The schedule of the national competition was quite tight, so even during the halftime break, the players of both teams did not return to their respective locker rooms to rest, but sat directly in the rest area on the field, recovering their strength while waiting for the game to begin.
The stands that were originally packed now had many empty seats at this moment, and the audience took advantage of this moment to make some adjustments. The already noisy venue became even more lively at this moment.
"Master Wudao... he is really amazing."
"My brother is in Xiangbei High School, and his presence is very low."
In the front row of the audience, Akagi Haruko looked at Akagi Takenori who was drinking water in the rest area, and suddenly said with some emotion. Sakuragi Hanamichi beside him moved his ears, turned his head and looked at Haruko, with a puzzled look on his face, wondering why Haruko suddenly said that.
Feeling Sakuragi Hanamichi's puzzled gaze, Akagi Haruko explained:
"My brother has been much taller than other players of his age since he was young. On the basketball court, tall players tend to attract more attention."
"My brother has always had a strong presence on the court, but when I watch Xiangbei's games these days, my brother's presence has become increasingly weak, and he is not even noticed."
As Sakuragi Hanamichi listened to Akagi Haruko's explanation, the doubts in his eyes gradually faded away. Although Sakuragi Hanamichi had never played a formal basketball game, he also knew what it meant for a player to have a weak presence on the court.
This means that for the team, this player with a weak presence is a dispensable role that can be replaced at any time.
Although Takenori Akagi has not fallen to this level in Shohoku High School, looking at the entire Shohoku team, Akagi, who has little ball possession and is still a blue-collar player on the court, is indeed one of the least noticed players. The other player is Chiba Daiishi, who plays as a power forward.
As a point guard, Miyagi Ryouta is responsible for important ball control and conduction tasks. Although his performance on the court is average, he still attracts a lot of attention. Mitsui Hisashi, as the second-highest scorer of Shohoku, also receives a lot of attention. As for Jinguji Budou, it goes without saying that he almost scored 50 points in the first half of the game. With such a level, he is undoubtedly the most dazzling presence in the entire court.
Compared with these people, the attention that Akagi Takenori received was really very little. Although Akagi often got rebounds, because Aiwa's center level was average, there was no sense of competition between him and the rebounds. Therefore, the rebounds grabbed by Akagi gave people a sense of justice.
Not dazzling, single function.
This is not a good thing for a player.
What Haruko Akagi is worried about is the future of Takenori Akagi.
"Haruko, what is there to worry about?"
"Isn't your brother having a lot of fun fighting?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi could see the worry in Haruko's eyes, looked at Akagi Takenori who was chatting and laughing with his teammates on the bench, and suddenly said, "Sakuragi is really a mysterious man, sometimes naive, but sometimes, he can perceive things that others can't perceive."
Haruko was also stunned when she heard what Sakuragi said. After a brief moment of surprise, a bright smile appeared on her face and she said softly, "Yes! My brother is having a lot of fun playing."
"Thank you, Sakuragi-kun."
Haruko smoothed her bangs and tucked her hair behind her ears. The girl's bright and beautiful profile shocked Sakuragi Hanamichi. After a long time, he scratched the back of his head with a red face and cast his gaze towards the field.
Mito Yohei, Takamiya Nozomi and others beside Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at each other, their faces full of disbelief and surprise. They were so close that at this moment they could actually smell a hint of the sour smell of love, which... actually came from Sakuragi Hanamichi and Akagi Haruko.
The halftime break was neither long nor short. But for the people from Shohoku, it was a bit long. Mitsui Hisashi, Miyagi and others couldn't wait to go on the court and defeat the people from Aiwa Academy.
The players of Aihe felt that time was not enough. Their coach was holding a tactical board and giving tactics to the players. The players of Aihe listened carefully and it was obvious that they were not willing to lose the game like this.
When the whistle sounded to signal the start of the game, Aiwa's coach was still talking to his players. Only when the Xiangbei players entered the court did Aiwa's coach let them go onto the court.
"Didn't they give up the game?... With such a big score difference, what can they do?"
"Will changing people really help?"
Takeshi Jinguji noticed that the five players of Aiwa Academy had been adjusted compared to the first half. The player who originally defended Miyagi Ryouta was replaced by a player wearing No. 12 jersey. He was a stranger, about 175cm tall, not outstanding, and looked quite strong. However, such a player, apart from having better physical fitness, probably could not play a key role.
“Beep!”
With a quick whistle, Jinguji Budo's attention was drawn back to the court. The players from both teams once again took their positions in the center circle. After the players were ready, the referee blew the whistle again and threw the basketball high into the air.
"Hmph!" Akagi Takenori looked up at the basketball thrown by the referee, snorted lightly, then jumped up with all his strength and touched the basketball first. The basketball flew directly towards the back half of Shohoku and was caught by Miyagi Ryouta.
The moment the jump ball was completed, the Aiwa players had already begun to retreat. When Miyagi started to advance with the ball, several Aiwa players who ran fast had already taken position in the three-point area in their own half.
As Aiwa Academy's defense was in place, the Xiangbei players discovered that the opponent's defensive formation had undergone a huge change.
Jinguji Budou ran slowly to the front court after the jump ball, but not long after he crossed the center line, Moroboshi Yasushi and Okamura Ryugo double-teamed Jinguji Budou from two directions, one on the left and one on the right. The two stood less than one meter away from Budou, one on the left and one on the right, both close to the three-point line.
In addition, Miyagi Ryouta of Xiangbei has been completely left open, and Mitsui Hisashi is still defending alone. The other two Aiwa players, one is positioned under the basket near the baseline, and the other is standing in a high position near the free throw line.
“Ohhh!
Look, Aiwa has sent two players to guard Jinguji Budo!"
"They changed their formation!"
"You haven't given up hope of winning yet?! Come on, Aiwa!"
Aiwa Academy's change of formation drew cheers from the audience. What's so interesting about a one-sided crushing match? The most interesting match is the fight between dragons and tigers.
"Aihe..is this a last-ditch effort?"
"But it is true that at this point in the game, if Aiwa doesn't resort to such drastic measures, he won't see any hope of winning at all."
"But will such a line of defense really be useful?"
"That boy is Jinguji Budo!"
When Ryonan's coach Tanaka saw Aiwa's defensive formation, he raised his chin slightly and whispered. Coach Tanaka had also considered a defensive formation similar to Aiwa's.
However, facing a player of the level of Takeshi Jinguji, it would be fine if the two defensive players in the double-team had a tacit understanding. If not, this kind of double-team would not only be unable to curb Takeshi Jinguji's offense, but on the contrary, the two defenders would interfere with each other, making the already poor defense even more vulnerable!
As if to verify Coach Tanaoka's idea, on the court, Miyagi Ryouta didn't care how many defensive players were in front of Takeshi. After carrying the ball across the center line for two meters, he quickly passed the ball sideways to Jinguji Takeshi.
No one was guarding Miyagi. After the ball was passed, he quietly walked to the middle distance on the left side of the court and stood there. This position was the one where Miyagi Ryouta had the highest hit rate when he practiced shooting. Although Miyagi knew that Budo would most likely not pass the ball, what if
Aiwa Academy didn't care at all about where Miyagi Ryouta was. When Wudao got the basketball, all the players of Aiwa focused their attention on Wudao. They had no time to care about Miyagi Ryouta, who had a weak presence. This point guard of Xiangbei was really as the name suggests, only used to dribble the ball across the line.
Not only did Miyagi Ryouta get an open opportunity, but Chiba Daishi in the interior also slipped out of the basket and took a mid-range position at 0 degrees. The Aiwa players did not pay any attention to him and ignored Chiba's existence.
"A double team, or a double defense."
"In this era, it seems that there is indeed no prohibition on this kind of defense."
After Wudao got the ball, he dribbled back a little, away from the three-point line. To be honest, this was the first time he faced such defense. With the presence of Mitsui Shou on the Xiangbei side, the threat from the outside was not just from him, and Mitsui Shou was not a different role either. Most people would not be able to defend Mitsui Shou alone, and they would have to have someone to help defend him.
This was the first time that Budou had encountered such a desperate defensive method as Aiwa's.
Jinguji Takeshi closed the distance to one and a half meters, and Yamato Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura were unable to catch up. At this time, Takeshi was about two meters away from the three-point line. In the minds of Yamato Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura, no one would shoot from more than two meters away from the three-point line, so they did not take any precautions at this moment.
"Are you guys... standing too far away?!"
Seeing that the distance between the three people was so far, Wudao no longer hesitated. He directly passed the ball and made a jump shot. The basketball flew directly from Wudao's hands and flew towards the basket.
"Three-pointer?! He actually shot a three-pointer from that position?!"
"This guy is so messy!"
"How could this kind of ball possibly..."
The audience's doubts were soon interrupted by a crisp sound of the net. Under the gaze of everyone, Wudao's basketball shot went accurately into the net. The falling basketball passed through the net and made a slight sound.
"hiss!
!
How is this possible! "
“Ohhhhhhh!
!”
"It's in! A long three-pointer!"
The voices of doubt soon turned into exclamations, and the audience who had shouted "Random" a second ago quickly turned to cheer. The defending team, Yasushi Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura, also turned their heads and looked at Jinguji Budou with a dull look on their faces. Neither of them thought that Jinguji Budou would not only shoot from that position, but also make the shot.
After scoring the goal, Jinguji Budo glanced at Moroboshi Yasushi and Okamura Ryugo and said softly, "You didn't expect this, this place is actually within my shooting range!"
After Wudao finished speaking, he turned around and started to defend. Although the Xiangbei players were a little surprised, that feeling of surprise did not last long.
Mitsui Shou celebrated by high-fiving Budo who scored the goal, and then said with some emotion: "I can't believe it. I thought you were just shooting for fun during practice, but I didn't expect that you would dare to shoot from this position during the real game!"
"What's so unexpected? Isn't normal practice for the competition?"
Wu Dao replied with a smile and quickly got into position in his own half.
"It's different. Even if you're playing basketball normally, you won't shoot like this in a game. You're probably the only one who can shoot like this."
"We usually play logo shots, and sometimes we can make them. Do you use them as a regular offensive method during the game?"
Mitsui Shou shook his head and said.
"Why not? If there's no more suitable offensive method than the logo shot, why not use it?"
Wudao turned around and looked at Mitsui Shou who was running towards his position, and said. Mitsui Shou's thinking was still limited by the times. Even though he was very good at three-point shooting, Mitsui Shou believed from the bottom of his heart that layups and mid-range shots were the main ways to score in the game.
The development of the three-point shot is only to create a good breakthrough environment.
But Wu Dao obviously doesn't have such a thought. All the techniques he learned are just for the opportunity to shoot, whether it is a mid-range shot or a three-pointer, regardless of whether this opportunity is "regular" or not.
At the beginning of the second half, Takeshi Jinguji scored an ultra-long three-pointer, and this goal officially started the nightmare of Aiwa Academy.
Aiwa did not change his defensive style after the counterattack. He had no intention of defending against Jinguji Takeshi who was about two meters away from the three-point line. But the next second, Takeshi once again replicated his long-range three-pointer in front of everyone.
Still two meters away from the three-point line, still in front of Yasushi Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura, Takeshi Jinguji used two consecutive long three-pointers to tell everyone that his goals were not a coincidence!
With these two long three-pointers, Moroboshi Yasushi and Okamura Ryugo no longer dared to let Budo shoot like this, and their positions moved up from near the three-point line to outside the three-point line. At this time, the two people's defense line was nearly 4 meters away from Aiwa's second defense line and the backup defense player on the free throw line.
This distance provided Wudao with a considerable buffer zone for breakthrough, allowing him to have enough depth to break through the defenses of Yamato Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura.
On the court, Jinguji Budo adjusted his rhythm with continuous crotch dribbling, and suddenly started to break through to the right side of Moroboshi Dai. Jinguji Budo started quickly, and both Moroboshi Dai and Okamura Ryugo were instantly mobilized by Budo. However, Budo only took two steps and suddenly stopped suddenly, and there was a short and strange pause during the suspended dribbling.
The next second, Wudao dribbled the ball in a different direction. This time, Wudao's speed was not very fast, and was clearly seen by Yamato Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura. Just when Yamato Moroboshi and Ryugo Okamura thought that Wudao was going to change direction and quickly adjust his center of gravity to prepare for defense, Wudao's dribbling rhythm suddenly accelerated, and he changed the direction of the breakthrough again. At the same time, he accelerated and passed the defense line of Yamato Moroboshi and Okamura.
With the continuous changes in rhythm, Wu Dao was able to easily pass through the defense of two people.
But when Wudao faced Aiwa and the defensive player near the free throw line, he was much simpler and rougher. He used his body strength and speed to force his way forward. The defensive players could not keep up with Wudao's figure by sliding, and were directly thrown away. They watched Wudao rush into the basket, hook shot against their center and send the ball into the net.
Less than a minute into the second half, Jinguji Budou scored another 8 points, completely shattering the little fighting spirit that Aiwa Academy had finally gathered.
After a few more rounds, Aiwa Academy completely lost the confidence to fight back, and the game turned into garbage time.
Nine minutes into the second half, Shohoku High School was leading Aiwa High School by 37 points, 81:44. Jinguji Takeshi's personal score had reached a terrifying 67 points, breaking the record for the highest score in the history of national competitions.
However, the game continued, and Jinguji Budo's scoring continued.
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