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Chapter 44. Hunting the Tiger Tonight (Part 44)
To Yi Shui's surprise, although Rose's expression flashed with shame and anger for a moment, he did not react further. He pulled power forward Kiki Dorsey's hand and stood up, ready to receive the serve.

The Tigers continued their attack, and Rose received a lob pass outside the top arc, continuing his breakthrough despite facing Yi Shui's defense!
After getting past Yi Shui, and facing Yad's blockade on the right side of the free-throw line, Rose quickly changed direction and restarted, maintaining almost no speed... Rose once again demonstrated his incredible ability to change direction while moving, which had amazed people in this qualifying tournament.

Approaching the basket at close range, Rose jumped over Thabeet... and passed the ball!
Ross, who was lying on his side in the air, saw Yi Shui, who was already face to face with him, and curled the corners of his mouth at her.

The ball was received by power forward Dorsey, who had been left open by Yarde and moved to the left side of the free-throw line. Price immediately blocked him, sticking close to his lower body to limit his breakthrough and reaching for the ball. Dorsey raised the ball and tossed it behind his head... Roberts used McArthur's screen to shake off Robinson, received the ball at the left 45-degree angle, and hit a three-pointer!

TNT Sports quoted Barkley as saying, "Rose was amazing. He has a high basketball IQ and is calm. After being blocked, he immediately found the opponent's defensive flaw and took advantage of it."

Kenny Smith: "Rose played very smartly, but it required a lot of playmaking awareness from his teammates in the paint. Brook's defense was even more amazing. All the teams that played against Memphis before couldn't figure out how to stop Rose's drive. They could only double-team him on the perimeter to prevent him from penetrating the paint, but Brook did it. He forced Rose to pass the ball inside."

Kiki Dorsey, a senior, averaged 10.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season. As the main offensive option for a minor league team, his scoring and rebounding performance can be described as mediocre. However, he also averaged 3.6 assists per game! Before the qualifying tournament began, he was the Tigers' second-best draft pick after Derrick Rose. When the Associated Press did its first-month summary of the conference league, it commented that having this playmaking ability was enough to establish himself in the professional arena.

Barkley: "You're always going against me. Rose needs teammates, and Brooks' defense also needs help from that power forward named Yad?"

Kenny Smith: "That's different. Brook's defense doesn't require as much skill from his teammates. Yad's defense was notoriously bad in college. Brook only needs one person to rush in and change Rose's driving path at that moment, and anyone can do it..."

The two commentators started arguing about who was better, Yi Shui or Rose, right from the start. If Roberts had a third eye and saw the live broadcast, he'd be furious. It was his three-pointer in response to Yi Shui, but everyone ignored him...

The game transitions from offense to defense, and the Huskies are on the offensive.

Rose didn't choose to go head-to-head with Yi Shui, but calmly orchestrated the team's offense, preventing the Tigers from being affected by his early game loss and block. The whole team retreated on defense actively and in an orderly manner, just as Barkley said, he was smart and calm.

Yi Shui received the ball at the right 45-degree angle again. This time, Rose chose to defend closely. Anticipating the change in the opponent's defense, Yi Shui took a half step back after receiving the ball, and then immediately used a crossover dribble to accelerate and break through, just missing Rose who was pressing forward... a rhythmic breakthrough!

Time Warner Cable Sports commentator Hubie Brown exclaimed, "Brook's drive was so clean! There wasn't a single unnecessary move!"

Bill Walton also praised him, saying, "He's like a more skilled LeBron James or Ron Artest; he utilizes his body even better than he did three months ago..."

On Yi Shui's side, he had just broken into the mid-range when he was immediately marked by Roberts, who then passed the ball to the right corner.

Robinson, on the right sideline, immediately cut to the basket as Roberts moved in, received the ball, jumped, and... hit a three-pointer! A response to Roberts!
Roberts' eyes widened when he saw Robinson give him an 'OK' sign.

Could it be? Impossible!
Since this match became a hot topic, he has always compared himself to Yi Shui, but the other side actually used a second-year role player to compare himself to him?
Enraged, Roberts charged up the court... actively moving to find opportunities to receive the ball and shoot, determined to make the opponent regret underestimating him!

However, this playing style makes it difficult for the Husky team not to discuss him alongside Robinson.

Moreover, Roberts' playing style is exactly what the Huskies hoped Robinson would look like when he fully matures, and Robinson, who is taller and has a longer wingspan, clearly has a higher ceiling than Roberts.

Roberts' strategy was simple: run into an opening, receive the ball, and shoot. Rose's approach was completely different. He appeared calm and even gave Yi Shui a provocative smile, but after successfully orchestrating the attack, he was actually under more pressure. The block on his first offensive play was no coincidence!
He had never encountered an opponent like Yi Shui before! He possessed both height and speed, and his defense... seemed to know him very well?
Wasn't this their first time playing against each other? Just how much does this guy want to 'win'? He's probably studied all of his college games!

Facing Yi Shui, whose height and wingspan far exceeded his own, Rose didn't even have a chance to try shooting from the outside and could only continue to drive to the basket.

After being double-teamed by Yi Shui and Thabeet in the paint, Rose passed the ball out to Dorsey, who received it at the free-throw line. However, the Huskies' zone defense was quicker this time. After failing to block Rose, Yad immediately rushed towards Roberts, blocking Dorsey's first opportunity to pass the ball.

When Dorsey passed the ball to McArthur in the corner, Yi Shui had already rushed past the basket.

MacArthur took a three-pointer against Yi Shui's defense... It's hard for a five-star general to shoot accurately against a Chinese player, and the shot went wide!
Thabeet secured the defensive rebound, and in the transition from offense to defense, Yi Shui once again easily blew past Rose and drove into the paint.

His poor offensive performance coupled with being completely ignored on defense drove Rose to the brink of madness.

His latest player comparison is 'Glove Payton'! He's the best defensive player in the conference league! In the regional stage and the qualifying stage, he was the main defender against the opponent's strongest offensive players at positions 1-3. Even against Mayo, the opponent could hardly get past him without a screen. When has he ever suffered such humiliation?

Fortunately, although his mentality was affected, he still remained rational and rushed to the right sideline after being beaten.

Roberts had already moved towards the middle to block, and Rose, with his incredible speed, managed to get into position just as Robinson cut to the corner... but he didn't see the ball coming.

On the other side... Rose chose to switch to guard the shooter. Without the interference of the defender chasing and stealing from behind, Yi Shui faced Roberts' help defense. With a sudden stop and start, he got past the opponent and continued to drive towards the basket!
The Tigers' shooting guards and small forwards both had a three-point shooting percentage of over 40%, but as good as McArthur and Roberts' shooting was, their defense was just as bad. Otherwise, the two juniors and seniors wouldn't have been able to push freshman Rose to become the league's best defensive player.

Rose, who was blocking Robinson, turned his head and saw Yi Shui leaping high in front of the basket and slamming the ball into the basket over Shawn, who had just pulled back to the basket but hadn't even turned his body yet!

The referee blew his whistle, Sean committed a blocking foul, Yi Shui's goal stands, and an additional penalty is due!

The Huskies led 8-3, a five-point advantage at the start!
Watching Yi Shui walk to the free-throw line and hearing the fans chanting "BIG," the Tigers players were somewhat bewildered.

This is completely different from what they expected!

In their previous five matches against top-league teams, they dominated the game from the start.

They thought they came to the basketball mecca to enjoy flowers and applause, never expecting that they would be the ones getting dominated!

……

I'll update a bit more tonight and try to finish writing about this match~ Please vote!
(End of this chapter)