All the Xiangbei players saw Akagi Takenori's hard fight on the court. As the game progressed, the score between the two teams was narrowing little by little. As the score gap narrowed, the eyes of the Xiangbei players when they looked at Budou also changed.
Jinguji Budou's position in Shohoku High School is actually quite strange. Everyone knows that Mitsui Hisashi is the trump card of Shohoku High School.
But the strange thing is that since Budou came to Xiangbei, in terms of offensive ball distribution, Budou has more times of holding the ball than Mitsui Shou. Although Budou is not known as an ace, he is the third-ranked player in Xiangbei High School.
The second-ranked player of Xiangbei is Takenori Akagi. Although in the previous practice match with Ryonan High School, Takenori Akagi was far inferior to Budou in terms of ball possession and scoring, the players' concepts will not change drastically because of a practice match.
In everyone's eyes, Wu Dao was just a terrifying newcomer. The word "newcomer" was enough to erase Wu Dao's excellent performance in the practice match.
But the situation is different now. What Xiangbei High School plays now is not some insignificant practice match, but a real county competition.
Although Budou was still excellent in the first game of the county tournament, he did not compete with senior students such as Mitsui Hisashi and Akagi, so no one compared Budou with Mitsui Hisashi and Akagi.
But today's game highlighted the word "comparison".
Wu Dao's teammates in the first half were exactly the same as Akagi's, but the effect of the two on the court was...
On the court, Akagi Takenori once again received the ball in the paint. The position where he received the ball was three or four meters away from the basket. When he received the ball in this position, there was only one defensive player on Matsubara.
Moreover, the defensive player kept his center of gravity very low and was not afraid at all that Akagi would shoot from this position.
Akagi held the basketball high, looked at the other three defenders who were waiting in the paint area, and did not choose to force the inside. Akagi lowered his eyebrows slightly, glanced at the defender in front of him, adjusted his posture, and shot directly.
Akagi's wrist movement when shooting seemed a bit stiff, the basketball hit the backboard, then bounced on the basket and flew outwards.
"Rebound!" Several Songyuan players shouted, and a player under the basket quickly jumped up and controlled the rebound in his hands.
Seeing that the shot missed, Akagi quickly returned to defense.
The first-year students of Xiangbei High School did not actually consume much physical energy. In the first ten minutes of the game, it was mainly Wudao who was holding the ball and attacking, so the players had enough physical energy and returned to defense very quickly.
Matsubara chose to take the offensive position. After several passes, the basketball was given to Matsubara's No. 6, who then shot directly in front of Miyagi Ryouta.
The height of No. 6 Matsubara was around 175cm, and Miyagi’s height and wingspan were a little short, so he failed to block the shot, and the basketball fell directly into the net, resulting in a counterattack.
15 minutes into the first half, the score was 32:24. Jinguji Budo was outplayed by Matsubara 6:13. In the five minutes, Akagi Takenori only scored one goal. Although he got two free throws, he made one of two shots, and scored a total of four points.
The other two points were scored by Miyagi's mid-range shot. Overall, although Xiangbei's offense was not completely blocked, its offensive efficiency was completely not on the same level as when Wudao was on the court.
"If this goes on, the score will be caught up soon, and we need to make a substitution!" Mitsui looked at Coach Anzai with burning eyes. He believed that at this time, it was time for his trump card to come on the court and help the team win!
On the court, offense and defense switch.
Miyagi Ryouta still found Akagi Takenori in the paint, dribbled into the frontcourt and passed the ball to Akagi. Although Akagi failed many times in these rounds of attacks, he at least scored a goal and successfully caused two fouls on the opponent, which was much better than Miyagi's blind shots.
Takenori Akagi received the ball in the paint, and after one dunk, he quickly turned around and wanted to squeeze into the basket, but his turning movement was not fast and his intention was very obvious. And it seemed that because Akagi was holding his breath in the previous few balls, Akagi's turning movement was a little deformed, with obvious shoulder sinking movement.
The defensive player of Matsubara didn't even adjust his position. The moment Akagi turned around, he fell backwards and fell directly to the ground.
"Beep!" The referee's whistle sounded as the Matsubara defensive player fell to the ground, giving Akagi an offensive foul.
"What...what?!" Akagi Takenori was a little confused. He stood there with the ball in his hands. After a long time, he raised his hands unwillingly at the referee's whistle warning.
On the Xiangbei side, taking advantage of this stoppage, Coach Anxi requested a substitution.
Different from the substitutions in the previous game, this time, Coach Anzai did not replace players like Mitsui Hisashi and Chiba Daishi. Instead, he patted Takenori's shoulder and asked Takenori to replace Akagi and return to the court.
When Akagi Takenori walked off the court, he was dejected, with anger towards the players from Matsubara between his brows. When he saw Jinguji Takenori on the sidelines, Akagi reached out his hand and high-fived Takenori.
"Akagi, you don't play inside like that. It's too slow and too clumsy."
"Watch me, I'll show you one more time."
While high-fiving Akagi, Jinguji Takeshi whispered a few words in Akagi's ear before running towards the center of the field.
When Akagi heard this, he was a little angry at first, thinking that Wudao was mocking him, but when he turned around and looked at Wudao's back, for some reason, his anger disappeared, and he silently returned to the rest area and sat down on the bench.
"Akagi-san, think back to your performance on the court just now, and then pay attention to martial arts attack."
"Although he doesn't play center, there are many things in his playing style and skills that are worth learning."
After Akagi Takenori sat down, Coach Anzai, who had been silent, pushed his glasses and said to Akagi. When Akagi heard this, he first looked at Coach Anzai in surprise, and then nodded heavily, indicating that he understood.
Takenori Akagi is a proud man, and also a person who refuses to admit defeat. After all, when he just entered high school, he was the only one who could compete with Mitsui Hisashi.
But at the same time, Akagi is also a person who knows how to learn. If he sees his own shortcomings, Akagi will find ways to correct them.
When he first entered Xiangbei in the first year of high school, he would even hit his feet when dribbling. However, after a year of training, Akagi now at least does not make such low-level mistakes. Although his inside skills are still poor, they have improved compared to before.
"The No. 15 player from Xiangbei is on the court again!"
"Come on, Xiangbei! No. 15, play well and show us what you can do!"
As Jinguji Budou came on stage, the originally relatively quiet audience seats became lively at this moment. Without realizing it, Jinguji Budou had accumulated some audiences who were interested in him.
When the players of Songyuan saw Wudao coming on the court, they all felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. The joy they had originally felt for narrowing the score suddenly disappeared when Wudao returned to the court.
A heavy and depressing atmosphere lingered over the heads of the Songyuan players.
"Don't panic! Continue defending according to the method just now. This No. 15 may not be undefended!"
As the game continued, Songyuan's captain received a pass from his teammate at the baseline and advanced towards the front court, shouting loudly as he advanced.
On the Xiangbei side, Miyagi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Budo return to the court. He looked at Matsubara who was organizing the attack and encouraged him loudly:
"Everyone, cheer up! Be prepared for one!"
“Ouch!
”
Miyagi's encouragement received a warm response from his teammates. Although Takeshi said nothing and did nothing, several first-year students looked at Jinguji Takeshi standing near the paint area, and their fighting spirit was high.
Songyuan could clearly feel that the momentum of the Xiangbei players was different. Although the defensive movements of the Xiangbei players were still the same as before, the feeling of oppression they gave them was completely different.
"What an amazing guy! Just by returning to the court, Xiangbei's momentum suddenly changed!"
In the audience, Fujima and his teammates were watching Shohoku's game. Fujima was keenly aware of the change in Shohoku's momentum, and his fear of martial arts deepened.
"Hasegawa, was that No. 15 really playing in the back line before? When he was standing in the inside, Xiangbei's momentum was completely different from before!"
"Akagi Takenori just now didn't have such an effect!"
While Fujima was amazed at the changes that martial arts brought to Shohoku, he also began to doubt the information Hasegawa provided him last time.
"This... maybe it's because he's grown taller and has changed to play center..." Hasegawa hesitated after hearing Fujima's question and answered uncertainly.
Fujima seemed to accept Hasegawa's answer, nodded silently, and looked towards the court.
At this time, Songyuan had just launched an attack. The presence of Wudao made Songyuan dare not play inside. After a simple pass, Songyuan's players took a mid-range shot. It was also because of the huge pressure brought to them by Wudao that the shooting player's posture was seriously deformed and the basketball fell out of the rim.
Under the basket, Wudao was already prepared. The basketball had just left the basket and was still bouncing upwards, but Wudao had already jumped up and directly picked the basketball from the edge of the basket and held it in his hand.
The moment he got the rebound, Wudao threw the ball directly to Gongcheng, and at the same time, he did not speed up, but walked slowly towards the front court. Gongcheng was not used to Wudao's current offensive rhythm. After receiving the basketball, Gongcheng Ryouta rushed to the front court at full speed.
When he reached the frontcourt and wanted to pass the ball to Wudao, he was surprised to find that Wudao had just run across half the court. This speed was not Wudao's usual offensive habit at all.
"Hey, Budo, what are you doing?!"
"Such a good fast break opportunity was wasted!"
Matsubara's defense was timely. Miyagi had no one to pass the ball to, nor did he break through on his own. He walked around with the ball for a short while, moving from near the three-point line to a position two or three meters away from the three-point line.
"Pass the ball."
Wu Dao ignored Miyagi and maintained his speed. After entering the inside, he turned his back to the basket and asked Miyagi for the ball.
At this time, Wudao was some distance away from the basket when he received the ball, and there was only one player defending him, but Songyuan had three people standing under the basket, standing in three positions respectively. As long as Wudao dared to enter the basket, the three people would follow quickly.
Wudao received the basketball with his back to the basket, turned his head to observe the position of the defensive players, and suddenly turned around with the ball in his right hand. However, while turning to face the basket, Wudao suddenly lowered his center of gravity, changed direction in front of his body, switched the ball to his left hand, and broke through to the left at the same time.
The defensive players obviously did not expect that a man as tall as Wudao could change direction so quickly after turning around, and he was directly knocked away and completely out of the way.
Wudao held the ball and approached the basket. The three Songyuan players suddenly pounced on him and surrounded him from three directions.
Wu Dao arrived at the basket at this time, standing right under the basket, looking at the three people surrounding him, holding the ball and reaching for the basket, but Wu Dao's shooting action only fooled one defender. Wu Dao didn't care, quickly collected the ball, half turned on the spot and made another fake shot. This time, he fooled two people, and at the same time, the first player who jumped also changed his position and rushed towards him.
Upon seeing this, Wu Dao kept his axis foot still, took a big step back, and suddenly jumped up.
With two consecutive fake shots and a turn, Budo had already gotten rid of the three people. At this time, no one could stop him. Jinguji Budo jumped up, grabbed the ball with both hands and dunked it directly into the basket.
It was like pulling onions out of dry land. The strong force of grabbing the frame even caused the entire basketball hoop to shake.
“ohhhhhh!
!
”
"Shobei! Shobei! Shobei!"
Wu Dao's rapid breakthrough in the low post, coupled with his beautiful footwork under the basket and his powerful dunk at the end, directly ignited the audience. Cheers surged into the court like a tide, drowning everyone.
Wu Dao dropped the ball, glanced at the defenders of Songyuan, and started to defend. The defenders of Songyuan stood there stupidly, looking down at the basketball that rolled to the side. Wu Dao had been away for a long time, and no one made any move.
"Completely... not even on the same level!"
After a long time, a player from Songyuan expressed his emotion, then silently picked up the basketball and called on his teammates to organize the offense.
Although Songyuan had no intention of giving up the game, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Wudao's slam dunk had completely destroyed the morale of Songyuan's players.
Akagi Takenori sat on the bench, thinking back to Wudao's actions, and couldn't help but have deep doubts about himself.
"Can I really do this?"
Of all the martial arts moves he can perform, perhaps only the final slam dunk is something he can accomplish.
Before this, he seemed unable to make low-level, high-speed directional breakthroughs or dodge passes!
In the rest of the first half, Jinguji Budou performed a good low-post move for Akagi and the audience. As long as Budou received the basketball near the basket, he could easily beat the defender and get an open shot.
Moreover, Budou is different from Akagi Takenori. His shooting skills are not only the standard two-motion shooting, but also include hook shots and lobs near the basket, as well as violent slam dunks after speeding up. His ways of scoring are much richer than Akagi Takenori.
At the end of the game, Songyuan's players didn't even want to follow Wudao's footsteps. They had no intention of defending Wudao's ball-holding attack and let Wudao attack. Songyuan completely gave up defense and focused on offense.
However, it was not so easy to break through the basket with Wudao guarding it. For a moment, the gap between the two teams widened rapidly again.
In the second half, the game was actually garbage time because Songyuan had lost the determination and confidence to win.
Coach Anxi re-adjusted the players so that all players could play for a while.
In the second game of the county competition, Xiangbei won again without any pressure.
After two consecutive victories, Xiangbei played two more group matches in the following week. The opponents were not strong either. In the remaining two games, Wudao's playing time was basically between 10 and 12 minutes. In these two games, Wudao's average score remained at 19 points.
At the same time, Budo has accumulated a large number of viewers through four group matches with an average duration of less than 12 minutes.
All the viewers who have watched Shohoku's games know that Shohoku's No. 15, Jinguji Takeshi, is much stronger than ordinary players. The county competition has reached the quarterfinals, and no one has seen Takeshi's combat effectiveness when he goes all out.
Therefore, the following game between Xiangbei High School and the veteran powerhouse Shoyo High School attracted a large number of spectators.
It was just past 7am on Saturday morning, but the basketball hall of the county gymnasium was already bustling with people. The auditorium, which could accommodate thousands of people, was packed with spectators.
However, at this time, there is still about an hour and a half left before the first 8-to-4 match of the day, between Xiangbei and Shoyo.
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