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Chapter 67, Section 65: The Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa (Second Update, Seeking First Subscription)

At a family-run restaurant in Davidson, Curry sat in a corner, eating dinner while watching a live stream.

Seeing Yi Shui single-handedly protect the rim and block Westbrook's shot, Curry jumped to his feet and yelled, "I knew it! This guy can protect the rim like a center! I knew it!"

The once bustling restaurant suddenly fell silent as everyone's eyes were drawn to Curry. They recognized him as their 'small-town hero,' the genius pitcher who led the Wildcats to the Elite Eight miracle.

Then, the whole restaurant was filled with joyful laughter. The townspeople thought it was wrong, but when one person started laughing, the others couldn't help but laugh along.

Curry quickly sat down, lowered his head to eat, and almost buried his head in his plate.

However, the other guests in the restaurant were also excited about Yi Shui's block on Westbrook. In the last few minutes of the first half, when Thabeet was substituted after committing four fouls and the Bruins launched a fierce counterattack, they felt like the sky had fallen.

Now, Yi Shui's sealing of the river has given them hope!

They weren't Husky fans, more Wildcats fans, but actually North Carolina and Duke fans.

This year, the Dukes suffered a major upset in the first round, losing face big time. Their support shifted to the Tar Heels and the Wildcats. The Wildcats fell, leaving only the Tar Heels. Then the Tar Heels were defeated by the Bruins, so naturally they supported the Bruins' opponent, the Huskies.

As for the Huskies, they just beat their town's team not long ago... The Wildcats are already pretty good for making it to the quarterfinals, LA must die!
...

The scene of the game.

After the ball left Yi Shui and Westbrook's hands, it was caught by Price.

Price sprinted across to the other side, and with Collison chasing after him, he made a floater... No fans cared.

The deafening cheers from the crowd were all directed at Yi Shui, who was high-fiving his teammates in front of Westbrook, who was lying on the ground!
Price didn't care about this; he was more eager for himself to be less noticeable, which often meant he was less noticeable to his opponents, giving him the opportunity to perform better.

Just like now, apart from Darren Collison, who won the PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Year award in the 06-07 season, no one else on the opposing team immediately thought of stopping him from launching a fast break... Russell Westbrook, another PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Year in the 'best defensive backcourt', should not have overlooked him, but Westbrook went down.

He's a player with a clear understanding of himself; he knows that what he should be concerned about isn't whether the fans will cheer for him, but whether he can attract the attention of professional team coaches and management...

On the Yi River, Yi Shui was thrilled—'The Heaven-Covering Staff is truly amazing!'

When he's defending under the basket, and Westbrook drives in, he can clearly judge the opponent's offensive intentions from his body language. That's his innate analytical ability, but when he's under the basket, that awareness level is qualitatively enhanced!
There's also the advantage of vertical jump. When you occasionally need to contest a shot from a standing position in the paint, there's always contact, and your jump will always be affected.

When Westbrook broke in, the opposing forward Shipp dodged out of the way. He jumped with all his might, and it was really like a running jump, fast and high!

But he showed no excitement on his face. He imitated Thabeet's calm demeanor after the block, high-fived his excited teammates who rushed in, and glanced sideways at Westbrook, who was being helped up by his teammates.

Westbrook: Don't stop me! I'm going to beat him to a pulp!
It was still the Bruins' offense. Collison received the inbound pass from Abuya, who had run back, and advanced to the frontcourt, signaling Westbrook, who had run to the top arc to wait on the baseline.

He got blocked head-on and slammed to the ground... Collison guessed that Westbrook's grimacing expression was mostly from the pain, so he gave his junior a break and went for the attack.

Collison was a little scared when he recalled the scene of his junior being blocked.

However, with no center on the opposing team, the Bruins' offense will definitely have to start from the inside. Initiating an attack from the outside is certainly less strenuous than Love trying to penetrate that athletic and powerful Yad. If they were leading, it would be fine, but they are currently down by 11 points. Relying on Love to catch up will exhaust his junior in the paint.

He and Westbrook must carry the offense!
Collison initiated the attack with a one-on-one move. Price defended very well and did everything he was supposed to do. However, even in the NBA, Collison would be a scoring point guard with the ability to break through perimeter defenses. Collison got past Price and drove straight into the paint!

Collison could go toe-to-toe with Westbrook in terms of acceleration, but in terms of straight-line sprint after getting going, Collison was still a bit behind Westbrook. Johnson Bird's help defense had some effect on disrupting the shot, but Collison still managed to get to the basket smoothly by pulling back while moving.

Facing Yi Shui's help defense, Collison grabbed the ball, took a step towards the baseline, and jumped... but couldn't shake off Yi Shui! He had to pull back in mid-air to avoid Yi Shui's arm, but his accuracy was completely lost, and he hit the ball in the neck!

Upon hearing the "bang," Collison remembered that Yi Shui was not a slow-moving giant center, but a top-speed guard who could chase down and defend against his and Westbrook's breakthroughs!
Westbrook rushed in to grab the rebound... Yad got there first and secured the defensive rebound.

Protecting the rim won't help Yi Shui much, and Thabeet isn't here either, so Yad will do everything he can to protect the rebounds.

In the transition between offense and defense, the Bruins lost their second consecutive offensive possession, again due to a player who was originally a shooting guard guard being defended at center, which somewhat affected their high morale. And that wasn't all. After the Husky players came over and took their positions, the Bruins players, who had initially thought of 'a small-ball lineup going at it? Let's go for it!' were somewhat bewildered.

Yad went to the baseline, Yi Shui was at the free throw line, Johnson Bird received a pass from Price at the top of the arc, Price and Frostowski went to the left 45-degree angle and the right sideline respectively... spread them out! The ball still went to that little genius birdie who was once well-known in Los Angeles and ranked over 100th in the national high school rankings?
We still have to defend, so Love didn't extend his defense but chose to stay under the basket.

But as Yi Shui moved towards the top arc, Yad circled around from the left baseline to the free-throw line, forcing Love to follow.

Yad has almost no shooting ability in other areas, but he can shoot from the free-throw line!
After Yi Shui set a screen for Johnson Bird, he cut in from the left. His teammates saw Love pull out, and Collison immediately moved in to cover him. Together with Abuya, who switched onto the defense, they blocked Yi Shui on the left side of the free throw line.

Westbrook, who switched onto the defense, tried his best to stick to Johnson Bird and prevent him from driving to the right... but the opponent passed the ball and lobbed it to the basket!
Yi Shui and Ya De were both blocked outside, and Froststowski was still in the bottom corner. Who was the little demon bird going to pass to?
Westbrook turned his head... there were 6 people at the free throw line, but he didn't see them.

Love turned his head and saw a small guard facing an open basket, scooping up the lobbed ball like a passerby, then standing on tiptoe and making a floater.

The Huskies extended their lead to 13 points, 47-34!
Price: Hey, that's right! It's me again!

Without making a sound, Price had already scored 8 points. He was the one who scored the two shots that widened the gap to 13 points again!
On the sidelines, the Bruins' head coach was dumbfounded.

Yi Shui has the ability to execute pick-and-rolls, he knows that; Little Bird, a former local prodigy, he tried to recruit but was rejected, he has ball-handling and playmaking abilities, he knows that too; Yad's free-throw line jump shot and Frostsowski's three-point shooting are both distractions in the Husky team's tactics, he knows that very well too.

But isn't this just a hastily put-together lineup? How can they have such a complete tactic?

Or did the Husky team actually prepare for Thabeet being targeted? Were they prepared to have Yi Shui, a guard, play center?

Holland himself thought this guess was outrageous!

But the facts speak for themselves: this tactic could not have been devised on the spur of the moment; it was far too sophisticated.

On the other side of the bench, Husky's lead assistant coach Jerry Cook stylishly pushed up his glasses: "My little notebook really came in handy. The tactics I wrote down during the fall selection training games are finally coming in handy!"

Although Yi Shui changed from a standard shooting guard to a 'short center' and the tactics were different from the record, the results were even better!

It was the Bruins' turn to attack again. Yi Shui retreated to the basket, pondering how Collison or Westbrook would react when they broke through to the rim. Even with Westbrook's stubbornness, he wouldn't force his way through like before.

But then something unexpected happened: Love sat down on the right side of the basket in the low post and boxed out Yad for the ball!

Collison's mind was filled with Yi Shui's block on Westbrook and the interference with his shot earlier... Seeing his strongest junior asking for the ball, he breathed a sigh of relief and lobbed the ball over to him.

Love received the ball with only one goal in mind—to score!
The team's attack has been thwarted in two consecutive rounds. If this continues, their hard-won comeback momentum will be lost!
As an All-American, he had to step up!

He withstood Yad's brutal, physical defense; Yad was strong, and so was he! He feinted twice, felt the force behind him shift to the right, and then suddenly spun to the left. His speed wasn't fast, but he used his superior strength to successfully turn around, grabbed the ball, took a step into the paint, and, with Yad pressing him from behind, jumped and launched a floater...

As soon as the ball left his hand, Love's eyes widened instantly as he tried to grab it back, but he missed.

Seeing Yi Shui lunge towards him, Love shouted, "NO!"

But Yi Shui's palm still landed firmly on the ball!

"Snapped"

The ball flew over Love's head and out of bounds on the right sideline.

The best-case scenario for being blocked is being swatted out of bounds by the opponent, at least you still have possession of the ball. In the NCAA, where the shot clock is as long as 35 seconds, this is often used by blocked players to comfort themselves, but Love didn't feel any relief at this moment.

When he made that fake move in the low post, I clearly saw Yi Shui follow Shipra out of the three-second zone and into the mid-range on the left baseline!
On Yi Shui's side, suppressing his excitement, he calmly high-fived his teammates.

He really didn't expect the three guys on the other side to give up one by one!
(End of this chapter)