My days of working at the NBA

Chapter 23 Is this the kind of situation where someone's going to get beaten to death?

When doubts arise in one's mind, it's hard not to feel restless and eager.

But Du Ze waited patiently, after all, his possession of the ball was like leftover stale rice, rotten and stinky.

He himself still had some sense of self-awareness.

Finally, at 7 minutes and 41 seconds, he had another chance to verify his identity.

He rolled to the basket after a pick-and-roll, and without any fancy moves, he leaned on Burke and drove hard to the basket for a layup.

Burke was truly helpless in the face of Duzer's onslaught and instinctively reached out to pull him back.

Du Ze wasn't about to miss such an opportunity. After clearly feeling the force on his arm, he released his grip in the direction of Dwight Burke's pull. This release wasn't minor; it was quite obvious and exaggerated. His entire arm, along with his shoulder, suddenly dropped backward and downward.

But there is a clear downside to doing this.

The fact that he was holding the ball with only one hand was something he wasn't used to, and the fact that he was still some distance from the basket caused his floater to hit the rim right.

If you don't score and the referee happens not to call a goal, that would be a huge loss.

result.

Beep.

The whistle blew.

In the end, the whistle blew, just as he had predicted.

Du Ze felt a slight excitement; at that moment, he felt he had grasped some kind of secret to playing basketball.

However, such opportunities don't come around all the time.

It requires one to have genuinely felt violated before making exaggerated body language and gestures. But if one knows they could score, yet sacrifices the opportunity for the sake of performance, it doesn't seem worthwhile.

Therefore, we need to find a balance point, and it's best to aim for 2+1.

That way, you'll be more at ease on the field.

However, there is another prerequisite: you need to feel the temperature of the water during the competition.

In other words, it's important to know the referee's standards for judgment, since there are many physical collisions in a game that can be called or not.

If the referee allows physical combat, and you still use the excuse of your human cylinder being violated to perform, you're just asking for trouble. If the referee blows the whistle for minor injuries, then you can fight freely.

In this game, he had figured out the referee's standards, which were relatively moderate, neither too hot nor too cold. His foul was somewhere in between, where it could be called or not.

If he hadn't made such an obvious and exaggerated movement when he was fouled, the referee probably wouldn't have called a foul.

At this time.

"Ha, you keep praising others' acting skills, but what about yourself? Aren't you just trying to draw fouls? It's truly despicable."

McNeil's mocking voice rang in his ears. Before Duze could say anything, he continued, "Do you want me to book you a plane ticket to Los Angeles?"

Du Ze didn't refute, but stared excitedly into McNeil's eyes, his expression utterly insincere: "Really? When are you ordering it for me?"

McNeil paused for a moment, then spat out two words: "Shameless."

Du Ze was unaffected and chuckled, "Putting your words aside, personal attacks are wrong. If you're not happy, you can complain to the referee like I did just now."

It was a clear foul to pull someone down, there's no dispute about that, and even the person involved, Dwight Burke, didn't dare to come out and argue. This fact has already been established.

Therefore, he was not afraid of McNeil going to the referee, nor was he afraid of watching the replay.

Finally, his sneer deepened: "Let's see if the referee will even listen to an idiot like you."

McNeil, who was initially very excited, instantly froze upon hearing the word "idiot."

The next second, as if he had a stress response syndrome, he flew into a rage and lunged forward, yelling, "Who are you calling an idiot?"

When Du Ze pointed his finger at him and called him an idiot before the game started, he still hasn't swallowed that insult. Now, hearing Du Ze curse him again, his face immediately turned red, and all his anger burst forth in an instant.

Du Ze didn't back down at all, shoving the other person's dirty, dark hand away: "Didn't you hear me? Then I'll say it again, idiot, big idiot, I'm talking about you. Look at your head, flat like a rugby ball, did your mother get stuck when she gave birth to you?"

Oh wow.

This is like kicking a powder keg.

McNeil jumped up immediately.

However, at just over 1.8 meters tall, jumping up in front of Du Ze was like a dwarf dancing in a disco, and he showed no intention of backing down at all.

Meanwhile, Hayward from Marquette University reacted quickly, grabbing McNeil and preventing the situation from escalating further.

However, some pushing and shoving between the two sides was still inevitable.

The referee quickly arrived to save the day.

The referee, standing between the players, said, "This is a basketball game, not freestyle fighting. Everyone, calm down, calm down..."

McNeil, spitting as he spoke, exclaimed, "He called me an idiot!"

Upon hearing this, the people who were trying to mediate the fight were all stunned for a moment.

It's not uncommon for opposing teams to exchange trash talk on the basketball court.

Calling someone an idiot is commonplace and nothing special.

result.

McNeil was furious.

Isn't this... making a mountain out of a molehill?

This was everyone's first reaction.

Lawrence immediately flashed a knowing smile and yelled at the Marquette University players, "Hurry up and comfort your wife, her crying really affects the viewing experience, okay?"

At this, the Marquette University players also felt their faces burning with embarrassment.

McNeil knew everyone had misunderstood him, and he wanted to explain that what he couldn't swallow was the anger from before, not the insult of "idiot": "I meant... he insulted me before the game..."

But at this moment, no one is willing to listen to the ins and outs of the matter.

After several ups and downs, Marquette's team had already pulled McNeil away.

They can't afford to lose face like that.

The game was paused again.

Since no physical altercation occurred between the two sides, no further penalties were imposed.

One minute later.

Everyone had calmed down enough, and the game continued.

Du Ze stepped to the free-throw line and made both shots.

The score reached 21-18, indicating that the two sides were evenly matched.

Both teams also made substitutions.

The University of Missouri brought in their super sixth man, Alex English, replacing Taylor. Marquette University brought in the still-developing Jimmy Butler, replacing McNeil, presumably to give the latter a break.

result.

This substitution turned out to be the turning point of the game.

Butler called out English twice in a row, then drew a foul on Lyons and assisted Matthews to hit a three-pointer.

With a combination of shots and catches, Marquette went on a 9-0 run.

The score became 21-27.

Missouri went from leading by 3 points to trailing by 6 points in just four minutes.

The old man Anderson called a timeout to make adjustments.

As a result, Lawrence made a mistake right from the start, followed by another mistake by Carroll, and Marquette University seized the opportunity to launch a fast break counterattack.

Another 4 points.

In the end, Du Ze stepped up, grabbed the offensive rebound, and scored 2 points to barely stop the bleeding.

But after calming down, McNeil immediately sank a three-pointer.

The first half has ended.

Missouri trailed by a full 11 points, 23-34.

This was an outcome that no one had anticipated.

Missouri, which was evenly matched and fighting back and forth, was suddenly defeated in one fell swoop.

This is... the kind of situation where someone's going to be beaten to death.

It really proves the saying that a game can change in an instant, and anything can happen before the final whistle blows.