Chapter 149: The Wolves from the Northwest (Part Two)

Facing a single wolf, a hunter might remark on how much it resembles a husky; facing two wolves, the hunter will be wary of attacks from behind, as it is said wolves will place their paws upon a prey's shoulders from the rear and, the moment the prey turns its head to expose its vulnerable neck, bite right through it; facing three wolves, the hunter will pray for the strength and physique of a grizzly bear; and facing a dozen wolves, the hunter should pray for a repeating rifle with infinite ammunition in their hands.

Perhaps more than any other wild animal, the wolf is the species that has been most closely intertwined with humanity throughout the history of human evolution.

People often use the term "lone wolf" to describe certain behaviors. Regardless of the actual connotations of this phrase, from another perspective, wolves as a species only truly unleash their full potential when acting as a pack.

Wang Lei had indeed seen wolves before, but those were merely hair-shedding, mangy, dog-like "pet" wolves confined in a zoo. Nevertheless, Wang Lei believed that the tactical scheme his team was about to deploy at the start of the third quarter could be aptly described as a "wolf pack tactic."

In truth, this tactic had no fixed playbook, nor had any famous team on Earth ever utilized it. It could even be considered Wang Lei's original creation—the pursuit of an extreme philosophy of basketball.

As the players took the court for the start of the third quarter, everyone noticed that the Xinjiang Youth team's lineup had undergone significant changes compared to the starting roster.

Hawuer, who had performed brilliantly in the first half, was nowhere to be seen on the court. Instead, Sun Dexun, who had spent the entire game anchoring the second unit, was now subbed in. Aside from this change, Wang Lei also deployed Si Junwei, another perimeter player renowned for his shooting ability.

With this configuration, all five Xinjiang Youth players on the floor possessed exceptional mobility and impressive shooting prowess.

On the other side, the North American Youth team stuck with their original starting lineup. However, starting center Robert Lee wore a gloomy expression; he felt as though he was being targeted in a coordinated assault by both his head coach and his own teammates.

The third quarter got underway with Xinjiang Youth inbounding the ball.

Turgun rapidly dribbled the ball upcourt, immediately closed down upon by North American Youth defenders who dared not grant him a clean look at a three-pointer.

Yet Turgun did not linger on the ball, instantly flipping a pass to Cai Aihong at the top of the arc.

Robert Lee did not close out tightly on Cai Aihong; he knew that this player, standing just over two meters tall, had remarkably poor physical contact abilities and didn't seem to possess a shooting range extending beyond the three-point line. Consequently, he gave Cai Aihong a cushion of about a meter and a half to guard against a drive, while preparing himself for potential defensive rotations.

However, Cai Aihong caught the pass and fired away from beyond the arc without a moment's hesitation, catching Robert Lee completely off guard defensively.

Historically, Cai Aihong's reputation among outsiders was that of a player with a reliable mid-range jumper, tireless hustle, and excellent endurance, but terrible body strength and atrocious defense. No one had ever considered him a marksman capable of stretching his range beyond the three-point line. After all, he had always been the tallest interior player on the Xinjiang Youth team, and in the current basketball landscape, it was conventional wisdom that big men did not need to shoot threes.

Yet, upon reflection, Cai Aihong's height was barely over two meters—a stature that, on many teams, would be considered standard for a wing player.

This entrenched perception, combined with Wang Lei's deliberate strategy to keep Cai Aihong from shooting outside the arc during matches, had created the current situation. In reality, Cai Aihong had always possessed three-point range, and he had never slackened in his practice of long-range shooting during daily training sessions.

Cai Aihong's three-pointer extended the Xinjiang Youth team's lead to six points.

The entire sequence, from inbounding the ball from the baseline to the basket, took less than six seconds. This left the North American Youth players somewhat bewildered, causing them profound trouble on the ensuing baseline inbound play.

Having drained the three-pointer, Cai Aihong and all his Xinjiang Youth teammates did not retreat to play defense as they usually would; instead, every single player initiated a suffocating, full-court press.

Cai Aihong sprinted directly toward the North American Youth player attempting the baseline inbound, waving his arms frantically to disrupt his vision.

Some of the North American Youth players had already leaked out toward the opposing half, only to discover that their own backcourt was now in danger of failing to inbound the ball at all.

Zhu Guoqing reacted quickly and rushed back to provide an outlet, but the five-second count was already expiring. The North American Youth player inbounding the ball could have called a short timeout to defuse the crisis, but he was so unnerved by this sudden tactical shift from Xinjiang Youth that, seeing the referee's fingers already indicating four seconds elapsed, he panicked and hurled the ball toward Robert Lee at the top of the arc—after all, he was still the tallest target on the floor.

Seeing the ball fly toward him, Robert Lee spun around to receive it, but Wang晖 suddenly flashed in from the blind spot. Wang Weihong's anticipation was absolute; the exact instant Robert Lee touched the ball, Wang stripped it clean.

Having secured the steal, Wang Weihong did not give Robert Lee a chance to commit a foul; without dribbling, he lofted the ball directly toward the rim.

Cai Aihong, who had just been disrupting the inbound pass, immediately took flight in the paint to complete the alley-oop slam.

The lead between the two teams stretched to eight points.

The spectators on the sidelines erupted into deafening cheers. Like a pack of wolves closing in on their prey, the Xinjiang Youth team launched wave after wave of attacks from every conceivable angle, an extreme style of play that made everyone's scalp tingle.

Coach Gao Ming could no longer remain seated. Pressing his hands downward, he signaled for his players to calm down and prevent the opponents from dictating the tempo. If they let Xinjiang dictate the pace, the unprepared North American Youth players stood no chance against them.

Having completed the scoring sequence, the Xinjiang Youth players still did not retreat into a conventional defense as onlookers expected. They maintained their extreme full-court press, with every single athlete fighting fiercely for position and sprinting relentlessly, virtually cutting off every passing lane available to North American Youth.

This time, however, the North American Youth players managed to steady their nerves. Through repeated screening and cutting by Zhu Guoqing and Robert, they finally managed to successfully inbound the ball from the baseline.

The moment the ball was successfully passed in, the Xinjiang Youth players immediately fell back into a set half-court defense, abandoning all further disruption.

Swift as the wind, striking with lethal intent whenever an opportunity arose, yet retreating with absolute crispness and discipline—one had to admit, the demeanor of the Xinjiang Youth team bore an uncanny resemblance to a wolf pack.

Having finally stabilized the situation, the North American Youth slowly advanced the ball into the frontcourt. Robert Lee once more established position in the post, but the moment North American Youth showed any intention of feeding him the ball, the Xinjiang Youth defense converged into a double-team without a moment's hesitation.

Ultimately, it was Zhu Guoqing—who had been relatively quiet in the first half—who utilized a teammate's screen to break free, catch the pass, and drain a long two-pointer, successfully stabilizing the situation for his team for the time being.