My days of working at the NBA

Chapter 27 Anxious and Urgent

Everyone thought that Missouri had gained momentum and that a wave of attacks would follow, completely eliminating any suspense.

But what happened next completely surprised everyone.

Everyone underestimated Marquette, who unleashed a furious offensive storm, delivering another blow to Missouri's head.

Matthews received the ball and hit a three-pointer.

Turning around, McNeil hit a three-pointer.

Matthews then followed with a mid-range shot.

McNeil was not to be outdone, hitting a jump shot while drawing a foul on English, completing a 2+1 play.

Marquette's offense became a two-man game, mainly consisting of drives and passes, supplemented by mid-range and long-range shots, creating a powerful offensive surge.

Fortunately, English got into a hot hand and quickly responded with a three-pointer, while Carroll also stepped up and scored with a strong drive.

The game officially entered a tug-of-war, with both sides trading back and forth in the 5-point range, neither able to shake off the other.

This point difference remained until the last 3 minutes.

Missouri led by only 2 points, 66 to 64.

GG Merchant's suspension period.

On the sidelines, the Missouri players surrounded Anderson.

Du Ze braced himself on his knees, panting heavily as he listened to the old man's tactical instructions while adjusting his breathing.

He didn't rest for a minute in the second half, and he was constantly battling with Burke in a high-intensity physical battle, running back and forth in the paint to help defend and rotate. His stamina was already running out.

But this hard work also brought him great rewards.

He had already recorded 6 blocks in the second half.

Three of them were contributed by Butler, who was a "baby with experience"; Burke contributed one; Matthews contributed one; and McNeil, the "iron-headed kid," also contributed one.

Six rebounds, two of which were offensive rebounds and four were defensive rebounds.

However, as both teams improved their accuracy in the second half, he had far fewer opportunities to grab rebounds.

The strategy of limiting Marquette University's scoring in the paint has been very successful; Marquette has only managed 4 points so far.

This gave him hope.

There is still a 6-point margin for error, which means he has three chances to make a mistake or miss a player.

There are only three minutes left, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

The real challenge he faces now is rebounding.

If everyone is accurate, then there are no rebounds to grab.

In addition, Burke, the big center, kept entangled with him, making it very difficult for him to get into position every time.

They were still four short, but only three minutes remained.

Hmm... one attack round lasts about 30 seconds, which means there are about six to eight attack rounds left.

How to grab 4 rebounds in just those few possessions?

Wow, this is way too difficult.

All we can do is pray that both sides hit more bricks... no, I mean pray that Marquette hits a lot of bricks.

Otherwise, even if he racks up enough stats, it's all for nothing if the team loses.

Anderson's voice was unusually loud: "Du, do you understand?"

Du Ze suddenly came to his senses: "Understood."

The answer was delivered with overwhelming force.

Of course, he understands perfectly well.

All he knew was that if things continued this way, his Josh Smith model would be directly weakened, and at that point, his plan to rely on his physical talent as a selling point to break into the NBA would probably go completely bankrupt.

Anderson clapped his hands: "Keep this pace, we'll definitely win this game, keep it up!"

"Victory is certain."

Everyone shouted it out in unison.

The pause has ended.

The game restarted, and Marquette had possession of the ball.

Du Ze tensed up and stepped back onto the field.

Burke inbounds the ball, McNeil receives it, circles around, and then suddenly drives in using a screen.

Du Ze quickly chased after him.

McNeil probably sensed the danger behind him and flicked the ball away.

Everyone's attention was focused on Matthews, and no one expected the ball to be passed to Hayward.

There was nothing in front of Hayward; it was completely empty, even cleaner than a threshing ground.

Without hesitation, he took a three-pointer.

Bang! The ball hit the rim and bounced high into the air.

Duze leaned against Burke, squatted down slightly, and gathered the greatest energy he had ever possessed.

then.

next second.

With a whoosh, the ball flew through the net.

You son of a bitch...

Du Ze silently recited the Three Character Classic in his mind.

How did they even get in? That's fucking amazing.

Anderson, furious on the sidelines, yelled, "You guys have absolutely no defensive effort! What the hell are you doing?!"

There are 2 minutes and 41 seconds left in the game.

66 to 67, they've been overtaken again.

Hayward's three-point shooting is inconsistent, but this kind of completely open shot shouldn't happen in the first place.

Duze and Carroll were closest to the baseline, but both of them were busy positioning themselves to grab the rebound and neither of them had time to help.

That's why the old man was angry.

But Du Ze didn't care about all that. If he couldn't grab enough rebounds, winning the game wouldn't make much difference.

Missouri offensive.

Carroll pushed it over slowly.

Du Ze felt his scalp tingling as he watched his rhythm.

He really wanted to yell at them, "What are you dawdling for?" But that would be obviously abnormal, and he had no reason to yell at the team leader.

In the end, all they could do was suffer in silence and watch.

Missouri's offensive threat was clearly not as good as Marquette's; Carroll's ability to break through defenses was not particularly outstanding, not to mention Lawrence.

The ball was passed back and forth among several people.

Du Ze quietly went to take up a favorable position.

When the ball finally fell into English's hands, there was very little time left.

English had no choice but to shoot at the last second.

It's definitely iron.

The area under the basket was now packed with people.

Although Duze occupied the most advantageous position, he was sandwiched between Burke, Hayward, and Matthews like dumplings.

Duze didn't care about anything else. He raised his elbows, his left elbow against Hayward's chest and his right elbow against Matthews' back, and then he and Burke jumped up at the same time to fight for the ball.

Despite his height disadvantage, he put in all his effort and jumped incredibly high, even feeling that he had jumped higher than ever before.

Both players touched the basketball at the same time, but neither could hold onto it.

The ball continued to fly through the air like a wave.

As the ball landed, Hayward and Matthews had their chance, but neither of them saw their teammate clearly and tried to contest it at the same time, which caused the ball to fly away again.

Du Ze used his speed to jump again and secure the rebound.

At that moment, his first reaction was to force himself to get up.

They scored, taking two points and putting the team back in the lead.

Missed a shot? No problem, even a blocked shot is fine, he can still grab it, that counts as a rebound.

Regardless of whether we get in or not, the advantage is in my hands.

When I looked up, the sky was completely blocked out.

In this situation, if he dares to hold the ball and try to get up, there's a 99% chance he'll be dispossessed.

That won't do; we should let our teammates surrender.

He trusted his teammates...

Especially Lawrence.

In a flash, he dodged left and right, desperately elbowing the ball back and forth until he finally created a gap and passed the ball to Lawrence with a bounce pass, allowing Missouri to regroup.

There are 2 minutes and 01 second left.

They're still 3 rebounds and 1 block short.

Yes, there is still a long way to go.

But what the whole world didn't know was that Du Ze was like an ant on a hot pan, extremely anxious!

Ok……

I was really anxious and worried.

He was screaming in his heart, "Hurry up and throw, brothers!"

Unfortunately, no one could hear his cries, not even his good friend Lawrence.

This guy was dribbling the ball, squatting at the top of the arc, slowly pacing back and forth. His leisurely appearance made Du Ze really want to kick him out of the backside.