The Trojans' coach immediately called a timeout. The entire arena was in an uproar, like a volcanic eruption, cheering for Zhao Xiu.
Westbrook was also bumping shoulders with Zhao Xiu, shouting in celebration.
During the timeout, Holland looked at Zhao Xiu with renewed appreciation. He had previously noticed this kid from UCLA who trained with Westbrook every day, but only because his three-point shooting was outstanding and his defense wasn't bad, which was why he kept him. He never expected such immense improvement.
It's important to know that a player who doesn't dominate the ball on offense, can create space for catch-and-shoot opportunities, plays excellent defense, is tall, can protect rebounds, can switch defensively, and can rotate to cover, would absolutely be a favorite of coaches on any team.
Seeming to notice that Zhao Xiu had a good shooting touch today, Holland spoke up with an adjustment, "Collison for Hamid. You guys pay more attention to Zhao Xiu's position. If necessary, shoot more threes. We're going to win this game!"
Collison looked at this freshman who joined the team this year and actually felt quite fond of him.
He trained diligently off the court and played tough defense on the court. What teammate wouldn't like someone like that?
After the timeout, the offensive play called by the Trojans' coach was defended again, with a shot by Davon Jefferson after an off-ball cut missing the rim.
After the inbound, it was still the Bruins' possession, UCLA on offense. The Trojans' coach was very frustrated. UCLA's offense was a five-out or four-in-one-out strategy, which was quite advanced for that era.
The fundamental reason was that all five players on the court—Zhao Xiu, Westbrook, Love, Collison, and Barmote—had outside shooting ability. Therefore, without excellent perimeter rotation players, it was impossible to effectively defend against cuts.
It was still Love and Westbrook positioned on the strong side, only this time it wasn't Barmote in the strong-side corner, but Zhao Xiu.
At this moment, Love received the ball from Westbrook in the high post. The instant he caught it with his back to the basket, Davon Jefferson, his defender, was wary of Zhao Xiu's recent three-pointer, so his defensive position was pushed higher. Zhao Xiu immediately took a big step, cutting into the unguarded paint.
Davon Jefferson immediately followed suit. The moment he turned to chase Zhao Xiu, Zhao Xiu suddenly took a step back to the three-point line.
Love's low-post passing vision was excellent; the ball arrived as Zhao Xiu moved. Zhao Xiu smoothly jumped up after catching the ball, with the exact same posture, elbow up and wrist flick.
51-41!
The ball traced a beautiful arc through the air, then plunged straight into the net. Because the trajectory was so precise, it barely caused any vibration in the net.
Or rather, the cheers from the audience had completely drowned out all other sounds on the court.
Over the next two possessions, inspired by Zhao Xiu's three-pointer and the tsunami-like cheers from the crowd, UCLA successfully defended two more Trojans' offensive possessions.
At the same time, Westbrook also used Zhao Xiu's three-point threat to successfully drive to the basket for two points. Afterwards, Zhao Xiu received a pass from Westbrook and sank another open three-pointer, and Collison hit a pull-up mid-range jumper in isolation.
The situation on the court changed dramatically; the score had reached 51-48.
Only a three-point difference remained, with 4 minutes left! The roar of the crowd was like mountains and seas; the home atmosphere was fully ignited.
The Trojans' coach, out of options, had to call another timeout.
During the timeout, Coach Holland didn't give many instructions, but because Zhao Xiu had played exceptionally well today, hitting all three of his three-point attempts, he wasn't substituted out. The five players on the court remained Collison, Westbrook, Zhao Xiu, Barmote, and Love.
On the first possession after the timeout, the Trojans' coach set up a pick-and-roll for OJ Mayo. Mayo used the pick-and-roll for a pull-up mid-range jumper, but under Zhao Xiu's interference, it clanked off the rim.
Now it was the Bruins' turn to offense. The play remained unchanged. After Love received the ball in the high post, this time Davon Jefferson put all his effort into it, preventing Zhao Xiu from getting any open space in the strong-side corner. Love, according to the play, passed the ball to Zhao Xiu in the corner. According to the play, Zhao Xiu should have passed the ball back to Westbrook or Love.
But at this point, Zhao Xiu, who was on a shooting spree, didn't follow the play. Still in his familiar left corner, he executed a triple threat, lightly stepping forward with his right foot. As his defender, Davon Jefferson, like a startled bird, immediately retreated a step, Zhao Xiu pulled up for a quick three-pointer from beyond the arc.
"Swish"
Three-pointer good!
51-51.
The commentator on the sidelines shouted as if suffocating, "51-51 tie! After the miraculous kid from UCLA came on, the Bruins went on a 20-0 run! Oh my god, what kind of game is this! The Bruins with 7 consecutive field goals, the kid from UCLA with four straight threes and two dunks, he hasn't missed a shot!"
At this moment, Zhao Xiu, who had not shown much intense celebration, suddenly raised his right hand, curled his ring and pinky fingers, extended his other three fingers towards the audience, then slowly retracted them into a pistol shape, pointed it at his temple, and fired!
The audience and the bench immediately rose to their feet because of this action. Hamid, who had just been substituted out, made a blocking gesture with both hands, slightly squatting, and shouted, "God, this is the coolest celebration I've ever seen!!"
The commentator also shouted, "Xiu's gun shot into the opponent's heart! He's absolutely deadly accurate! He's like an X-Ray, striking the opponent precisely from long range!"
With over four minutes left, the completely disoriented Trojans, though tied in score, were utterly suppressed in momentum.
Until the final four minutes expired, the Bruins maintained their dominance over the Trojans, with the game ending 63 to 54. During this period, Zhao Xiu scored another four points through free throws and backdoor cuts.
After a thrilling comeback, Zhao Xiu finished with 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 0 assists, scoring all 20 of his points in the last ten minutes.
Zhao Xiu went 7-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-4 from three-point range, in his ten minutes on the court, becoming the Bruins' secret weapon and helping UCLA lose only one game so far this season, remaining undefeated in conference play.
At the end of the game, the entire arena chanted, "Bruins! Bruins!"
Players from the bench also rushed onto the court, and Zhao Xiu smiled as he high-fived and hugged them.
A moment later, after celebrating with his teammates, Zhao Xiu wanted to go and embrace OJ Mayo as a gesture, but found he was already gone. He smiled and shook his head.
Not dwelling on it, he hugged and greeted the other players remaining on the court before returning to the locker room.
Only, no one noticed that in the stands, the Lakers' head scout Bill Bertka and the Thunder's head scout Presti were sitting, both, by coincidence, writing down Zhao Xiu's name in their notebooks... In the locker room after the game, Holland specifically praised the team's bench players, or rather, directly highlighted Zhao Xiu.
On the stat sheet, Zhao Xiu's performance of 7-for-7 from the field in 10 minutes off the bench was very eye-catching.
"I am proud of your performance, and I hope you continue to work hard in the future. It is our tenacity that makes us unbeatable!!"
The Bruins players gathered in a circle, shouting together, "Bruins will win!"
Coach Holland continued, "I hope that in the days to come, we continue this spirit, never giving up. The championship is our destiny this season!"
..."Miraculous UCLA Kid Zhao Xiu Leads UCLA to Great Comeback! X-Ray Shot to the Heart!"
Early the next morning, reports from Los Angeles media were immediately published. While an NCAA regular season game might not attract massive attention or widespread publicity, it was still a highly-watched NCAA game because it featured a matchup between the top two high school players in the nation.
The trend for highly-ranked college players now is "one & done." This means playing one year in college and then leaving, so there's a high probability of entering the NBA draft that year, and potentially as a high-pick player. Therefore, many scouts would secretly observe their desired players at such games.
At this time, in the Lakers' locker room, recent results had been poor, especially after Bynum's season-ending injury, which cast a further shadow over the team's prospects. Kobe was still unaware of the 【robbery-like trade】 Jerry West was about to make with the Grizzlies in February, and thus still without his true Love, Pau Gasol.
Odom was nervously enduring Kobe's 【death stare】, sweating profusely.
Suddenly, he saw a news headline. After reading it carefully, he immediately shouted to Kobe,
"Did you see the news? Last night's UCLA vs. University of Southern California game, in the last 7 minutes of the second half, over four minutes of play, UCLA went on a 20-0 run to overturn the University of Southern California!"
Odom had been traded to the Lakers from the Los Angeles Clippers, and both the Los Angeles Clippers and the five players were only about 20 miles from UCLA. Therefore, he often paid attention to this cross-town team, which was only a fifteen to twenty-minute drive away.
"How's Westbrook?" Kobe also put away his death stare, remembering the young man who showed no fear in front of him last summer, just as he himself had faced Jordan when he first entered the NBA. He was very fond of that young man.
"No, it's a UCLA player named Zhao Xiu. He scored 16 of those 20 points, went 4-for-4 from three, and had two dunks, 7-for-7 overall from the field. He came off the bench and stunned the University of Southern California, and also defended the nation's number one high school player, OJ Mayo," Odom exclaimed.
"OJ Mayo? The kid whose template is me?" Kobe frowned upon hearing this. Defended his template rookie? What did that mean?
The petty one had already started to frantically self-hypnotize: 'He defended a rookie whose template is me, so that means he thinks he defended me? Is this a challenge to me?'
He silently committed Zhao Xiu's name to memory.
"A guard?" Kobe asked.
"A forward, a 2.03-meter forward. Maybe we can go watch a game together sometime tonight?" Odom then suggested to his boss.
"No interest," Kobe pouted...