NBA: My template has no limit

After advancing to the second round, De Paul will encounter a truly formidable opponent.

In the quarterfinals, they will face the Wake Forest team led by "Flying Devil" Tim Duncan!

With Tim Duncan, who stands at 2.11 meters tall and weighs a whopping 112 kilograms, anchoring the center position, the Wake Forest's interior became a true no-fly zone!

Before Duncan suffered a severe meniscus tear in his knee in 2000, playing a floor-bound style was definitely not his trademark.

He relentlessly ravaged the rim with powerful dunks, blocks, and fast-break smashes.

At this point, Duncan hadn't yet announced his withdrawal from the draft. If a general manager holding the number one pick didn't ultimately select him, the scouting report would describe that general manager as "worthy of being sent to a mental hospital!"

Given Duncan's talent, he would have been the undisputed number one draft pick in any year after 95.

This is absolute strength and talent, and De Paul is about to face them.

The hype for this match began on the night De Paul defeated Villanova.

This will be the most talked-about and crucial match in the round of 16!

"DePaul, the Blue Demon King, versus the Flying Devil of Vic Forest!"

Xu Feng and Duncan have remarkably similar playing styles: one guards the paint, and the other connects the perimeter.

After Randolph left, Duncan and Xu Feng had another thing in common: they were both considered to be the purest examples of one-man-four-man teams!

It's less of a team match and more of a contest of individual skill!

The game was played at Hubert Humphrey Dome in Minnesota.

As the largest indoor stadium in Minnesota, capable of holding 50,000 people, its inflatable dome structure is considered an engineering marvel.

At this point, the stadium was roughly two-thirds full, even though Minnesota was quite far from both teams' home stadiums.

"This game has sold 32046 tickets according to official statistics, making it the game with the largest live audience since March Madness!" The commentator reported the pre-game data to the audience at the stadium and across the United States, warming up the crowd in advance.

Xu Feng walked onto the basketball court and saw the man; Duncan also looked at him.

He has a slender build, broad shoulders, a narrow back, an inverted triangle shape, extremely long arms, a calm gaze, and an indifferent expression.

This is the self-cultivation of a master of facial expression management, but Xu Feng knows that he has not yet reached the pinnacle, and he will pay the price for it in the future.

Both teams stood at center circle, Xu Feng and Duncan jumped for the ball, but Xu Feng unusually did not jump over his opponent, Wake Forest had possession of the ball, and shooting guard Larry brought the ball across half-court.

Following the tactics, Xu Feng took the initiative to match up against Rutland, while Hottinger positioned himself in advance to block Duncan's route, and Watts was ready to help defend at any time.

Joey tried to use the larger Hottinger to suppress Duncan early in the game.

As expected, Lalou passed the ball to Duncan just as DePaul had planned before the game!

Watts immediately moved to double-team Duncan, one inside and one outside, to completely shut down any possibility of him scoring!

De Paul's tactics were executed smoothly; this is a method they often use and a good way to deal with a team led by a single star player.

But wasn't the tactic being executed a little too smoothly? The Devil team seemed completely unprepared.

Suddenly, taking advantage of the brief gap when Watts reached out, Duncan actually passed the ball directly from under Watts' arm to LaLux outside the three-point line!

The ball is back!

In order to double-team Duncan, Watts gave up guarding Laru one-on-one.

The Devil team had their two backcourt players spread out on the flanks, meaning Xu Feng couldn't cover in time! Meanwhile, the other two players were also drawn into their positions, leaving Lalou open!

We've fallen for their trap!

Wake Forest deliberately used Duncan's strength to deceive the opponent into double-teaming them, while DePaul deliberately devised a double-teaming tactic.

Laru takes a three-pointer! It goes in off the backboard!

"Don't underestimate Wake Forest's two backcourt players. The data shows LaLu's three-point shooting percentage is a whopping 46.4%, and big man Ricky's is an astounding 51.0%!"

"That's an incredibly high three-point accuracy. Can DePaul withstand Wake Forest's inside-outside attack?!"

As the game transitioned, Xu Feng received the ball and looked up to find himself matched up against Ricky Peral, who was 2.08 meters tall, while Rurant ran to Singh's side!

The Devil team clearly studied De Paul's games, and they designed an offensive and defensive tactic specifically targeting Xu Feng!

Xu Feng wanted to launch an attack from the top of the arc, but Ricky actually spread his arms and took the initiative to move forward to find a confrontation!

"What's going on?! That's Xu Feng! Does Ricky think he can guard him one-on-one? No, he's dreaming! Nobody can guard Xu Feng one-on-one!"

The commentator is right, Ricky really couldn't stop Xu Feng. Xu Feng used a series of crossovers and fakes to get past him and drove into the paint from the wing!

After Xu Feng entered the three-second zone from the left, he finally understood when facing Duncan, who had long given up on guarding Huotinger and was now waiting to defend Xu Feng.

Ricky's goal wasn't to defend Xu Feng one-on-one at all. He just needed to give Xu Feng enough contact and use strong delays to prevent Xu Feng from accelerating at all!

One side was poised to attack, while the other was completely unprepared. Coupled with the three-second attack restriction, the attacking side was at a huge disadvantage!

Give up? It's time to give up. Almost 99% of the players would probably give up.

But Xu Feng still wanted to give it a try! He wanted to see just how strong the strongest rookie of this era really was!

collapse!

Xu Feng took a step forward, landing hard the instant his foot touched the ground, while simultaneously tensing his back and twisting his body.

boom!

Xu Feng's back collided with Duncan's chest and abdomen, his buttocks pressed against his waist and hips, a hand-to-hand battle between two giants!

The muscles on the sides of the legs are prominent, with deep lines that look as if they were sculpted with a chisel.

Duncan raised his hands, his height surpassing that of the Nets, a sight that inspired awe.

The two bodies made contact and separated instantly. Xu Feng spun around, leaped high into the air, facing the basket, and launched a fadeaway jump shot!

Duncan jumped up at the same time; the Flying Devil wouldn't allow anyone to run rampant in his restricted area.

The ball traced an extremely high arc in the air, and just at its highest point, a hand appeared below—it was Duncan's hand!

Can you even reach the top?!

At that moment, that fingertip was only 0.01 centimeters away from the basketball team, but that was the distance to defeat!

Swish!

Hollow into the network!

"Wow!!!! My God, can this scene really happen in the real world? Just now, Duncan and Xu Feng seemed to be dancing a duet in the air! I actually saw a kind of dance beauty in basketball!" Even the usually calm analyst couldn't hide his shock and exclaimed.

On the sidelines, Steve Fine, the photography director for Sports Illustrated, excitedly patted the cameraman on the shoulder and shouted:

"Did you get it? Did you get it? That damn perfect moment! That one frame of them in the air!"

"I got it! I've been staring at it the whole time, it's fucking gorgeous! That could definitely be our cover photo for next issue!"

Fine never expected that he would encounter Xu Feng, the creator of the NCAA miracle, and the perfect provider of buzz and memorable moments, in his first year in office.

They would dedicate a separate page or even a column to Xu Feng in almost every issue of the magazine to showcase his latest performances, and Xu Feng also brought higher sales to Sports Illustrated.

Faen even wanted to kowtow to Xu Feng.

Next, Wake Forest taught DePaul a lesson with their solid positional warfare.

Although one of their backcourt duo went silent under Xu Feng's defense, the other remained highly efficient.

Ricky is 15 centimeters taller than Watts, so whenever he raises his hand, it's an uncontested shot.

The paint was completely overrun, Joey's imagined matchup was utterly crushed, and the clumsy Hottinger was easily toyed with by the agile Duncan.

Hook shot, layup, low post footwork, fadeaway jumper, dunk – Duncan displayed exceptional fundamentals that were completely unlike anything seen in college basketball.

Xu Feng has finally met his strongest opponent yet, a man who is truly no less than him in terms of talent and skill in every aspect: Duncan.

Duncan maintained his calm and collected demeanor, but his silence spoke volumes, and his invisible pressure lingered in the hearts of DePaul and his teammates.

"De Paul had a very tough time; it was hard to see that kind of struggle on Xu Feng's face."

"Yes, De Paul was completely outmaneuvered by Wake Forest tactically tonight. Faced with such a disadvantage, can Xu Feng still create a miracle? Will he stop here?"

At this point, DePaul was down by 10 points.