Champion, please stay!

Chapter 21. Scream for him!

Fans at the stadium and watching on TV were astonished—where did the notoriously reckless shooter go? How come he's so aggressive?

Commentators and guests on public television have differing opinions on this.

The commentator who covered the game between the Huskies and the Wolves said, "That's Brook's ability. He scored 40+ points against the Wolves!"

However, the guest, whose main job is as a reporter for a local newspaper, said: "Getting 40+ points in a preseason game doesn't mean anything. The Wolves shouldn't be in the top league, and they don't even deserve to stay in the first division. Brook was just lucky at the start today. The Cardinals weren't serious yet. When Williams gets serious, Brook will definitely be crushed!"

The latter view gained more acceptance, primarily due to the influence of public opinion over the past month, and also because of Terrence Williams' established reputation!

As the 44th overall pick in the 05 national high school class, he was also named to the Big East All-Rookie Team in the 05-06 season, averaging 8.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. He was considered a perimeter prodigy alongside Yi Shui and Wilson Chandler at the time.

When the Yi Shuichi team faltered in the 06-07 season, Terrence Williams made a remarkable comeback. With the support of Earl Clark, the 24th overall pick in the 06 draft class and a power forward named Derrick Carracote, the 17th overall pick in the 06 draft class, he led the Cardinals back to the third season of the Big Madness. He averaged 11.7 points, 7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, winning the Big East Conference Most Improved Player award and being selected to the Big East Conference First Team, surpassing Wilson Chandler, who was in the same class.

This summer, Terrence Williams graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and was described as a future NBA player, with Vince Carter as his role model.

Even Husky fans believe that no one on their team can match Terrence Williams, given their terrible record last season.

But after the timeout, Yi Shui made the free throw and continued to perform well in his head-to-head matchup against Terrence Williams!
接下来的5分钟、第14分钟重新上场到上半场结束，易水里突外投，9投4中、其中三分球5中2、加上2中2的罚球，拿到12分！
加上前3分钟的8分，易水半场打了15分钟，12投7中、其中三分球6中3、加上3中3的罚球，狂轰20分，外加5板2助攻1盖帽！

The Cardinals actually played quite well, showcasing their strengths – excellent teamwork on offense and a strong zone defense against the Huskies' wing shots, baseline drives, and off-ball screens.

But the Huskies, relying on Yi Shui's individual offense and Thabeet's rim protection and defensive leadership, defeated the Cardinals 39-35, entering halftime with a 4-point advantage!
The TV commentator couldn't believe it. He exclaimed that he couldn't understand it. This wasn't the first time he had commentated on the Husky team's warm-up game. He saw that Yi Shui's playing style was no different from usual. He didn't understand why they played so much better than usual when facing the Red Sparrows, who had stronger individual and team defensive abilities!
The commentator didn't really understand either, but that didn't matter; he was about to start praising: "That's Brook's ability. You said before that Williams wasn't serious, which is why Brook scored 3 goals at the start. Are you sure Brook was serious in the previous games?"

Guest: "..."

...

The commentators couldn't understand it, the fans were surprised, the opponents couldn't believe it, but the Husky coaching staff wasn't surprised at all.

On the way back to the locker room, Calhoun said to the assistant coaches, "I told you, don't worry about Brook's performance in actual games. He knows how to play in official games!"

Clark, Jerry Cook, Ollie, and others were all speechless. Who was really worried during the meeting the day before yesterday morning to prepare for training?
With his strong-willed and shameless personality, and that face that doesn't look that old, if it weren't for his white hair, it would be hard to believe that the head coach is almost 66 years old.

Regarding Yi Shui's fighting style... to outsiders, it seemed no different from his usual style, so they were surprised by his performance today. Those who didn't accept his good performance simply couldn't understand it.

However, in the eyes of these coaches, Yi Shui's playing style in the first half was fundamentally different from their usual style.

In the past 6 games, Yi Shui has mostly taken shots by strictly executing tactical positioning and acting as the tactical finisher. Even when he sees a better opportunity, he still has to execute the established tactics, focusing on 'practice'.

Today, Yi Shui's shots were mostly tactical plays, but he wasn't the one 'restricted' to take them; rather, he was the one 'making the decisions.' He could end the tactical play at any time when he saw an opportunity, call for a pass from his teammates, and take the shot.

The ability to coordinate and pass the ball in a timely manner is inseparable from the training and matches over the past three weeks.

Of course, the coaches were also pleased with Yi Shui's high-volume and efficient shooting performance of 7 out of 12 shots in the first half, but compared to that, Yi Shui's offensive choices were what truly surprised them!
Zone defenses are bound to have weaknesses, that's unavoidable. But there aren't many players who can exploit those weaknesses. Many very talented players don't break through zone defenses by exploiting those weaknesses, but by playing one-on-one. For example, Kevin Durant, who was criticized by opponents as "unfit for college basketball" in his freshman year.

When playing against the Davidson Wildcats, Yi Shui relied on his physical attributes to play one-on-one, taking advantage of the fact that the opponent did not have good perimeter defenders. Apart from seizing the right moment to break through, he almost did not exploit the loopholes in the zone defense itself.

But today, Yi Shui clearly made good use of this aspect! In fact, Yi Shui only did one very simple thing - watch the video. Yad helped him find the video of the Cardinals vs. Texas A&M game in the second round of the third season last season online.

After watching it once, he understood the opponent's playing style, which was very similar to the Davidson Wildcats, focusing on team offense and defense. He compared the Wildcats' performance in the preseason game with the Cardinals' performance in the second round of the third round of last season's playoffs, and believed that although the Cardinals' individual players were mostly stronger than the Wildcats', their teamwork was a level below, and they did not have a player with outstanding individual ability like Curry. In a real tough game, the Cardinals were not as good as the Wildcats.

Terrence Williams is very good, but he is mainly 'all-rounder'. He can shoot, drive, rebound, pass, and defend, but no single aspect is outstanding. Yi Shui remembers that he scored more points in the two games he played against this player in his freshman year.

The Cardinals also lacked any standout players. In the game against the Farmers, the Cardinals dominated, but in the final minutes, after the Farmers' star player, Ashley Law, who was selected 11th overall in the first round by the Hawks, went on a scoring spree, no one on the Cardinals could step up and solve the problem. In the end, they were defeated by the Farmers by 3 points.

Initially, Yi Shui, who had experience playing against the Wildcats, thought of going straight for the win. However, after watching the video again, he felt that that approach wouldn't work. Although the Red Sparrows' teamwork was worse than the Wildcats', their individual abilities were much stronger, and it would be difficult for him to achieve the same efficient singles performance as he had against the Wildcats.

After repeatedly watching the Cardinals' game against the Agricultural and Industrial High School, he noticed some gaps in the Cardinals' zone defense and a clear tendency to defend off-ball players. He decided to take advantage of this and chose a play style that focused on finding shooting opportunities in the tactics, combined with necessary one-on-one plays.

And that's how we got our performance today!

...

Despite taking the lead in the first half, the Husky team, from coaches to players, remained vigilant and focused.

Despite being in the lead, they actually had a tough time in the first half, much more difficult than the only game they almost lost in the first eight warm-up matches, which was against the Wildcats.

Their sixth man, Dyson, was out of sorts in the first half. He played for nine minutes, making only one of four shots and scoring just three points.

Although the Cardinals' zone defense wasn't as well-coordinated as the Wildcats', whose starters were mostly juniors and seniors, the Cardinals' individual players were much stronger, and their zone defense was significantly better than the Wildcats'.

Sure enough, after the halftime break, the Cardinals dealt a heavy blow to the Huskies at the start of the second half, holding them to just 5 points in the first 6 minutes. Although they only scored 8 points themselves, they managed to close the gap to 43-44 through their defense, reducing the deficit to 1 point!
The Cardinals' defensive moves were noticeably more aggressive, and their zone defense was more menacing. Although it was just a warm-up game, they couldn't afford to lose, as their opponent was the Husky team, which had already collapsed and was predicted to be ranked only 10th!
The Huskies did keep up with the defensive intensity, and Thabeet did a good job protecting the rim. But being able to hold the Cardinals to 8 points in 6 minutes was already their limit. The problem of poor defense at the three and four positions cannot be solved by hard work alone. Their close-range defense almost entirely relied on Thabeet.

Just as the Cardinals were preparing to defend against the Huskies once again and take the lead, Yi Shui stepped up!

After faking a drive to the right 45-degree angle to shake off Terrence Williams, he retreated to the three-point line, gathered the ball, jumped, and hit a three-pointer over the onrushing Terrence Williams!
47 to 43, the score difference has been reduced to 4 points again!
The Cardinals worked hard on defense and wore down the opponent in half-court sets, finally narrowing the three-point gap, only to have the opponent close the gap again with a single three-pointer.

But they had no choice but to keep grinding away...

This scenario repeated itself twice more. At 8 minutes and 53 seconds, the Cardinals narrowed the gap to 1 point, and Yi Shui cut in to receive the ball and scored a 2+1 against Derek Carracott.

At 15:22, the Cardinals took a one-point lead. After resting for more than three minutes, Yi Shui came back and immediately hit a long two-pointer from the left 45-degree angle. Then he stole the ball from Earl Clark and passed it to him on the high post for a fast break layup. Then, when Price missed a three-pointer on the wing, he 'stole' the rebound around Terrence Williams and scored on the second-chance opportunity, scoring a 6-0 run for the Cardinals on his own!

Once is fine, twice is tolerable, but three times... The Cardinals, who retained most of last season's key players, recalled the fear of being dominated by Asi Law five months ago.

In the final two minutes, the Cardinals, who had gone from taking the lead to trailing by 5 points, collapsed and failed to mount an effective comeback.

At 4:58 PM, the final whistle blew.

The fans at the stadium cheered and screamed wildly for the young man from the East who was surrounded by his teammates on the field!

In the first half, Yi Shui played for 15 minutes, and in the second half, he played for 17 minutes. He made 12 of 25 shots, including 5 of 12 three-pointers, plus 6 of 8 free throws, scoring a whopping 35 points and leading the Husky team to a 69-63 victory over the Cardinals!
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(End of this chapter)