My days of working at the NBA

Chapter 46 Advancing to the Top 4

The game continued, but Connecticut seemed to have lost their minds, making a basic passing error during a run.

We've conceded a goal.

Lawrence quickly advanced the ball and passed it to English, who had rushed to the three-point line.

The latter took a three-pointer.

Another hit!

The score was 50 to 30, with the difference now reaching 20 points.

These 20 points are like a huge chasm, daunting and insurmountable.

In the second half, no matter how hard Connecticut tried, they couldn't overcome the 20-point deficit...

At the final buzzer, Connecticut lost to Missouri 63-94, a crushing 31-point defeat.

The University of Missouri has successfully advanced to the semifinals.

Billy King summarized the game afterward: "That 7-0 run before halftime was a huge blow to Connecticut's morale. Duze's consecutive blocks were the final straw that broke Connecticut's back."

Doru nodded in agreement: "Yes, Connecticut was actually dead before halftime."

"But beyond that, I think the most important thing is that Missouri found a way to counter Connecticut. Duzer's outside shooting firepower successfully drew Thabeet out, causing Connecticut's defensive strategy to fail, which is the biggest reason for their loss."

Billy King glanced down at the stats: "Let me see Duze's outside shooting performance... Hmm, 2 for 4 from three-point range. He hit two at the start and then nothing. But he also went 2 for 4 from mid-range inside the three-point line. That's not a bad percentage. Connecticut really can't afford to leave him open."

That's right.

In the second half, Duze hit another mid-range shot from just inside the three-point line, once again breaking down Connecticut's defensive strategy.

Throughout the game, Du Ze made 7 of 12 field goals, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 2 of 3 free throws, scoring 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 blocks, delivering another explosive performance.

As Dorut said, it was Duze's long-range shooting threat that broke down Connecticut's defense, leading to this crushing defeat.

Dorut continued, "This illustrates a problem: the Connecticut coaching staff did not fully understand Duzer, and even underestimated him. Jim Cahon did not have a contingency plan to deal with Duzer, and they paid a heavy price for their underestimation."

A tournament where life or death is decided, and the price paid is indeed very high.

All their efforts throughout the season went down the drain, all because of this one oversight.

Billy King: "Indeed, Mike Anderson maximized Duze's value in this game."

"But I still agree more with what you said before. Duze's defensive coverage is the foundation of Missouri. He made it too difficult for Connecticut. 7 blocks! This defensive deterrence and rim protection ability directly made Price afraid to drive inside."

Dort smiled and said, "Yes, Duze has won me over. His defensive value is immense, especially his rim protection, which is absolutely top-notch."

Billy King then steered the conversation back to the draft: "After watching Duze's performance in this game, what do you think of his draft stock?"

This is a topic of great interest to people.

These newcomers are about to step onto a bigger stage, but before that, they are more like newly unearthed treasures, surrounded by mud, and no one knows their true value.

And that's the most interesting part.

Dorut pondered for a moment: "Given Duze's mediocre performance in the regular season and the considerable uncertainty involved, I think he's currently in the top ranks of the second round."

"Of course, if he continues to perform like this, and even leads the team to contend for the championship, his draft prospects will improve significantly, but that's difficult."

Billy King then asked the other two, "What about Carroll and Thabeet?"

Aside from Duze, these two are players who are guaranteed to make it to the NBA for their respective teams, and both have good draft prospects, especially Thabeet, who is a top-five favorite due to his scarcity of big men.

Moreover, both players maintained a very consistent performance throughout the season.

Dorut pondered for a moment: "As for Carroll, his fighting spirit is still commendable. He played a leadership role in this game, shooting 7-for-14 from the field and 2-for-6 from three-point range, putting up an excellent 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. He was also a key contributor to the team's victory. It was his ability to limit Adrian that allowed Missouri to win so easily. As Missouri's leader, he led the team to the final four. Considering his performance throughout the season, he definitely deserves a first-round pick. However, he is indeed too old. He is more suitable as an immediate contributor, so his draft position should be towards the end of the first round."

"As for Thabeet, he had a poor performance in this game, scoring only 5 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks, along with 4 turnovers. He was completely outmatched by Duze and exposed his weaknesses of slow speed and inability to defend the perimeter. His fundamentals were very rough, and he was really unremarkable. Those rebuilding teams need to think carefully about this."

"But given his height, wingspan, and agility, his draft prospects are still very good. He remains a top-five pick in this draft. However, if it were me, I wouldn't use the top five pick to select him. Because in this game, he couldn't even handle Duze, a pseudo-center who is 20 centimeters shorter. I'm worried about whether he can adapt to the NBA. Drafting him would definitely be a gamble."

This assessment is very fair, pointing out both Thabeet's strengths and weaknesses.

Billy King echoed this sentiment, saying, "There aren't many promising big men this year, which is Thabeet's advantage, and his draft position should be secure."

This year, besides Griffin, only Thabeet, another interior behemoth, is truly competitive, while many teams lack a cornerstone in the paint.

Many teams would covet his physical talent and choose to take a risky gamble.

What if we win the bet?

That would complete the first step towards revival.

In Missouri, besides Duze and Carroll, Lawrence also performed exceptionally well, shooting 6-for-10 for 15 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds.

Of course, if you remove the 8 points he scored at the start, his performance afterwards was rather disorganized.

Lyons also did well, making 5 of 9 shots and scoring 13 points.

Additionally, substitute English contributed, hitting three three-pointers and scoring 11 points.

On the Connecticut side, although their main scorer AJ Price was blocked by Duze, he still contributed 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. However, he only made 6 of 16 shots, which was a rather poor shooting percentage.

He was slapped three times by Du Ze. If you exclude those three attacks, his overall performance was still quite commendable.

Adrian, another key offensive player for the team, also had a dismal performance, shooting 5-for-15 and scoring only 12 points and 5 rebounds.

He was also blocked by Duze, but he was mainly limited in his matchup against Carroll.

Connecticut's best player was freshman Kemba Walker, who came off the bench in the second half and scored 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists on 6-of-10 shooting.

At this time, Kemba was still a minor figure.

But without his performance in the second half, Connecticut would have lost even more badly.

His performance earned him people's respect.