Surrounding him was a group of players reeking of sweat and body odor, while his ears were filled with the raucous noise of over ten thousand fans in the arena.
At that moment, Yang Shuai's heart was racing wildly, as if it might leap out of his chest at any second. His palms were sweating uncontrollably, and his mind went blank for a brief moment.
Being a VIP spectator on the bench and actually holding the tactical board to direct the game—though the seats were close, the feeling was worlds apart.
And becoming acting head coach at such a time—to put it nicely, it was being appointed in a crisis; to put it bluntly, it was taking the fall.
Paulus was taking a technical free throw. The fans in the arena raised a deafening din, and those near the basket kept banging inflatable cheering sticks, the booming sounds stinging people's eardrums.
Paulus' free throw missed, and the arena's interference instantly turned into ear-splitting cheers.
But McRoberts then made the bonus free throw, and the gap on the court reached twelve points.
Yang Shuai let out a long breath and called a timeout.
For the goal of entering the NBA, he absolutely could not let the Demon Deacons fall here, fall before the gates of the NAA Tournament.
After the players came off the court and gathered around him, he picked up the tactical board and began drawing up plays.
Becoming acting head coach was something Yang Shuai never expected, but he was by no means unprepared for the situation the team faced.
In fact, even before Prosser was suspended, Wake Forest University's record had already shown some ups and downs.
Fundamentally, the transition offense tactic was easy to pick up, but once opponents knew you well enough, it was relatively easy to target.
So Yang Shuai had thought about how to solve this problem; the team had also conducted relevant training and planned to test it in actual play at the end of the season, but all of that was interrupted when Prosser was suspended.
The timeout was short. Yang Shuai had just finished laying out the tactics when the whistle sounded from the sideline.
Once the players were back on the court, Yang Shuai sat back on the bench, took the water handed to him by the student manager, and gulped down several large mouthfuls.
In the noisy environment, he had to deliberately raise his voice for every word, and after just one timeout, he felt his throat was already burning.
Of course, part of that was due to the game itself.
Using tactics that had never been tested, even tactics that hadn't had time to be practiced, directly in the tournament was risky no matter how you looked at it.
"What are the Demon Deacons going to do?" At that moment, commentator Eric Williams in the broadcast booth was stunned when he saw the Demon Deacons' lineup after returning from the timeout, because... there was no center!
If one had to say, the center for the Demon Deacons now was Ibaka.
This was a small-ball lineup!
Ian Eagle was also stunned. He had commentated on the NAA for so many years, and sometimes served as a guest commentator for the NBA, but he had never seen anyone dare to play like this.
It seemed that letting a twenty-one-year-old student coach was still a bit too much.
After the timeout, it was the Demon Deacons' offense.
Ibaka set a pick-and-roll for Russell Westbrook at the free-throw line, but after setting the screen, he didn't cut in; instead, he popped out to the high post.
The Blue Devils collapsed on defense. Caught in a double-team, Westbrook didn't try to force a shot and draw a foul; instead, he looked away and dished the ball to Ibaka.
Ibaka got a wide-open look and didn't waste the opportunity, sinking a high-post jumper.
"Nice play!" Ian Eagle exclaimed.
That possession was clearly the tactical setup from the timeout, using Westbrook's driving ability to force the Blue Devils to collapse on defense, then creating an open outside shooting opportunity.
He thought he had already thought highly enough of Yang Shuai, only to realize he had still underestimated him.
"The key is defense," Eric Williams said, shifting his gaze to the court. After the Blue Devils advanced to the frontcourt, McRoberts had already moved to the low post, preparing for an isolation play.
Using space wasn't something that only existed in the small-ball era Yang Shuai lived in, but the reason it was rarely used in this era came down fundamentally to interior defense.
This was still an era where the interior game reigned supreme. Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal remained fearsome low-post weapons in the league, while Dwight Howard was the rising next generation.
Even taking the NAA as an example, there were interior beasts like Greg Oden, as well as Al Horford and Joakim Noah—all dominant interior players in the league.
McRoberts' low-post offensive ability was much weaker than theirs, but after all, he had the size. Ibaka could jump, but with his size nullified, he wouldn't even have a chance to jump.
However, the Demon Deacons seemed to have a countermeasure already. Before the Blue Devils could get the ball to McRoberts, they had already begun collapsing toward the basket.
McRoberts chose to kick it out quickly to the corner, but when the ball was passed to Nelson in the corner, the latter didn't get an open shot opportunity because the Demon Deacons had already rotated on defense.
Nelson then kicked it to Henderson at the forty-five-degree angle, but Henderson didn't get an open shot opportunity either.
The Demon Deacons' defense was rotating!
Without a center, their movement at every position was fast, allowing them to quickly help on defense through defensive rotation.
Lance Thomas finally chose to take a midrange jumper, but his shot missed the basket.
Ibaka got a chance to show off his hops. After shaking off McRoberts, he leaped high and grabbed the defensive rebound.
The Demon Deacons immediately went on a fast break. Westbrook caught the ball and finished the fast-break layup, then after landing, he made his signature chest-pounding roar celebration toward the sideline.
This instantly ignited Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The emotions that had been suppressed for more than half a game finally found an outlet.
Coach K stood up and walked to the sideline. He waved his hand, and the Blue Devils' tactics changed. They began using pick-and-rolls more to find mismatches.
Clearly, Coach K didn't think the Demon Deacons would suddenly use a new tactic. He wanted to use the Demon Deacons' defensive chemistry as his entry point.
But as soon as the Blue Devils did that, the Demon Deacons directly chose unlimited switching!
That choice caught the Blue Devils off guard. They were finally forced to use isolation to finish, and Paulus' final pull-up midrange jumper missed the basket.
This time, the rebound was tipped out of the paint by Ibaka, and Westbrook snatched it with quick eyes and fast hands. The Demon Deacons went on a fast break again, and Stephen Curry's layup went in once more.
Coach K directly called a timeout.
The speed of this timeout was anything but Coach K. Clearly, the Demon Deacons' adjustments after returning from the timeout had made him feel the most direct threat.
As the players came off the court, Yang Shuai stood up and gave each of them a hard high-five.
Since they hadn't used this tactic in a game, he actually had some worries, because whether it was defensive rotation after a double-team or unlimited switching, both required high defensive chemistry from the players.
But the result was that this group on the court did very well.
This wasn't a fluke. Rather, the Demon Deacons had been playing this transition offense tactic for nearly a season, Prosser had been constantly reinforcing the players' coordination on defense, and their defensive chemistry had already formed.
So what Yang Shuai did wasn't to build a new defensive system, but to push the existing foundation to a more extreme direction—namely, the future "small-ball tactics."
Of course, another very important reason this tactic worked so quickly was that NAA courts were the same as FIBA courts, both smaller than NBA courts, so the pressure of defensive rotation was much less.
"McRoberts should play more physically. He pursues reasonableness too much," Eric Williams said in the broadcast booth, pinpointing the key to the Blue Devils' dilemma.
If Greg Oden were the one down low, the Demon Deacons' defensive strategy would be ineffective, because a simple collapse couldn't stop Oden from scoring in the low post, and over-helping would inevitably leave gaps in the defensive rotation.
"Perhaps precisely because they knew McRoberts' technical characteristics, the Demon Deacons chose this extreme defensive tactic," Ian Eagle said, looking up toward the Demon Deacons' bench. Yang Shuai wasn't holding a tactical board at this moment; instead, he was excitedly saying something to the players gathered around him.
"Just keep playing like this! McRoberts loves to pass!" Yang Shuai shouted at his players. After stopping the Blue Devils, the fans' excited emotions brought even greater noise, forcing him to keep raising the volume.
"As soon as McRoberts posts up, help defend early. Don't give Paulus and Nelson outside shooting opportunities," Yang Shuai emphasized the tactical details again.
The players nodded frequently. You could see expressions on their faces completely different from halftime—no longer confusion, but resolve, because they had found their direction again.
The whistle sounded from the sideline; the timeout was over.
Yang Shuai looked up at the scoreboard. After the Demon Deacons had scored six straight points, the gap on the court had come down to six points.
"Guys," Yang Shuai looked at his players one last time. This time, he didn't deliberately raise his voice. "Crush them."',
Chapter 24