After the county tournament finals, when Shohoku began to give its players a holiday, Ryonan High School, as the champion of the Kanagawa County tournament, began to enter a new stage.
Coach Tanaoka's goal was not to win the county championship, but to win the national championship from the beginning. The list of players for the national championship of Ryonan High School has been submitted, and Kenji Fujima and Toru Hanagata will be active as players of Ryonan High School in the national competition.
The most important thing for Ryonan High School right now is to let Fujima and Hanagata integrate into the team as quickly as possible.
The best way to improve team performance is, of course, competition.
Therefore, after the final day, Coach Takeo did not give the players any time to rest. He hurriedly led the Ryonan players to leave Kanagawa Prefecture and go to other counties to play friendly matches with representative teams from other counties.
Coach Tian Gang plans to use the expedition to speed up the team's running-in before the national competition officially starts.
...
Early July.
After a light rain, the sky became clear.
After a three-day rest, the Xiangbei High School basketball team resumed training. In the basketball hall of Xiangbei High School, Mitsui Hisashi was leading the players in warm-up activities.
Coach Anzai did not come to today's training. All the team's training plans will be arranged by the basketball team's captain Mitsui Hisashi.
"In order to prepare for the national competition in the middle of this month, our training intensity at Xiangbei will be very high during this period."
"Everyone needs to be mentally prepared."
"The match against Ryonan High School should have made some of you realize your shortcomings."
"Today's training is no longer a team training, but a training of your individual abilities. The purpose is to help you make up for your shortcomings. Let us, Xiangbei, stand on the national stage with a stronger attitude."
In the middle of the stadium, the players lined up in the center circle. Mitsui Shou stood in front of the team and spoke loudly.
His words made some people in the team lower their heads. Miyagi Ryouta felt that Mitsui Shou was talking about him, and he scratched his hair in embarrassment. Akagi Takenori also felt that Mitsui Shou's words were referring to him, and although he showed some unhappy emotions on his face, he did not jump out to refute anything.
Chiba Daiishi stood in the center of the team with a nonchalant look on his face. He had a clear understanding of his own abilities. Although he was not of much use on the offensive end in the match against Ryonan, he also played good defense.
His opponent, Ikegami Ryoji, only scored 6 points in the whole game, which is enough to show his defensive effect.
As for Miyagi and Akagi, both of them are people with extremely strong self-esteem. When Xiangbei lost the game, they both took the blame on themselves.
One is the point guard of Xiangbei. Although Miyagi Ryouta helps Xiangbei pass the ball well, he knows that his presence on the offensive and defensive ends is too small. If Miyagi had excellent shooting ability in that game, then Ryonan's defensive focus would definitely not be poured on Jinguji Budou and Mitsui Shou.
With fewer constraints on these two people, they might be able to exert stronger attack power.
As for Akagi, he felt that he had failed in his duty as a center in that game. The biggest problem for Xiangbei High School, which was completely crushed by Ryonan High School in the second half, was that they lost the rebounds.
The offensive styles of Takeshi Jinguji and Mitsui Hisashi both involve a lot of shooting, but no matter how good a shooter is, it is impossible to have a 100% hit rate. For Shohoku, Takeshi's shooting hit rate and rebounding rate will be directly related to the outcome of the game.
Rebounds were the last line of defense for Xiangbei. But even this line of defense was destroyed by Ryonan High School in the previous few days. Akagi felt that the reason for the loss was that he, the center, did not grab the rebounds. So when Mitsui Shou said that, Akagi was a little unhappy, but he did not get angry.
"Kumure, you will lead all the first and second year substitutes to do an hour of physical training and an hour of basic running practice."
"The rest time during training is up to you."
"Two hours later, we will conduct special exercises in three areas: passing, dribbling, and shooting."
"Miyagi Ryouta, take the ball with you and go to that field to practice shooting."
"Chiba and Akagi, you two will form a group and go with Miyagi. But you two will practice positioning under the basket. Miyagi will shoot, and you two will grab the rebounds!"
"As for martial arts, I'll team up with you, practice solo, and fight bulls!"
Mitsui made a simple distinction among the players of Xiangbei according to their characteristics. The substitute players generally had a poor foundation, so Mitsui asked the heavy-handed Kogure Konobu to lead the team training in order to strengthen the substitutes' foundation.
As for the starters, the individual playing styles of these five players have almost taken shape and their basics are also solid. The practice they need to do is to make up for their shortcomings. Therefore, Mitsui Hisashi himself, Wudao and others did not participate in basic training with others.
"Everyone understand, right? If you understand, please disperse."
After Mitsui Shou finished speaking, he waved to the players, signaling them to disperse and complete their respective training. After the players dispersed one after another, Mitsui Shou went to the sidelines, took a basketball, and came to Wudao's side.
"I thought you would arrange for the players to practice running in a systematic manner."
"After the game with Ryonan, I found that our Xiangbei's ability in running tactics was quite average. I thought you would choose to strengthen your running position."
Jinguji Budo said with a smile when he saw Mitsui Shou walking towards him with the ball.
"Such exercises still need to be led by Coach Anxi. As for the positioning... I only know how to run, not how to teach."
"I think our top priority right now is to improve the individual abilities of our players rather than positioning."
"A group of dogs gathered together is just a group of dogs. They don't have much fighting power. Our team members must become wolves. Only when wolves gather together can they become the top hunting group in nature."
Mitsui replied as he looked at the players who left for their respective training sessions.
"So, you want to practice with me alone?" Wu Dao nodded slightly, agreeing with Mitsui Shou's opinion, but he didn't quite understand why Mitsui Shou wanted to fight with him. The physical conditions of the two of them were quite different, and practicing alone didn't really make much sense for Mitsui Shou.
It's just a one-sided massacre. What meaning can it have for the party being massacred
"Why? I can't fight with you? Or are you afraid of losing to me?"
Mitsui Shou narrowed his eyes slightly and said sarcastically.
"How could that be? I just think that it would be too cruel for you to fight with me. I would also find it very boring."
Wu Dao spread his hands, looking nonchalant.
"Stop talking nonsense and come on."
"We'll know if it works or not after we fight."
Mitsui took the ball and walked to the other half of the stadium. Wudao followed behind Mitsui, looking at his back with a puzzled look, wondering what Mitsui was thinking.
The two of them have known each other for quite some time, and they have fought bullfights before, but they have only fought rarely. Wudao's physical fitness is much better than Mitsui Shou, and Wudao's defensive awareness is also quite good. In fact, Mitsui Shou has never won a bullfight between the two of them.
In a one-on-one situation, Mitsui Shou has no way to play any off-ball movements. He can only look for opportunities to break through and shoot. The triple threat removes Mitsui Shou's biggest threat. Can Mitsui Shou still be a match for Budo
"Mitsui, if you want to improve your ball-holding ability, it's no use relying on bullfighting."
"Because when you play with me, you won't have a good space to play. If you want to improve your ball-holding ability, you need additional practice."
Wudao and Mitsui Shou occupied an empty half court, and Mitsui Shou stood about three meters outside the three-point line with a basketball. Wudao saw that Mitsui Shou seemed to really want to fight him, so he quickly reminded him.
Today, Xiangbei High School resumed training. Budou had specially prepared the elevator door tactics and wanted to communicate with Coach Anzai and then promote it in the team. Budou and Mitsui Shou are both shooters, and the elevator door tactics are actually quite suitable for Xiangbei. If used well, Jinguji Budou and Mitsui Shou are the SD version of the Splash Brothers.
If they make good use of this tactic, even if Xiangbei meets the strengthened Ryonan High School, they will still be able to fight.
However, I didn't expect that Coach Anxi was not here today. Since the coach was not here, Wudao could only wait for Coach Anxi to come.
"Martial Arts, do you feel that your ability to attack the frame is weak?"
Suddenly, Mitsui Shou, who was holding the ball, spoke to Wudao. As soon as he opened his mouth, Wudao's brows frowned.
Weak in attacking the basket? Wu Dao really never felt that way.
"From the look of you, it seems that you have never thought about this."
"You actually have pretty good strength, and your jumping and speed are both very formidable. But have you noticed that when you play games, you rarely make layups or finish with dunks?"
"More often than not, you're actually shooting from the outside."
"Of course, I'm not saying that you can't shoot accurately, or that being lazy is bad, but, as a player who is nearly two meters tall, you can obviously rush into the paint and cause damage, so why do you prefer to shoot from the outside?"
"In the match against Ryonan, even when facing Shinomiya Tano, I found that you actually had a chance to rush into the inside. With Uozumi Jun, there was absolutely no way he could stop you from making a layup or dunk. If you could have made him foul in that match, Ryonan's inside line would have collapsed long ago, right?"
"Akagi's performance in that match was not as good as Uozumi's. But in my opinion, it was not that Akagi was not as good as Uozumi, but that Shinomiya Tano's breakthrough put too much pressure on Akagi. He needed to devote a large part of his energy to pay attention to Shinomiya Tano when defending."
"But Yuzumi is different. He doesn't have this concern on defense because he knows you will choose to shoot and finish. He just needs to grab the rebound!"
Mitsui Shou dribbled the ball, and the sound of the basketball hitting the floor echoed in the gym. At first, Wudao didn't take Mitsui Shou's words seriously, thinking that Mitsui Shou said this because he was limited by the times.
But when Wudao calmed down and listened carefully, he realized that what Mitsui Shou said made a lot of sense!
If you think about it carefully, it is true.
When attacking, Wudao's favorite thing is to use footsteps to dodge the defenders and then use a jump shot to finish. From the beginning, Jinguji Wudao's thinking has not come out of the experience of his previous life. His thinking logic has not changed. Why does Wudao like to use footsteps and shooting
That's because Wudao still feels deep down that he is the Wudao who was blocked from the basketball path because of his height.
He never thought about how strong his physical fitness was now. Even if he attacked the basket, even if the defensive players he faced were people like Yuzumi and Shinomiya Tano, he still had a great chance of scoring the ball.
His peasant mentality has not yet really adapted to the rich talents of this body.
"Come on, attack me!" Mitsui Shou didn't say much nonsense. He threw the ball to Wudao, then walked to the inside of the three-point line and took up defense.
Wudao took the basketball thoughtfully, and without passing it back for checking, he dribbled forward directly. When he brought the ball to the three-point line, Mitsui had already approached with his center of gravity slightly lowered. Wudao dropped the ball and broke through. In the blink of an eye, his body was parallel to Mitsui.
The next second, Mitsui Shou moved sideways quickly and caught up with Wudao in an instant, only lagging behind by half a body length.
Seeing that Mitsui Shou was displaced by his breakthrough, Wudao subconsciously made an emergency stop and changed the direction of his advance in an instant with a big back move. While doing the back move, Wudao's body inevitably stuck to Mitsui Shou. Mitsui Shou, who was not as strong as Wudao, was pushed back half a step by Wudao, leaving him no space.
The opportunity appeared, but the next second, Wu Dao's body chose not to continue advancing with the ball.
Seeing Mitsui out of position, Wudao's first reaction was to grab the ball, then he took a step back to create a gap in position between him and Mitsui, and then he quickly jumped up and made a dry shot.
This series of actions did not go through the brain at all. Wudao's body seemed to have repeated such actions countless times. The basketball flew directly from Wudao's hands and fell directly into the basket.
The basketball went into the net, but Mitsui Shou was not depressed at all. Instead, he looked at Wudao with a faint smile on his face.
Wu Dao, who put the ball into the net, was also a little confused. This goal was too natural for him. If Mitsui Hisashi had not said those words to him before, he would not have realized that he had a clear chance to attack the basket but he gave it up and instead finished with a step-back jump shot.
If the person he was facing at that time was Shimonoseki, then Wudao's shot could be explained. After all, Shimonoseki's physical fitness is very strong, and he might be blocked if he attacked the basket rashly.
But he was facing Mitsui Shou?! Mitsui Shou was much shorter and more flexible than him. Facing Mitsui Shou's defense, Wudao chose to shoot instead of going inside for a dunk. This offensive choice was already a big problem.
"Look, you could have ravaged the basket, but you chose to shoot."
"Budo, I don't mean to teach you how to play basketball, but I feel that your basketball path seems to have gone astray."
Mitsui's words echoed in Wudao's ears, and some figures flashed through his mind. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have really taken a wrong path.
"If Jordan or Kobe had handled the ball just now, they would have probably broken through and dunked..."
"Now thinking back on their performance on the court, if they can attack the basket, they rarely choose to shoot."
"Why shoot when you have a chance to make a kill?!"
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