Basketball is Faith - Chapter 23

On March 13, the third qualifier of Crane City University will be played against Syracuse University at home.

Syracuse University is a team with a glorious history. In its heyday, it broke into the semi-finals of the country, but it quickly fell due to various reasons.

In last year’s qualifiers, they lost successively to the poorly qualified Jiacheng University and Lindu University, which had been in the competition for less than two years, which put them in the bottom of the province in disgrace.

At the beginning of this year, the team learned from the pain. After the head coach Zhou Ming persuaded the school leaders to offer favorable terms, they finally lobbied for the ice city university’s substitute small forward Zhang Jiapeng.

Zhou Ming has been looking forward to this game for a long time. They are now a two-game winning team. As long as they defeat Hecheng University and win the Petroleum University, they can advance. As for other teams, it is not a threat.

In the Crane City Stadium, because an ice hockey match was just held yesterday, the staff is stepping up to dismantle related equipment and laying parquet flooring, so the players of both teams have to play later.

In the home team’s locker room, coach Zhang Tiejun took a tactical board with key points and assigned defensive tasks to the players.

“Zhang Jiapeng and Chen Shuai, these two names must be familiar to you, especially this Zhang Jiapeng, Qian Ning, you have to stare at him to death, in the medium and long distances that he is good at, don’t leave him any opportunities!”

Zhang Tiejun is very aware of Zhang Jiapeng’s offensive ability, although he could not start at Bingcheng University, it is also because of the enchanting existence of Du Weibin.

If you change to another team and get this kind of capable and experienced player, you will be the team’s starter or leader. The current record of Syracuse University can very well illustrate his excellence.

“Liu Mu, Chen Shuai will leave it to you, Zhu Ziming should also pay attention to help with defense, as long as we can suppress him, we will have a decisive advantage in the inside!”

Zhang Tiejun is not worried about Chen Shuai on the inside. It is Zhang Jiapeng who really worries him. That is the real sword of Syracuse University, and Qian Ning who defended him is just not good at defense.

What if Liu Xiaodong is allowed to top the little pioneer? Zhang Tiejun looked at that calm and slightly immature face, and couldn’t help but have this bold idea.

Liu Xiaodong’s defensive success against Wang Zekai at the last moment of the last game is obvious to all. Coupled with these days of shooting training, his mid-distance has already been on track.

Although he is outside the three-point line, he still cannot help the team effectively. But Zhang Tiejun believes that as Liu Xiaodong’s shooting posture becomes more and more correct, his hit rate will slowly increase.

“Xiaodong, you will…you will still be the sixth man.” Zhang Tiejun still decided to let Liu Xiaodong come off the bench. Now changing Qian Ning’s starting position is a kind of psychological shock to the old players. It is safer to make some adjustments.

“Yes, coach!” Liu Xiaodong didn’t feel any dissatisfaction with coming off the bench. He didn’t think that he, who gave Wang Zekai 48 points, would be qualified to start.

After Zhang Tiejun arranged all the tasks, it was time to play.

In the stands, the students of Crane City University still shouted the slogan of Crane City cheering, cheering and cheering the home team players!

When Liu Xiaodong rushed out of the player channel, cheers rushed toward his face. Compared with the first appearance, not only the cheers have become louder, but there are also many voices of recognition on both sides of the passage.

“Liu Xiaodong, come on!”

“You are the man who defeated Wang Zekai. You have to teach the shooting guard opposite!”

“A few more handsome dunks, like the last change of hands dunks, and gliding fly dunks too!”

Listening to some funny shouts, Liu Xiaodong, who had remained calm, also smiled.

“Dear viewers in front of the TV, good morning! Welcome to the college league (qualifiers) broadcasted by Crane City TV. I am the host Wang Yiming and I am the commentator Liu Qiliang.”

“Let me introduce the starting players of the two teams. The first is the home team list: point guard Guo Cheng, shooting guard Hou Wei, small forward Qian Ning, power forward Zhu Zihua, and our province’s first center Liu Mu.”

“The visiting team roster: point guard Yang Yong, shooting guard Li Jian, small forward Zhang Jiapeng, power forward Tang Hao, center Chen Shuai”

After the host also introduced the players, the referee blew the whistle and the game officially started.

Mou Zujin’s Chen Shuai won Liu Mu who was three centimeters higher than him in the scramble, which surprised Liu Xiaodong off the court.

On the field, Syracuse University’s offense was very patient. The new captain Zhang Jiapeng did not rush to attack, but interspersed with reverse runs to attract defense and create opportunities for teammates.

Yang Yongze commanded his teammates to look for opportunities. The 1.82-meter point guard did not panic because of Guo Cheng’s defense. His mentality and ability have been greatly improved compared with last season. All this is thanks to Zhang Jiapeng, this third-year small forward not only brought his own offense, but also transmitted experience and confidence to his teammates to win!

Yang Yong with confidence is terrible. He will not be intimidated as before. Instead, he will use Chen Shuai’s pick and roll to get rid of Guo Cheng’s entanglement. If it weren’t for Liu Mu’s timely defense, he would have made a shot.

Yang Yong who was stopped was not discouraged~www.mtlnovel.com~ He knew that there was a strong backing, and he would definitely appear where he should appear. Sure enough, Zhang Jiapeng ran away from Qian Ning and took the basketball from the bottom corner. He never disappointed his teammates and threw the ball firmly into the basket.

In the first round of the clash, Hakaseong University was defeated. Zhang Tiejun off the court couldn’t help frowning. The opponent’s simple pick-and-roll and anti-run tactics made the team look full of flaws.

Willow did a good job of defending. Yang Yong, who was in the open position, did not get a chance to get out. It was only after Zhang Jiapeng ran back and Qian Ning did not see through the opponent’s true intentions, which made the defense leak.

He also knows that even without Qian Ning’s misjudgment, Zhang Jiapeng’s super singles ability would be difficult to be restrained.

What happened next happened as Zhang Tiejun had expected. Compared to Liu Mu’s leisurely stroll in the court defending Chen Shuai at the basket, Qian Ning looked a little embarrassed. He was successfully singled by Zhang Jiapeng.

At 5 minutes and 21 seconds in the first quarter, Crane City University was 9-15, 6 points behind Syracuse University.

This irritated Zhang Tiejun, who had always been mild-mannered. It’s not a big deal to be a few points behind, but the backcourt players seem to have sleepwalking, especially Hou Wei 0 for 4, which makes Zhang Tiejun seriously doubt that Li Jian, who is against him, is not pretending to be Wang Zekai!

“Hou Wei, have you forgotten last year’s game? We are the winner!” Zhang Tiejun roared loudly to stimulate his fighting spirit.

“You don’t have to worry about the shooting percentage, let me play! Especially you Guo Cheng, pass the ball to my teammates who have a chance. If they don’t have a chance, you can create a chance for me! I see that you are doing nothing on the court, so you can come down and have a good rest!”