Chapter 72: Confidence

Dale's gaze was indeed sharp enough.

In the ensuing game, the Bulldogs used Butler's defensive advantage to double-team Hansbrough many times. Although Wayne Ellington got a few open opportunities, overall, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. Effectively reduced Hansbrough's scoring efficiency.

But as Zhang Yu said to Stevens before the game, it is impossible for Hansbrough to be restrained under the intensity of NCAA confrontation.

Relying on the pick-and-roll with Ty Lawson, he was still able to overwhelm the Bulldogs under the basket. Supplemented by the off-ball shooting of Danny Green, Wayne Ellington, and Marcus, the offense of the University of North Carolina flourished, showing A chilling aggression.

Zhang Yu was not surprised by this.

Even at the University of Buddha last year, it was impossible to defend the offense of the University of North Carolina, and he never thought of winning the game with defense.

In this game, he made up his mind to play against North Carolina from the very beginning.

But unfortunately, the progress of the game was not the same as he expected...

"Curry holds the ball, picks and rolls with Drew, Hansbrough chooses to stay inside and does not come out, Danny Green is blocked by Drew, Curry gets a chance that is close to open, and now it is the end of the first half With only 6 seconds, Curry ran out of time. He chose to shoot a three-pointer...no! This was a good opportunity, but Curry missed it. This is already the eighth ball he missed! The first half of the game At the end, the University of North Carolina leads Butler University by 40 points at 27:13." Jim Nantz explained in a passionate voice.

Dell looked at Curry worriedly, and said:

"It seems that Stephen still hasn't recovered his touch. It can only be said that he is too unlucky. I hope the intermission can help him adjust his state."

On the court, as the basketball bounced out of the frame, the red light came on immediately.

Curry looked at his hands, shaking his head in self-blame.

He obviously created enough shooting space, but he just couldn't make the shot.

At the beginning, the University of North Carolina also tried to double-team Curry. He could also pass the ball to drive the offense of his teammates, and played back and forth with North Carolina.

But soon, Roy Williams discovered that Curry's ability to break double-teams was too strong. The Bulldogs seemed to have specially trained how to break double-teams. decent.

After weighing the pros and cons, the old coach made adjustments and arranged for Hansbrough to stay inside when defending pick-and-rolls and defend Curry from shooting!

He still remembers that at the beginning of the game, Curry missed two three-pointers. Later, Curry chose to break through Hansbrough instead of shooting three-pointers.

Roy Williams wants to take a gamble, he bets that Curry will not make a three-pointer today.

He was right.

After Hansbrough's pit, Curry attempted a few threes but only made one.

He wanted to break through, but Hansbrough stayed inside, so he had plenty of room to react, and it was difficult for him to break through Hansbrough's defense.

After the first half, Curry made 10 of 2 shots and 7 of 1 three-pointers. He only scored 5 points and felt very bad.

The positional battle was hindered, and the Bulldogs could only rely on fast breaks to score. The stability was not high, and the score was gradually opened.

"Stephen, we'll call back in the second half, don't worry." Butler walked past Curry and patted his ass.

"Stephen, did you see that three-pointer I made in the first half? Wow, I actually scored in the Elite Eight game!" Julian Beko said pretending to be relaxed, trying to divert Curry's attention. attention.

"Stephen, let's go, the battle is not over yet." Zhang Yu's indifferent but firm voice reached Curry's ears.

Curry listened to the encouragement of different styles in his ears, his eyes kept changing, and he let out a long breath.

He straightened up, and after everyone walked into the player tunnel, he asked the ball boy for a basketball, and then walked to the locker room.

The atmosphere in the Bulldogs locker room was a bit heavy, the relaxed laughter in the past disappeared, and everyone fell silent.

Trailing by 13 at halftime in such a high-intensity game, the situation is very critical for the Bulldogs.

Especially when facing a giant like the University of North Carolina, its team is full of stars. The head coach Roy Williams is a legendary coach who has been selected into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has a wealth of experience. .

The Bulldogs may have only the last 20 minutes left in their March Madness journey.

pat.

The door opened, and Curry walked in, fiddled with the basketball in his hand as he walked, and made a shooting motion.

All eyes were on him, he smiled, fist bumped with his teammates one by one, and finally bumped fists with Zhang Yu.

After the two looked at each other and smiled, he returned to his seat, picked up the energy drink and took a sip.

After drinking, Curry picked up the basketball again and kept shooting, causing his teammates to look back at him frequently.

Zhang Yu smiled and said:

"Stephen, do you know your shooting percentage in the first half?"

Really? You smiled so happily, I thought you scored 20 points." Stevens said pretending to be serious.

Curry paused, continued to simulate shooting, and said:

"Coach Stevens, it was just an accident. I will definitely get my touch back in the second half!"

His tone was very firm, exuding a strong confidence.

"Boss, can you lend me your marker pen?" Curry suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at Zhang Yu.

Without asking any further questions, Zhang Yu took out a marker pen from his pocket, walked over and handed it to him.

"Thank you."

Curry took the marker, and under the suspicious eyes of everyone, he loosened the shoelace and took off the tightly wrapped sneaker on his right foot with great effort.

He put the sneakers on his knees, took off the pen cap, and carefully wrote a sentence on the outside of the sneakers with a marker.

After finishing writing, he blew on it to let the pen and ink dry quickly, and then carefully put on the sneakers.

While Curry was writing, Butler, who was sitting next to him, read the sentence word by word:

"I can do all things (I am omnipotent)..."

In the small locker room, everyone heard his voice.

Curry put on his sneakers, looked up, and found that everyone was looking at him, smiled, and said:

"Don't worry, everyone, since I lost to Buddha University, I have never doubted myself again."

He looked at Zhang Yu again:

"Boss, I always remember what you said to me when I came to the school for trial training for the first time. You may not know it. There is this sentence in Chapter 4No.13 of the Bible——I can do all things."

"This may be God's guidance, let me meet the boss, let me join the Bulldogs, and let us become the elite eight together...I firmly believe that our journey is not over, I will use this sentence to inspire I, keep winning!"