"What? You want me to set a screen for him?"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
"Even if I die, even if I jump off the shore, I won't set a screen for him!"
Akagi Takenori's resolute attitude really surprised Jinguji Budo. He knew that Mitsui Hisashi and Akagi were in a competitive relationship. Akagi Takenori always regarded Mitsui Hisashi as his opponent. Although Mitsui Hisashi did not say it, he never underestimated Akagi and took Akagi Takenori's challenge seriously.
But Wu Dao didn't expect that the competition between the two would still exist during the game. Akagi was even unwilling to give Mitsui Shou a small pick-and-roll.
"Budo, if I do a pick-and-roll for you, there's no problem, but doing a pick-and-roll for Mitsui Shou, that's impossible!"
"Besides, Mitsui Shou doesn't know how to, nor is he willing to, let me do a pick-and-roll."
As Akagi spoke, he looked at Mitsui Hisashi who was already running towards the front court, then turned his head to look at Wudao, silently walked to the outside of the cashing area, served the ball to Miyagi Ryouta, and then quickly ran towards the front court.
Seeing Akagi's firm attitude, Wudao couldn't help but shook his head and temporarily put away such thoughts, but Wudao did not give up. He knew that the pride of Mitsui Shou and Akagi Takenori was only temporary. If one day Xiangbei faced difficulties and forced the two to reach a cooperation, the two would cooperate with each other.
"For the time being, let's rely on singles to solve the problem."
"However, our team's current problem is not in offense, but defense. The key is how to defend against Ryonan's high-post pick-and-roll tactics."
Wu Dao thought to himself and ran silently towards the front.
The defense of Ryonan High School began to show a clear sign of contraction. Sendoh, who was defending Mitsui, continued to chase Mitsui as usual and did not give Mitsui the opportunity to shoot from long range. However, the other players had already contracted the defense circle near the paint area.
Akagi Takenori and Chiba Daishi noticed Ryonan's defense and consciously squeezed inwards, hoping to occupy the advantageous terrain under the basket. For a moment, the entire paint area was packed with people and seemed quite crowded.
After entering the frontcourt, Miyagi Ryouta stopped at the top of the three-point line. At this time, he was in a small open position with the ball. The person defending him, Kenichi Nishibayashi, stood near the free throw line, a long distance away from the three-point line.
If Miyagi breaks through, Nishibayashi Kenichi will follow up immediately, but if Miyagi chooses a three-pointer or a long shot, then Nishibayashi Kenichi will not be able to effectively interfere with Miyagi.
It was a good opportunity, but Miyagi Ryouta did not choose to shoot. His long-range shooting ability was too average. Now that Xiangbei has good offensive players, Miyagi does not need to force himself to shoot in an uncomfortable position. But for a while, Miyagi did not have a good passing option, and could only dribble awkwardly in place, waiting for the opportunity.
Wu Dao, who wanted to penetrate into the inside, noticed the awkward situation of Miyagi Ryouta. At the same time, he also noticed the strengthening of Ryonan's inside defense. He immediately ran back and quickly ran towards Miyagi and came to the outside of the three-point line.
Miyagi Ryouta passed the ball to Takeshi. After passing the ball, Miyagi was also very smart. He moved his feet and deliberately blocked the steps of Shinomiya Tano who was chasing him.
While Budou successfully blocked the position of Shinomiya Tano with Miyagi Ryouta, he quickly turned around, adjusted his posture, and shot a three-pointer.
"My offensive skills are not limited to mid-range shots!"
Wu Dao looked at the trajectory of the basketball and turned back confidently. When he turned around and started to defend, the basketball fell from the air and landed accurately in the net.
The powerful and decisive three-pointer once again caused cheers to break out from the Xiangbei High School bench.
After a brief moment of surprise, the Ryonan players quickly adjusted their state, quickly passed the ball to Sendoh from the baseline, and Sendoh quickly ran to the frontcourt with the ball.
He was actually preparing for a fast break.
"Go back to defense, go back to defense quickly!" Mitsui Hisashi and others were running slowly at the beginning, but suddenly they heard hurried footsteps behind them. When they turned around, they saw the running figures of the Ryonan people, and then they shouted quickly and loudly.
Although it was called a fast break, the first two players to enter the front court of Ryonan were a duo. When Sendoh Akira and Shinomiya Tano quickly ran into the front court, only Jinguji Takeshi, Mitsui Hisashi and Miyagi returned to defend on the Shohoku side.
When Mitsui and Miyagi returned to defense, they quickly pressed towards Sendoh, hoping to intercept the opponent's fast break.
Miyagi Ryouta was the fastest, and he quickly came to Sendoh's side and reached for the basketball. Sendoh didn't even look at Miyagi while dribbling the ball, and with a sharp turn, he passed Miyagi cleanly, and then continued to charge, quickly approaching the three-point line.
Miyagi, who was trying to steal the ball, could not catch up with Sendoh, but Mitsui, who was returning to defense, followed Sendoh closely after Miyagi completely lost speed. If Sendoh went straight to the basket for a layup, Mitsui would have a chance to block Sendoh.
Soon, Sendoh crossed the three-point line with the ball. At the same time, on the other side, Shinomiya Tano got there a few seconds ahead of Sendoh, crossed the three-point line, and rushed towards the basket. Although Takeshi followed closely behind Shinomiya Tano, he lagged behind by almost a body length.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, Sendoh, who was advancing rapidly, suddenly blew the ball and held it with both hands, then suddenly stopped. Mitsui, who was following behind him, realized that something was wrong and hurried to block the shot, but Sendoh directly blocked Mitsui's hand with his left hand and quickly threw the ball into the basket with his right hand.
Almost at the same time, Shigong Tianye, who was running forward, turned his head to look at the basketball, slowed down his pace, and began to gather momentum while running towards the basket. Then he stepped on the sideline of the paint area and flew towards the basket.
As Shinomiya Tano stood up, Jinguji Budou, who was following behind him, also jumped up quickly and reached out to block the basketball.
However, Sendoh controlled the height of the pass very accurately. Takeo jumped too far back and failed to reach the basketball. Instead, Shimono Yamada, who was about a body length in front of him, caught the basketball accurately and slammed it into the basket.
Chase down and fast break, alley-oop dunk.
Jinguji Budou's three-pointer could not hit the morale of Ryonan High School at all. Not only that, Shinomiya Tano's dunk at this time completely awakened him from his relatively depressed state.
"roar!
!”
After the slam dunk, Shigong Tianye pounded his chest with both hands, roaring to release his suppressed emotions. After being substituted in the first half, Shigong Tianye had been holding his breath, and at this moment, he finally released all his pent-up emotions.
The emotions of the Ryonan players were pushed to a climax. The Ryonan players who returned to defense were all excited, and their eyes were as fierce as those of wolves when they looked at the scoreboard. The score difference was narrowed.
"You didn't jump high enough... otherwise there would be a chance to intercept."
"Ryonan High School is gaining momentum. We must stop them here."
Wu Dao thought to himself, and then ran to the front court in silence. Not only Wu Dao had such thoughts in his mind, but Mitsui Shou also had such thoughts at this moment. With Mitsui Shou's game experience, he could see that this was the critical period for Ryonan to rise.
In the next few rounds, if Xiangbei can firmly grasp every offensive opportunity and successfully defend against one or two goals from Ryonan, then Ryonan's counterattack momentum will be completely extinguished, and in the remaining time of the second half, Ryonan's players will no longer have the energy to counterattack.
But at the same time, once Ryonan becomes fully established, it will be Shohoku that will be in trouble.
Mitsui Shou knew very well that what determines the direction of a game is often not the team's hard power. During the game, momentum is actually quite important.
"Everyone..." Wu Dao knew that the next attack would be crucial, and was ready to remind his teammates, but before he could say anything, Mitsui Shou said to everyone:
"Everyone pay attention! The next attack will be crucial, so we must play cautiously."
"Miyagi, be decisive when you pass the ball. Everyone else, run and be more active!"
Mitsui Shou clapped his hands, attracting the attention of the team members, and said. Jinguji Budo looked at Mitsui Shou's serious look and choked back the words that were about to come out of his mouth. Obviously, the second-year Mitsui Shou was a qualified leader and had a good ability to observe the situation.
"Yes!" Miyagi and Chiba answered loudly. Wudao smiled at Mitsui Shou, turned around and ran to the front court. Akagi Takenori, who had just run to the midline, turned around and ran to the front court with a cold face, his steps firm.
With Mitsui Hisashi's reminder, Miyagi Ryouta has become much more stable. When he was playing before, because his personal matchup strength was not strong, he sometimes had time to observe Ayako's expression on the sidelines, but now, his attention is all focused on the court.
Everyone in Ryonan seemed to know that the next few balls were crucial, so the intensity of defense was increased. Shinomiya Tano didn't even want to give Wudao a chance to catch the ball, and stuck closely to Wudao, following him wherever he ran.
"This bastard, physical strength doesn't cost money?"
After Gongcheng entered the frontcourt, Wudao suddenly accelerated and moved towards the inside. After noticing Shigong Tianye's pursuit, he braked suddenly and quickly ran back, running towards the three-point line. This time, Shigong Tianye did not relax. Even though Wudao was running outside the three-point line, he followed him closely.
Wudao, who tried to get rid of Shigong Tianye's defense, began to stop and start frequently, but Shigong Tianye was like a sticky candy, sticking tightly behind him and not caring about the consumption of physical energy at all.
Such a scene also happened in the matchup between Mitsui Hisashi and Sendoh. Sendoh Akira's speed, strength and height are all quite good. At least Mitsui Hisashi has no advantage in these three aspects in front of Sendoh. Under Sendoh's close defense, Mitsui Hisashi was also very uncomfortable.
Miyagi took the ball and observed whether Takeshi and Mitsui were in a condition to receive the ball, but unfortunately, the twin stars of Ryonan defended very well in this round and Takeshi and Mitsui had no chance at all.
As time passed second by second, Miyagi finally couldn't help it and began to break through on his own.
Nishibayashi Kenichi was a long distance away from Miyagi, so he had plenty of time to react when Miyagi broke through, and immediately blocked Miyagi's breakthrough route. Miyagi, who was forced to stop the ball, simply slid his hips, quickly turned around, and broke through to the other side. Just as Nishibayashi Kenichi was about to chase and defend, he suddenly bumped into a solid body.
"Bang!" Kenichi Nishibayashi, who was trying his best to defend, didn't notice Akagi Takenori's mid-post pick-and-roll at all, and crashed into Akagi hard. The strong recoil made him fall to the ground.
Miyagi Ryouta took this opportunity to complete a breakthrough. Looking at the basket not far in front of him, he felt relieved. He raised the ball with his right hand and made a small lob shot.
However, just as the basketball flew out of Miyagi Ryouta's hands, a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of Miyagi Ryouta, and the huge black shadow completely covered Miyagi's body.
“Bang!”
Jun Yuzumi appeared in front of Miyagi, jumped high, blocked the ball thrown by Miyagi with his right hand, and then suddenly retracted his right hand and grabbed the basketball tightly with both hands. Yuzumi grabbed the ball with very strong hands, and the basketball was obviously deformed in Yuzumi's hands.
"Caught the hat?!"
"The big guy reacted!"
Miyagi Ryouta was confused at this time. He saw Yuzumi Jun throwing the ball like a baseball pitcher. The next second, the basketball flew out of Yuzumi's hands rapidly.
"Get back to defense! Get back to defense quickly!" Miyagi, who was slow to realize it after Yuzumi passed the ball, shouted.
But at this time, Sendoh Akira and Shinomiya Tano were running quickly towards the front court.
Jinguji Takeshi, with a cold face, chased and defended the two of them alone. As for Mitsui, he was not able to chase and defend them in the first time, because at the moment Miyagi broke through, Mitsui chose to rush into the basket to grab the rebound, and Sendoh seemed to have anticipated it and had already run to the frontcourt.
As for Wudao, after noticing Sendo's movements, he did not choose to continue staying in the frontcourt to seek offensive opportunities, but instead chased after Sendo.
Sendoh received the ball in the frontcourt and then moved forward quickly. Soon, he heard hurried footsteps behind him, and the footsteps were getting closer and closer.
Looking back, Sendoh saw Jinguji Takeshi following closely behind him, and a hint of surprise unconsciously appeared on his face.
After a brief surprise, Xiandao turned around and sped up again, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a faint smile.
Soon, Sendo and Takeshi crossed the three-point line one after the other. Sendo continued to rush towards the basket.
Wudao frowned slightly when he saw that Sendoh didn't slow down or adjust his rhythm to prepare for the layup.
"It's easy to make mistakes when doing layups at this speed. This kid wants to dunk!"
Wudao's brows relaxed and he stared at Xiandao's back, paying attention to every move he made.
Soon, Sendoh rushed into the paint area, but the strange thing was that Sendoh did not slow down or pass the ball. Looking at his posture, it seemed as if he wanted to rush straight to the baseline.
Suddenly, Wudao saw the basketball strangely fly up from in front of Sendo and fly straight towards the backboard. When the basketball flew up, Wudao didn't even see Sendo raise the ball to shoot.
"This kind of ball can't possibly go in."
“It’s a pass!
”
Wu Dao's expression froze, he suddenly stopped and turned his head to look. At this moment, in his eyes, a black shadow was slowly enlarging.
"snort!"
Wudao snorted coldly, adjusted his position quickly, and then jumped up. As he jumped, Shigong Tianye, who jumped high, grabbed the ball in the air with both hands and his body directly hit Wudao, but he did not slow down and dunked the ball into the basket.
However, when the basketball was less than ten centimeters away from the basket, a pair of big hands suddenly appeared in front of the basketball and hit it steadily.
“Bang!”
Wu Dao slapped his hands on the basketball, veins on his fair arms bulging, and he forcibly stopped the basketball from falling.
The confident Sigong Tianye looked surprised. In the air, he could clearly feel that his body was falling rapidly. The next second, Sigong Tianye suddenly felt that his body lost balance, but his hands did not let go of the basketball. While quickly collecting the ball, Sigong Tianye changed his posture in the air and barely threw the ball out.
"How is this possible?!" Wu Dao widened his eyes and watched the basketball pass through his hands.
“Peng!
!”
Shinomiya Tano's body fell rapidly and hit the ground with a loud noise. Wudao fell back to the ground and turned around with a look of surprise.
The basketball thrown by Shinomiya Tano hit the base of the basket, bounced back slightly, hit the front of the basket, and then fell back into the net.
Silence. The stadium fell into an eerie silence.
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