Chapter 32: Always Like This
“Duke University’s players are undoubtedly dissatisfied with Eli’s active offense against their head coach!”
“Yes, they definitely think Eli crossed the line!”
“However, that’s Eli; he is widely considered a master of trash talk and psychological warfare!”
Mike Krzyzewski stood with arms crossed in front of the bench—he had deployed his most skilled “three guards + mobile inside” lineup today. Greg Paulus and Jon Scheyer’s dual gun combination had torn apart countless opponents’ defenses this season. Add in the exceptionally athletic Demarcus Nelson, and although Duke’s lineup lacked a properly sized small forward, this was actually the norm in college leagues.
Their opponents TTU also lacked a proper small forward; this position had always been filled in rotation by Xu Ling and Martin Zeno.
Importantly, whether the players filling the gap position have enough talent.
Duke has talent.
This was Krzyzewski’s source of confidence, but Xu Ling’s opening provocation did linger in everyone’s minds.
The Blue Devils’ top star stepped up.
Josh McRoberts took the ball at the high post; compared to him, Darrell Dora was like an inside player from the 1960s.
McRoberts jab stepped once, drove to the basket with the ball, and scored on a slashing dunk.
Then, McRoberts wanted to say a few words back to Knight like Xu Ling had, but he was intimidated by the aura emanating from Knight’s sullen rabbit eyes, so he turned to Xu Ling instead: “This is Coach K’s return gift!”
“Darryl, how long is that damn defense of yours going to make me worry!”
Knight’s roar came from the sidelines.
Dora looked innocent; he originally had no answer for an inside player with McRoberts’ all-around skills.
If you worry too much about his shooting, you’re very likely to get driven past, but if you lower your center of gravity or sag off to limit his drives, he’ll just shoot right over you.
“Don’t mind it; after all, he’s USA’s Top High School Player（2005）.” Xu Ling said, “Getting your ass kicked hard by him is normal.”
Dora laughed: “Thanks for the comfort, rookie; I feel even worse now.”
“Stay patient, position well, wait for my passing!” Xu Ling said calmly.
Duke certainly wouldn’t play unprepared; their three perimeter guards all had solid athleticism, and old K had made detailed arrangements targeting Xu Ling’s defense before the game started.
Once Xu Ling received the ball on the outside, Nelson defending Zeno would quickly rotate over for the double team.
If a pick and roll was called, they would firmly execute the switch.
Moreover, the double teamer would use his wingspan to ensure Xu Ling couldn’t pass the ball directly to an open teammate in one motion; even if the double teamer didn’t harass well, the other three would actively block passing lanes.
In short, it was impossible to give Xu Ling an opportunity to create an open shot directly from the perimeter double team.
And once relayed through a teammate as a “midstation” for a second pass, Duke players’ athleticism could easily recover to the open man.
This was the kind of game college coaches loved most, a game that might be called overcoaching in the NBA.
The players on the court were just the coach’s pieces; most things happening on the court were under the coach’s control.
This was also Xu Ling’s first time experiencing what a defensive package was in the NCAA.
A tailor-made package, if effective, could seal off a player’s opportunities to initiate offense from a certain position.
It could be said that Duke used this tight defensive package to lock down his chances of receiving the ball directly at the perimeter sweet spot to initiate offense.
However, Knight also had arrangements for Duke.
Although Duke’s lineup was full of talent, their record this year wasn’t good; in the ACC league, they only had an 8-8 record, and in some smaller leagues, that record wouldn’t even get an at-large bid for March Madness.
The reason Duke’s record was poor was that their talent overflowed but they lacked a floor general and offensive stability.
Josh McRoberts was undoubtedly an outstanding college player, but he lacked leadership; Duke’s truly leadership-capable player was Greg Paulus, but he didn’t have the former’s technique. The other starters all had solid athletic talent, but were either technically rough or severely one-dimensional.
Knight seized Duke’s Achilles’ heel, directly setting up a 2-3 zone defense: Xu Ling matched up against Duke’s leading scorer from the perimeter Paulus, Zeno tightly marked the opponent’s most reliable perimeter shooter Jon Scheyer, and they set up an iron bucket array under the basket, daring them to attack.
In the first ten minutes of the first half, both coaches’ presence was extremely obvious.
Whenever any position had a problem, the coach would point at the erring player and curse them out.
Probably only at times like this would people realize that Coach K was truly Knight’s disciple.
At the eleventh minute of the game, McRoberts used a pick and roll to pop out, shaking off Julius Jackson who should have switched, and nailed a three-pointer off the catch.
“Swish!”
12 to 9, Duke leads by three.
Knight immediately called a timeout.
“J.J., you said you want to play in the NBA?” Knight roared furiously, “With so many NBA general managers in the arena tonight, who do you think will give you a chance? Your contribution so far is zero, no impact at all! You’ve failed the captain title!”
He bellowed: “Get out! I’m done with you!”
Then, Knight turned to sophomore guard Allen Voskuil: “You come in for J.J.! Martin Zeno, from now on you’re guarding Greg Paulus!” Knight glared deathly at Xu Ling again, “Remember what I said to you at the start?”
“Slaughter them?”
“So how have you been doing that?”
“I dunked a pretty one.”
“And then fucking nothing!” Knight roared, “You want to say you were double teamed so you couldn’t attack? Fine, I’ll put you at point guard! Unless the damn Blue Devils start double teaming you from the backcourt, I don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit excuses!”
Timeout over, the referee signaled both teams to take the floor. Xu Ling paused before going on court, turned back to stare straight at Knight: “Besides the opening shot, I’ve also shut down Greg Paulus on defense.”
“What do you want me to say?” Knight trembled with anger, “Give you a fucking kiss?”
“No, just reminding you again.” Xu Ling dropped that line, turned, and walked onto the court, “Don’t take out others’ mistakes on me.”
Knight was furious, wanted to say something, but Xu Ling was already walking away. He turned around and saw Jackson coming off the bench, so he pointed at his own incompetent captain and roared: “See that, J.J.? What a failed captain you are—our rookie won’t even take the blame for you!”
The relationship between Xu Ling and Knight was filled with similar turbulence.
Knight always wanted to vent at Xu Ling to warn others, while Xu Ling firmly refused responsibility that wasn’t his.
Their season passed amid similar arguments; Knight often said he couldn’t stand this damn rookie anymore, while Xu Ling never explicitly expressed inner resentment, just used consistent outstanding performance to raise Knight’s threshold time and again.
Xu Ling brought the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt and settled at the top of the arc.
Duke had no contingency for Xu Ling at point guard.
Demarcus Nelson’s one-on-one defense looked airtight.
However.
Xu Ling suddenly jab stepped into a step-back, creating a meter of space out of thin air from Nelson, rose up, and ignored everyone for a pull-up three-pointer.
“You fucking—” Knight’s roar continued until the basketball swished through the net, “Good! Lock him down, slaughter them.”
Texas Tech University thereby took the lead.
This scene made Mike Krzyzewski’s scalp tingle; he really couldn’t believe Coach Knight had called a timeout specifically to let Xu Ling take it to the top and force a three.
This was something Coach Knight wouldn’t tolerate.
But Krzyzewski then saw Xu Ling high-five Knight during the transition defense, exchanging words quickly.
Was that really Coach Knight?
If Coach K heard their exchange, he wouldn’t have that thought.
“Throw another circus shot like that and I’ll pull you!”
“But I made it, coach.”
On defense, Xu Ling switched onto Duke’s sharpshooter Jon Scheyer.
Zeno’s defense on him wasn’t successful, so Knight put Xu Ling on him; if you let a shooter like that get going, defense becomes very difficult.
But Scheyer was also a very pure shooter with basically no ball-handling attack ability, so this assignment actually freed up Xu Ling.
He could both stick to Scheyer and observe the court to make instant judgments.
Duke’s every offense had to initiate from Paulus or McRoberts.
This was a clear tell.
Scheyer ran off-ball, trying to drag Xu Ling away from the core area.
Xu Ling followed him, but at the moment Duke’s play started, he ghosted off the defense like a ghost—right behind McRoberts, an evil hand reached out—smack, the basketball hit the floor.
McRoberts’s eyes widened as he looked; Xu Ling had somehow gotten behind him.
“Fast break!!!”
Martin Zeno, who picked up the ball, roared.
Xu Ling, who had just stripped the ball, accelerated full speed, finger pointing at the rim.
“Not that far, right?”
Zeno’s heart skipped, but Xu Ling still pointed at the rim.
Zeno couldn’t imagine how Knight would punish him if this pass missed, but Xu Ling kept pointing at the rim, dead set on going big.
So Zeno steeled himself, gripped the ball with both hands, and lobbed it to the frontcourt.
This wasn’t the best pass, but it was perfectly timed; Xu Ling arrived right at the paint, feet planted, and exploded upward like he had springs in his legs.
“Eli!!!!!!!!”
The commentator screamed the name of the airborne man.
Xu Ling snatched the ball with one hand and slammed it home through the rim.
Boom!!!!
Xu Ling heard Knight cursing on the sideline again and knew the old man was mad once more.
As he ran past Duke’s bench, he saw Mike Krzyzewski staring at him, so he suddenly asked: “Coach K, how long have you kept your ‘friendship’ with Coach Knight?”
This question was full of provocation yet precisely hit the mark. Their mentor-disciple bond was a great story, but he lightly called it “friendship” with a timeframe, clearly laced with mockery.
Krzyzewski was stunned for a moment but soon replied: “A full twenty years.”
“Tough luck.”
Xu Ling said that and ran off without looking back.
Xu Ling could hardly believe Coach K had put up with Knight for twenty years. He’d only experienced a few months and already felt at his limit. But he soon realized that once you saw through Knight’s path-dependent bluffing, it was easy to handle. Now Xu Ling was unilaterally immune to Knight’s little tricks.
Setting aside this chaotic farce, Knight was still a good coach. But Xu Ling couldn’t help pondering: even if his motives were good and the results were good, could this “good” core really justify the means he used?
He ran back again, passing Knight once more. What was he going to say this time?
“If you feel hot, keep attacking!” Knight said deeply, “But don’t get addicted; remember it’s a five-man game!”
Right, always like that.
