Outside the American Airlines Center, the home of the Phoenix Suns, there was a crowd of people. The NCAA tournament had entered the finals of the division. Tonight, the finals of the Phoenix Division would decide the division champion here, which would enter the final national semi-finals. Almost all of America was watching this game, a direct confrontation between two super inside players. In sharp contrast to the enthusiastic cheers of USC entering the stadium was Connecticut. Most of the fans watching at the entrance of the stadium were fans of USC. As a little-known underdog, USC had stood in the division finals step by step. Any ordinary person liked this story of the weak defeating the strong. From being unknown at the beginning to being well-known to the passers-by, at least it was a well-known name in the NCAA. The numerous banners at the entrance of the stadium made Roy feel the feeling of becoming famous overnight. Moreover, most of the fans were female, most of them were young, which made McGinnis very envious. Female fans; he dreamed of becoming a fan, it was simply unimaginable. Fortunately, he saw that there were still several black guys holding his posters in the USC fan group. This made him feel a little satisfied, but he remembered the thrilling night when he almost lost his cool. Immediately, he gave up the plan to interact with the fans and followed his teammates into the stadium.
The two teams were almost there. No matter how much the University of Connecticut ranked higher than USC, the number of fans at the scene was really pitiful. Okafor even thought that he had come to the wrong place. This should be the home court of USC. What's more exaggerated was that Okafor himself found that he didn't see a single poster supporting him. And the surroundings were full of posters of his mortal enemy Roy, almost everyone had one. There is no need to treat people with average looks so differently, right? Can being handsome be eaten? At this moment, Okafor fell into deep self-doubt. He almost bit his teeth to pieces. The game would definitely make that pretty boy unforgettable for life.
The two teams entered the field and started warming up, and the emotions of the fans in the audience also became high. ESPN had specially invited Barkley and Kenny Smith, who had retired, to comment on this game. At the beginning, the two chose a team to discuss. Barkley obviously supported Okafor. In his opinion, this was a very good blue-collar candidate. His offensive means were average, but his attitude was tough. At least his physical fitness could be popular in the NBA. He had the feeling of a classic center in the 1990s. Kenny Smith said that people should look forward. Players like Roy were the future trend of the NBA. If you don't believe it, you can refer to Garnett, Nowitzki, and Webber, who were all capable insiders.
Even the people argued with each other and made witty remarks, which made the time waiting for the start pass quickly. With the referee's whistle, the warm-up ended. The substitutes left the court and the starting lineups of the two teams walked to the center of the court. Okafor and Roy stood at the center point, ready for a jump ball. The two were only a few feet apart.
"Listen, Asian boy, your good days are over. Tonight I will crush your USC's bullshit miracle!" Roy shrugged indifferently, "Whether my good days are over is not up to you. Did your girlfriend bite you silly?" "You are sharp-tongued. I will stop you from crying in a moment!"
During the ball-scrambling phase, with his jumping advantage, Roy passed the ball to his point guard at the highest point of the basketball. "Is this the No. 1 center? He can't even win the ball-scrambling. I think he should go home and take a shower." Okafor glared at Roy and followed him all the way. He said he looked down on Roy, but he watched Roy's recent game videos several times, just to lock him up with defense today to prove that the opponent was just a lucky fake, and he was the strongest inside player with both offense and defense.
Roy, who was the central axis outside the three-point line, received the ball. The team ran according to the designed tactics. McGinnis, who came out from the baseline, received the ball. Because Okafor was pulled to the outside by Roy, the inside line of the University of Connecticut was quite empty. McGinnis dribbled the ball to the inside line, and the basketball was intercepted by Ben Gordon, who was assisting in the layup when he was about to make a layup. His teammates defended well, and Okafor started to counterattack Roy at the right time. "You see, this is the difference in strength. You don't need my defense. You USC still can't make any progress."
"Doesn't this mean that Connecticut is the same with or without you?" Roy reacted quickly and made Okafor speechless. Ben Gordon, who successfully stole the ball, dribbled the ball and counterattacked quickly. He made a layup successfully under the siege of USC players. Ben Gordon excitedly took credit for Okafor and glanced at Roy. Roy was full of provocation, McGinnis obviously felt a little guilty about his mistake, and Roy slapped him on the head, "What are you afraid of? There is a chance to continue attacking, and the offensive choice just now was not wrong. You should attack boldly when they have no one inside!"
The USC point guard sent a baseline ball, and after McGinnis dribbled across half court, he passed it to Roy, who reached out for the ball at a 45-degree angle. Roy took the ball and faced the basket. Okafor opened his arms, Roy lowered his center of gravity and began to dribble, and after continuous crotch dribbling, he started to change direction. Okafor was worthy of being this year's candidate for the best defensive player in the NCAA; he had a good grasp of the distance and did not take advantage of Roy's change of direction. Instead, he kept his body close to Roy, raised his hands high to prevent him from breaking through, and was ready to block at any time.
Roy dribbled the ball and relied on Okafor to cut inside. Okafor's defensive experience made up for the disadvantage of slow footsteps. But Roy's height and arm span had a considerable advantage. He used his long arms to exceed Okafor's interference range and found an offensive opportunity with a light flick of his finger. The basketball bounced on the hoop above Okafor's head and fell into the basket! 2 to 2. From this ball, Roy realized that tonight might not be as simple as he imagined. Although he had been doing strength training and deliberately increased his weight, there was no substantial change in just over 20 days. He suffered a small loss in the last match against Luol Deng. Today, facing the pure center Okafor, who was stronger, his disadvantage in strength was further expanded. He had to change his offensive thinking. If he fought head-on, he would soon be exhausted. He originally disdained such defensive blue-collar workers. But in reality, facing such players, it was difficult to cope with them without enough strength, and it was very difficult to play.
Okafor used his weight and strength to oppress and interfere, exposing his disadvantage in confrontation. Barkley in the commentary booth pointed out Roy's dilemma: "Man,
you see, Roy is still too thin. In the high-intensity confrontation inside, although the first ball was scored, you can feel how hard he is. His confrontation is okay against ordinary university insiders, but he is still a little stretched against Okafor." Kenny Smith retorted: "Roy has many offensive means, not just inside offense. He is an offensive kaleidoscope. I believe he can adjust."
Roy on the court was far from as relaxed as Kenny Smith said. Ben Gordon relied on his strong personal ability to break through the back line of USC into a sieve. Roy needed to spend a lot of energy on assisting defense to avoid letting this guy score continuously. Fortunately, Okafor's mid-range shooting rate was too poor. Two consecutive mid-range shots in open space hit the basket. "What's wrong, Emeka? Did you see how nervous I am? You can't even shoot in open positions. Sorry, I remember now. This is your true shooting percentage. I heard that your free throw shooting percentage is less than 60%." This really touched Okafor's sore spot, and he was so angry that he wanted to jump up and down.
Roy grabbed the rebound, organized a quick advance, and passed the ball to McGinnis for a dunk from a long distance. Okafor realized that he made a mistake in returning to defense and was fooled, and called Roy a liar. Unable to bear Roy's stimulation, the stubborn Okafor gave up the support after taking the ball and switched to attacking on his own. He wanted to prove his offensive ability to Roy. But the effect was average, and Roy added a rebound and a block to his personal data.
Connecticut coach Calhoun saw that his favorite student was dizzy and wanted to fight Roy. He decisively called a timeout and woke Okafor up with an astonishingly fast speed. "You can't even count how many you have on your fingers. You still want to argue with him. Listen, focus on defense. Remember, our team needs Ben Wallace, not Juwan Howard!"