smith had already relied on Williams to break into the Memphis penalty area, and then took only one step to join the ball and go straight to the layup!
Because he knew that the fast center on the opposite side must be behind him, so he did not follow the three-step layup rhythm, but started the layup in one step.
The idea is great, but the reality is cruel!
Li Kaiming behind him also took off, covering Smith directly with his whole body, and then slapped him with a big hand!
Smith's layup that he thought had a strange rhythm was blocked by Li Kaiming!
This block directly made the atmosphere lively again.
After the start of the second half, although both sides scored goals, they were always mid-range or three-pointers.
But compared to those thrilling blocks and dunks, shooting is still a little less interesting!
Li Kaiming's nail-biting hat made the slightly dull atmosphere at the scene become high-spirited in an instant!
After blocking the shot, Williams got the rebound under the basket and immediately launched a fast break!
After Li Kaiming landed, he took a few steps forward and immediately turned back to charge towards his own frontcourt!
Smith was far behind them.
Memphis once again formed a situation of more fast breaks and less play!
The rest of Duke University focused their attention on Li Kaiming, who was charging forward. They involuntarily began to gather in the middle, planning to use a group of people as speed bumps to stop Li Kaiming.
In this way, although Li Kaiming's fast break was blocked, there was a lot of space left for others in Memphis.
Kemp passed directly to Daniel Mack at forty-five degrees!
Mike caught the ball and threw it, hitting a three-pointer!
41:45!
Duke University failed to hit the fast break, but turned around and was beaten by the University of Memphis!
The old coach K on the sidelines was experienced and immediately called the first timeout of the second half.
This timeout is not to change his lineup or tactics, but to interrupt Memphis' momentum.
Memphis' attack and defense just now clearly aroused the momentum of the audience.
For these two teams, the audience at Lucas Oil Stadium is not divided into home and away games. They are just outsiders and will support whichever team plays well.
Therefore, in order to prevent the audience from supporting the University of Memphis, Coach K immediately used the first timeout.
Over and over again, and again, and again, and again.
After waiting for this limelight, Duke University can still beat Memphis after returning from the timeout!
On the Memphis bench, Pastner offered a few words of encouragement to the players.
The timeout passed quickly and the game started again.
Duke University served, and Nolan Smith used Singler's screen to suddenly cut in from the three-point line. Schell, who was holding the ball, hit the ground and stuffed the ball from Kemp's side into Smith's hands.
After the high-speed Smith took the ball, he jumped directly, twisted his body hard in the air, aimed at the basket, and then flicked his wrist.
The difficulty of this ball was very high. It was a floating jump shot after catching the ball, and Li Kaiming had already pounced on it, but Smith still made the shot!
The score difference is back to 6 points again!
The audience immediately turned their backs and started cheering for Smith's wonderful goal!
There were 16 minutes left in the game, and nearly four minutes of the second half were played, and Memphis had no hope of narrowing the point difference.
Every time Memphis scores a goal, Duke University responds immediately. If this continues, Memphis will definitely lose!
Moreover, the University of Memphis feels average today and cannot match Duke's outside firepower at all.
Judging from the situation of his teammates, today's feeling is just like this. If you expect others to suddenly break out, it is better for Li Kaiming to do it himself!
It’s just that Duke would rather let his teammates throw open shots on the outside than give him a chance to get the ball inside. What should we do...
His three-point shooting is not very reliable now...
Wait, three points!
Li Kaiming suddenly thought of something...
[Second update today, please vote~]
