Champion, please stay!

Chapter 17.17. Do you want to prove you're stronger than Brook?
Faced with Yi Shui's provocation, Curry was naturally angry, but he couldn't help feeling happy.

His opponent was taking his challenge very seriously!

With that kind of physical ability, that kind of momentum, that kind of powerful dunk, who would believe that he isn't the strongest three-man team in the East League?

He had never encountered such an opponent in the Southern League. Even the star player of the Maryland Turtles, the strongest opponent he faced last season, DJ Strombey, a former top 100 high school player in the class of 2003 and the shooting guard selected by the Suns with the 59th overall pick this year, did not feel as good as Yi Shui.

Giving your all is the greatest respect you can show to your opponent—this is something Curry heard from his father when he was a child, and he has always lived by it, giving his all in every game.

From elementary school to college, Curry has always been the strongest player of his age in his community and league, without exception.

Despite his emotional turmoil, Curry remained calm. Seeing his center teammate Mayo running up the court looking bewildered, he quickly caught up, patted him on the back, and said, "This was my fault. Let's get it back together!"

Becoming a leader is not an easy thing, but leading a team after becoming a leader is not complicated; a single sentence can revitalize the team.

When it was the Wildcats' turn to attack, guard Jason Richards and power forward Sander set a pick-and-roll to initiate the offense, and Mayno seized the opportunity to push down to the basket.

Mayno has many flaws. As a giant center who is 218 cm tall, he is very thin and weighs only 109 kg. Moreover, he is not very mobile and lacks jumping ability and explosiveness. His only advantage in playing is his height.

But this one advantage, coupled with his sufficient basketball IQ, allows Mayno to get a full basketball scholarship in the NCAA. When he pushes into the paint, even a strong rim protector like Thabeet has to spend most of his attention on him. He's also someone who can put the ball directly into the basket while standing on tiptoe.

While keeping the opposing center occupied, the Wildcats also astutely discovered and exploited Yad's poor defense!
Richards made a sudden stop and start, shaking off Yad and drawing help from the wing defense before passing the ball to the outside.

Curry took the opportunity to circle around to the top arc to receive the ball, and facing the 206cm tall small forward Robinson who came to help, he shot a three-pointer... and it went in!
Robinson: What a daring throw! And such a perfect shot!

之前他多少觉得易水评价库里的话有夸张的成分，毕竟对比对象是他那一级全美最强分卫亨德森（06级前百高中生前9名都是1/3/4/5号位球员）。

But an expert can tell a lot from a single shot. As the Husky's best three-point shooter, he could tell from just one shot that Curry's shooting was truly impressive.

After scoring, Curry raised his chin, looked at the Yi River, and made what he considered the most arrogant expression, with his chin raised and his lips slightly downturned.

As the game transitioned, Price, who had the ball, faced increasing pressure; the opponent's zone defense was far better than he had anticipated!

Calhoun had somehow found himself standing on the sidelines. He was surprised by the opponent's defense in the first round, as was their attack just now. Their positioning and movement were exceptionally good. And their defensive formation and movement were still just as good in the second round. It couldn't be a coincidence... He flipped through the opponent's information on the tactics board and saw a statistic that he hadn't noticed during the preparation.

The opposing starting lineup consists of four seniors aged 21 to 23, with only Curry being a sophomore. No wonder their offensive and defensive coordination is so good!
While Curry isn't a big name among college players, he's very well-known among coaches. In his freshman season, he averaged 3.6 three-pointers per game, breaking the NCAA Division I freshman record. However, the reason college coaches remember him is because Coach K misjudged him. This guy is paired with a group of senior players with mature tactical abilities... Calhoun originally thought the Wildcats, like the Timberwolves, were just there to give them practice. Now it seems his players might be in for a tough time tonight.

Price, after his teammates had taken their positions, gestured to Yi Shui.

As a point guard who won the head coach's favor with his steady playing style, when in doubt, passing the ball to a stronger teammate is always the right thing to do! The opposing team has a big center, and their collapsing play is so good that it's probably going to be tough for Yad to penetrate the paint. So let's find Yi Shui.

Yi Shui received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right side. He was much more decisive than Price. He received the ball, turned, and immediately started his run, breaking through!
Curry was prepared this time, taking the initiative and launching himself backwards... He rushed back, but it was too late!

Yi Shui received the ball, turned and started, only taking one step to shake off Curry, then immediately pulled back his foot and took a three-pointer... He had a good start and made it!
Seeing Yi Shui retreating defensively with his arms crossed and hands outstretched, head tilted to the side, Curry thought: "What the hell?"

Wasn't it supposed to be a brute-force, high-flying style? How did it suddenly become a technical style?
As a shooting expert, he could tell that Yi Shui's technique and shooting were both good.

That celebratory gesture looks so silly... Achoo...

When it was the Wildcats' turn to attack, they once again used their skillful pick-and-roll offense and off-ball movement to tear apart the Husky's defense.

Curry once again took the opportunity to shake off Yi Shui and get around to the outside to receive the ball. However, this time Robinson's expansion defense was more decisive. He directly stuck to Curry's face. With a height difference of more than ten centimeters and a wingspan difference of 20 centimeters, he tightly covered Curry.

But Curry is more than just a shooter!

Before receiving the ball, he noticed that Robinson's aggressive movement was very strong. After receiving the ball, he took the initiative to move forward, pulled the ball around in a loop, and in the instant he was covered by Robinson, he did a 360-degree back turn and directly circled behind Robinson, breaking into the paint!

Facing Thabeet's help defense, Curry grabbed the ball and stepped up... while taking the step, he threw the ball out, creating a rhythm difference!

Thabeet was completely caught off guard. He hastily reached out, but the ball had already flown over his head and into the basket!

5-5! The fans in the stadium erupted in cheers and screams!
Despite finishing first in the Southern Conference and making the Third Madness last season, Wildcats fans still felt inferior to the Huskies, one of the most successful teams in the NCAA over the past decade, even though the Huskies didn't make the Third Madness last season. They didn't know Yi Shui, but his opening dunk and three-pointer clearly showed he was a very strong player.

However, they also have such powerful players!

Attacking the basket and hitting three-pointers? Their Curry responded to each and every one of them!

In the transition between offense and defense, Price passed the ball directly to Yi Shui on the right side of the top arc after crossing the halfway line, and then ran towards the far left corner.

Curry immediately moved close to Yi Shui. He was accurate in shooting from every position, so he naturally didn't know how 'unbalanced' Yi Shui's three-point shooting was.

Yi Shui didn't hesitate. If he was given free rein, he would shoot. If he was stuck close, he would decisively break through!

Curry's lateral movement and off-rhythm starts are indeed weaknesses he can't solve, and once again, he was completely outmaneuvered.

The Wildcats responded quickly with a wing help defense, and Lofdale was in position to block. Mayo under the basket and Sander on the left formed a zone defense, while Curry, who was chasing, blocked Yi Shui's shot from the right mid-range, preventing him from hitting the ball at the right 45-degree angle.

But Robinson wasn't a pushover; he deliberately moved down to the bottom corner, entering Yi Shui's field of vision before Yi Shui was surrounded.

Yi decisively passed the ball to Robinson, who jumped before Curry could close in on him and launched a three-pointer from the corner... and it went in!
Calhoun nodded in satisfaction. Against complex zone defenses, simple perimeter isolation plays and drive-and-dish offense are the best ways to deal with them, and this kind of simple and direct offense can often effectively demoralize the opponent... but it doesn't seem so.

Despite conceding another goal, the Wildcats continued their high-spirited team attack!

Point guard Richards capitalized on the pressure created by Curry's two consecutive goals, making a through pass to the baseline.

Lofdale received the ball, stepped to the three-second zone sideline, and made a layup, drawing a foul from Yad who was collapsing!

Unable to defend and suffer setbacks? That's not an issue for the Wildcats!
From a technical standpoint, they are confident in their zone defense, but they are also well aware of their individual limitations and defensive ceiling. Their goal is clear: to do a good job in basic defense—protect the basket, double-team the opponent's strongest player, and then launch an offensive attack around Curry!
Moreover, despite being scored on by the opponent, the Wildcats players became more confident after several rounds. The opposing team, known for its defense, didn't seem so difficult to deal with!
In the first three rounds, both sides were testing each other out. Having gained a good understanding of each other's defense, the Husky Team and the Wildcat Team launched an even more intense offensive battle!

The Husky team played a simple and direct style: Yi Shui was the main attacker, Robinson and Thabeet were the supporting attackers, Yad was the second attacker, Price distributed the ball and took over the ball when Yi Shui needed a break to be the main attacker.

The Wildcats played a much more complex game, but their teamwork was excellent, with very few mistakes. Their wide-ranging movement and well-coordinated passing even had a touch of elegance.

At first, the Husky team had the upper hand on the field thanks to Yi Shui's more dynamic playing style, but as the game progressed, the Wildcats gradually turned the tide!
The changing situation was reflected in the score. Although the score was alternating, the Husky team was leading by one or two goals, while the Wildcats team was leading by one or two goals!

...

Calhoun's expression gradually turned serious. He saw the reason for the suppression—Yi Shui was asking for a "slower break" more and more frequently!
Holding the ball and swinging it around for so long, Yi Shui was much more exhausted than in the previous game, and couldn't throw it once per minute like he could the day before yesterday.

He believed that with Yi Shui's football intelligence, he wasn't unaware that playing like this would affect the team's sustainability; rather, he felt that this was the only way to play.

Because the team's offensive capabilities are insufficient!
Their Husky team's offense was only passable during the 'golden decade,' with their main strength being defense.

After a disastrous season, they have to start all over again, both offensively and defensively.

On the other side, apart from their core players, all the other starters were seniors, and the players who rotated in were all mature juniors and seniors. Although their individual abilities were not great, they had good tactical awareness and excellent teamwork!
The difference is that Curry, the offensive core on the other side, may not be as consistent in his one-on-one plays as Yi Shuiqiang, but thanks to teamwork, his ball-handling and off-ball ratios are well distributed, and he maintains offensive firepower and threat almost all the time!
With the first half halfway through, Calhoun felt increasing pressure as he saw that the opponent had firmly grasped the situation.

The warm-up match was originally intended to practice teamwork, but we didn't expect to encounter such a strong opponent in just the second game.

The players were playing very seriously, supposedly because Curry, the son of the Hornets' leading scorer, challenged Yi Shui... Whatever the reason, at this point, Calhoun naturally wanted to win!
But it's not easy to deal with. Yi Shui only slowed down a bit, and their offense stalled. Price doesn't have the ability to launch an attack on his own. The other side has a tall guy who is almost 2.2 meters tall, and with the zone defense, Yad can't break through and can only focus on grabbing offensive rebounds.

Just as Calhoun was having a headache, he saw Yi Shui fake a shot beyond the three-point line, shake off Curry, take two steps into the three-point line, and hit a long two-pointer from the right 45-degree angle... This one-on-one defense from the other side is perfect!
Calhoun approached Dyson, who was sitting in a chair, stared into the man's eyes as he looked up at him, and asked, "Do you want to prove you're stronger than Brooke?"

Dyson paused for a moment, then exclaimed excitedly, "I'm definitely better than him!"

Calhoun nodded: "Alright, go up there and smash that pitcher. Don't try to imitate anyone just to win my approval. Just use your best style of play; that's who you are."

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(End of this chapter)