Chapter 27: A Game That Can't Be Defended

  "Vicksburg is in trouble again, this is the second time Vicksburg has been entangled in a melee this season. At the end of the first quarter, Kentucky University temporarily leads Vicksburg University 46-43 on the road. The best player of the half-court game is Tony Delk, the organizational guard of Kentucky University. Mike, please comment on the performance of both teams in the last quarter." said a CBS commentator to a middle-aged man with a smile and a pleasant mood beside him.

  "Haha, in the last game, Kentucky performed extremely well and Vicksburg couldn't limit their score at all," said Coach K with a pleased expression. As the current best home coach in the ACC league, CBS invited him to be the commentator for this game held in the ACC league.

  Coach K didn't want to come here and lose face. The person he dislikes the most is Zhuang Fei, and this year his team was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA, which he also blamed on Zhuang Fei. If they hadn't lost by 50 points to VCU, severely damaging the confidence of the Duke players, Duke wouldn't have been sent home in the first round either. This is what Coach K thinks in his heart.

  However, for CBS's invitation, he reluctantly agreed, but unexpectedly, Kentucky was able to compete with Vicksburg on an equal footing, and even had a slight advantage. This made Coach K very happy, cleared his throat and continued to say.

  "This result is not unexpected for me personally, I know Kentucky well, we were opponents five years ago when we eliminated them in the Final Four to win the championship. Of course, those players are no longer here now, but Kentucky has always been a top-five team in the league. If it weren't for the Vanderbilt game this year, they would be the number one seed in the country. This game was clearly underestimated by everyone before the match."

  "Tony Delk, currently the best point guard in the league, last season's All-American first team, the soul of Kentucky, although he is not a good organizer at the point guard position, his scoring ability is the strongest among all point guards. If you look at the technical statistics, you will find that his three-point shooting percentage is higher than Steve Wojciechowski and Derek Anderson. This is a very dangerous player. Obviously, in the first quarter, Delk showed off his threat. It's clear that the Chinese coach was not prepared for Delk, seemingly putting all his energy on Anthony Epps, without realizing that Tony Delk is the soul of Kentucky. Perhaps this game will be ruined because of the Chinese team's mistake."

  "Anthony Walker, currently the best small forward in the league, of course if you say Carter is the best then I agree too, there's definitely controversy between the two, but it's clear that Anthony Walker and Dell Curry are both super-level players. In the first quarter, Vicksburg also focused on him, but unfortunately, no one from Vicksburg could guard him because their outside line was just too short, this is Vicksburg's biggest weakness, apart from Duncan, the height of the other four players on the court wasn't great. I know you've all been discussing China's small lineup recently, I admit it's very lively and looks better when playing, but don't forget that basketball is a sport for tall people after all, any liveliness or athletic ability needs to be guaranteed by height. In this game, Kentucky will teach Vicksburg what the essence of basketball is."

  "Derrick Anderson is a very good core player, everyone is discussing Ray Allen and Iverson, but I think Derrick Anderson is also one of the top five scoring guards in the league, he and Szczbiak are equally matched"

  "Walter Makati, there are not many inside players in the league who can float outside and shoot three-pointers, and Makati is undoubtedly one of them. Did you notice that if Makati pulls up to the outside for a shot, Duncan basically can't follow him out? As for Stephon Green, I think nobody has much expectation of him, he's probably the worst starter from Vicksburg University, and Duncan has been covering his butt every day, it became more obvious after the tournament started. But today, Duncan couldn't take care of this teammate anymore because he himself was in trouble."

  "Mark Pop and Muhammad, these two centers are not star-level centers, but they both have their own characteristics. Muhammad is more defensive-minded, he got the starting opportunity in this game, his physical presence caused a lot of trouble for Duncan, of course, he still couldn't guard Duncan, but he didn't need to guard Duncan, as long as he could cause trouble for Duncan and make him unable to take care of other teammates, then he succeeded. In this regard, Muhammad did a great job."

  "These are the advantages of Kentucky, their strengths lie in the perimeter and power forward positions, all role players but excellent defenders. Similarly, for Kentucky, Vicksburg's advantages are also obvious, Duncan and Carter are also players they can't defend against. This game is a test for both coaches, Ricky Pitino and that Chinese guy, because their opponents are unguardable. Ricky Pitino's team advocates for full-court pressure defense, but it's clear that Vicksburg is not afraid of full-court pressure at all, and even for Carter, full-court pressure is the best hint for him to attack the basket aggressively. And the man-to-man defense by that Chinese guy has no effect either, Mikal Bridges' shooting range, Anthony Walker's height, these are all unguardable factors for them."

  "In short, this game is an unstoppable match, the key to victory lies in the offense, whoever has a better offense and higher shooting percentage will win. I believe both teams will make adjustments in the second quarter, of course, the team that changes its formation first will naturally be Vicksenlin, who is currently behind in score. Although Coach K doesn't like Zhuang Fei very much, as one of the top NCAA coaches, his professionalism cannot be questioned."

  After his professional analysis, the CBS commentators next to him were stunned, and no guest had ever spoken so long in one go.

  Although CBS's commentator didn't quite understand what Coach K meant by such a long comment, he still thought Coach K was awesome.

  "Both teams have come out of the locker room, looking relaxed and without any pressure."

  "Huh, as Mike said, the second quarter of Vicksen Forest started again with a small lineup, and Stephengreen came off the court again"

  "This is a very wise choice, this is a signal that Vicksburg is strengthening its offensive, the Chinese are starting to go all out with Kentucky"

  ........

  ........

  Zhuang Fei was very depressed, really depressed, because today he felt that he had been cheated by the Wang Chao system for the first time. This game Zhuang Fei attached great importance to it, and when he got the Kentucky player list, he paid great attention to it, because this team is all NBA players, more than the number of players in the Knicks. Of course, Zhuang Fei was most familiar with Anthony Walker, one of the twin stars of the future Celtics. The Wang Chao system did not have any unexpected moves, and Anthony Walker's ability reached 83, which was the highest in Kentucky. Therefore, in this game, Zhuang Fei's defensive focus was on Anthony Walker. This was a very correct decision in Zhuang Fei's view.

  But when the game really started, Zhuang Fei knew he was wrong, and he was very wrong. The number one player of Kentucky was not Anthony Walker, but Tony Delk, a point guard with an ability value of 74, ranking third in Kentucky. And his reputation in later generations is not that loud, let alone compared to Anthony Walker, even compared to Derrick Anderson is not as good. It was this player who was ignored by Zhuang Fei who became the best performer in the first quarter of this game.

  When Zhuang Fei suddenly woke up, he found that there were many NCAA players with incredible strength who couldn't succeed in the NBA. Just as he was about to make adjustments, he discovered that Kentucky was a team that the Vicksburg defense couldn't guard against. They had four starters with extremely strong offensive capabilities, and their abilities were very evenly matched, making it impossible to focus on defending one person. Because Mikal Bridges could pull out for three-pointers, Stephon Green simply couldn't keep up, and Anthony Walker's height left Zhuang Fei helpless.

  What to do if you can't defend? Zhuang Fei thought for a long time and finally made up his mind, deciding to counterattack. He once again took out the small lineup and replaced Steve Green, who was useless in the starting lineup.

  "I hope we can overwhelm Kentucky on offense." Zhuang Fei still has some confidence in the team's offense, after all, Villanova is the NCAA team with the highest average score, reaching an average of 98 points per game, which is absolutely against the sky in the NCAA. This is also why Villanova became the first undefeated team in the NCAA since ancient times.

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  "Dad, can we win?" asked a little boy sitting in the second row behind the substitute bench of Vicksen Forest. The little boy was worried because his favorite team was losing now.

  "Chris, we're gonna win for sure, my coach told me that this Vikings team is unbeatable," a boy a few years older than him chimed in.

  "That's right, we will win every battle," said a middle-aged man with a smile as he patted the little boy on the head.

  This made the little boy feel much more at ease, and then he tightly grasped the poster in his hand. Silently closing his eyes, he was praying for the team.