"Don't worry about it, just keep our rhythm and score a goal!"
As Shinomiya Tano's shouts rang out, the Ryonan players began to advance towards the frontcourt in an orderly manner. As a point guard, Fujima was undoubtedly very trustworthy, but when Ryonan High School was advancing on the offense, the other players still revolved around Fujima, protecting him in the center.
Just from such a simple detail, we can see the sense of order displayed by Ryonan High School.
At some point, Coach Anxi had clasped his hands in front of his stomach, leaning forward slightly, looking as if he was watching the game seriously. On the other side, Coach Tiangang looked at his players' advancing rhythm and showed a satisfied smile on his face.
On the court, the Xiangbei players had already taken their positions. After the Ryonan players entered the frontcourt, they spread out and found the players they needed to defend.
Xiangbei's defensive method is the most conventional man-to-man tactics, which is simple and efficient. It has always achieved good defensive results in Xiangbei High School's previous games.
Fujima, who was dribbling the ball, saw Miyagi Ryouta approaching and made a pick-and-roll gesture to his teammates while approaching the three-point line.
Hanagata Toru, who was originally cutting into the inside, immediately changed direction when he saw this scene and rushed to the outside to set a screen for Fujima, while Ryonan's Shinomiya Tano and Sendoh Akira also moved to the baselines on both sides tacitly. For a moment, only the guard pair of Fujima and Miyagi, and Hanagata who was setting a screen, were left in the high position.
Chiba Daishi did not follow Hanagata at all at this moment. He stopped at the free throw line and did not run any further. He felt that Hanagata did not have the ability to shoot three-pointers.
The moment the pick-and-roll was formed, Fujima Kenji quickly broke through in the direction of the pick-and-roll, and Hanagata, who had completed the pick-and-roll, also quickly moved down from another direction. Seeing Fujima breaking through and still holding the ball, Chiba immediately chose to defend Fujima, while Miyagi, who had been blocked, had no possibility of chasing Fujima and was forced to switch to defend Hanagata.
Dislocation occurred so easily.
The basketball flew out of Fujima's hands quickly and landed accurately in Hanagata's hands. Hanagata, who got the ball, stopped suddenly at a high position and made a quick jump shot. Although Miyagi Ryouta, who was defending him, jumped with all his strength, his hand could only reach Hanagata's forearm at most. Let alone blocking the shot, he couldn't even interfere with Hanagata's shot.
The basketball flew over Miyagi's head and went accurately into the net.
As the basketball went into the net, cheers broke out in the Ryonan rest area. Shinomiya Tano also walked up to Hanagata, patted him on the back and praised him a few words, then led the Ryonan team to retreat.
"Damn it!" Miyagi Ryouta cursed in a low voice, his face looking very ugly.
Hanagata Toru is 30cm taller than Miyagi Tsuyoshi. It's like Miyagi has to stand on a folding stool to get close to Hanagata's height. If both of them stretch their arms, the height difference will be even greater.
Such a huge height difference means that Hanagata can easily shoot in front of Miyagi, and Miyagi, no matter how hard he tries, cannot defend against Hanagata. This is no longer something that can be achieved by hard work alone.
Miyagi Ryouta obviously realized that he might be used as a breakthrough point by his opponent again. Before it was Fujima, this time it was Hanagata, and the next one might be Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano.
Miyagi Ryouta had never felt inferior because of his height, nor did he ever think that he was weaker than any tall person. But this time, Miyagi hated himself very much that he did not have a superior height to stop Hanagata, because he had already felt a huge threat from Ryonan High School.
They had felt this way before during the county competition, and that time, they, Xiangbei, were defeated.
"Hey, Miyagi, give me the ball, I'll get the lost points back!"
Jinguji Takeshi looked at the Ryonan people who were starting to return to defense, walked to Miyagi's side and said in a deep voice. His eyes were always on the Ryonan people, and he didn't notice Miyagi's condition at all.
"Okay." Miyagi Ryouta said in a deep voice, then ran to the baseline, ready to receive the ball.
Shohoku began to organize an offense. Since Fujima had previously shown quite good one-on-one defense ability, Shohoku High School was much more cautious when advancing the offense. Akagi Takenori and Chiba Daiishi both entered the frontcourt early and went to the inside, while Jinguji Takeshi and Mitsui Hisashi were supporting Miyagi Ryouta around them, and the distance between the three was not far.
Seeing how Shohoku was advancing, Kenji Fujima did not rush forward to put pressure on the defense, but waited until the Shohoku players had finished getting into position in the frontcourt before slowly walking towards Miyagi Ryouta.
As for Miyagi Ryouta passing the ball to Jinguji Budou, Fujima didn't even think about blocking it at this moment. Let the person who should have the headache about the opponent's trump card have to worry about it.
Miyagi Ryouta completed the pass in front of Fujima Kenji. During the pass, Fujima didn't even think of reaching out to stop him and let Miyagi pass the ball.
Jinguji Takeshi, who was not far away, received the basketball and quickly broke through to try to complete the attack from the left side of Shigong Tianye. However, after playing for a long time, Shigong Tianye had already adapted to Jinguji Takeshi's breakthrough habit, and moved his body slightly, easily blocking Takeshi in front of him.
The way forward of Budo who was holding the ball was blocked, and his body suddenly paused. He changed his direction in front of his body and successfully guided Shigong Tianye to defend in the wrong direction. After he got the chance, he continued to rush forward. Shigong Tianye who was blocked maintained his posture well. Even though he was passed by him at this moment, he was still able to chase him in the first time, and finally caught up with Jinguji Budo two steps inside the three-point line.
Just as Shinomiya Tano was catching up with Jinguji Takeshi, Sendoh Akira's backup defense had already arrived, and Jinguji Takeshi was once again double-teamed by Shinomiya Tano and Sendoh.
"Budo, don't force the attack! Pass it out first!"
Facing the defense of two people, Jinguji Takeshi dribbled the ball between his legs and changed the position of the basketball. At the same time, he observed the defense of Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano, preparing to force a breakthrough.
At this moment, Mitsui Shou came to the three-point line not far behind Takeshi, raised his arm and shouted at Takeshi. Fujima Kenji noticed that Mitsui Shou was in an open position, and decisively gave up Miyagi and went over to defend. If Takeshi passed the ball at this time, Mitsui Shou would definitely get a good opportunity to shoot in an open position.
"Go! Are you going to retreat?!" Shigong Tianye glanced at Mitsui Shou in the distance and said suddenly. As soon as he finished speaking, Jinguji Budo in front of him suddenly started and broke through to Shigong Tianye's right side.
When Wu Dao broke through, his body tilted slightly, like a motorcyclist taking a bend, half of his body leaned directly on Shigong Tianye's body. With the help of Shigong Tianye's counterattack, Wu Dao was able to easily maintain balance in such a deformed posture during the breakthrough. Moreover, Wu Dao's breakthrough speed was also extremely fast, and he passed Shigong Tianye in the blink of an eye.
"Hmph, as expected!" Shinomiya Tano tilted his head and chuckled. It seemed that he had already anticipated Jinguji Budou's choice of attack.
After successfully passing Shinomiya Tano, Wudao quickly took the ball and jumped. At this time, he was very close to the basket, so he planned to use a lob as a finishing move. However, just as the basketball was about to be shot, a blue figure suddenly jumped out from Wudao's side, and his raised arms suddenly blocked Wudao's sight.
This sudden change also caused Wudao Tongkong to shrink suddenly, and the basketball had already slipped out of his hand and flew towards the basket.
"Sendō?!" The person who suddenly appeared in front of Takeshi Jinguji was Sendō Akira. Although the opponent's raised arms did not block Takeshi's shot, they successfully affected the rhythm of Takeshi's shooting.
The basketball hit the edge of the frame and bounced out.
"Well done! Sendo!"
Under the basket of Ryonan High School, Shinomiya Tano had occupied a good position at some point. Akagi Takenori was trapped by Uozumi Jun, and Chiba Daishi had been pushed out of the inside by Hanagata. Under the basket, the three best rebounding positions were all occupied by Ryonan High School.
Watching the basketball hit the rim and bounce out, Shimonoseki shouted excitedly, then jumped up with all his might, grabbed the rebound, and then put it into his arms with a "snap".
"Quick attack!"
As a roar sounded, the basketball quickly flew from Shinomiya Tano's hand to the front court. Fujima Kenji had already crossed the center line and was running at the front line of the fast break. On the Xiangbei side, only Mitsui Shou noticed Fujima's movement and returned to defense in time.
"Defense! Go back and defend!" Akagi Takenori shouted angrily and ran towards his own half, but his position was deep and his running speed was not fast, so he could not catch up with Fujima who was fast breaking.
Fujima received the ball in the frontcourt and rushed directly to the basket of Xiangbei without even looking back at Mitsui's position, and scored the ball with a layup. Although Mitsui wanted to block Fujima from behind, he was still half a beat late in grasping the timing of his jump, and could only watch Fujima layup and score.
Ryonan High School made a beautiful defensive counterattack and the score came to 18:14, and the difference finally widened to 4 points.
"The gap is now 4 points. Although the difference is not big, it will take two goals to make up for it."
"Since the start of the game, this is the first time that the gap between the two teams has widened to the point where it takes two goals to make up for the deficit."
"Well done, Sendoh, Fujima, and Tano!"
"Next, based on this foundation, let's make a concerted effort to increase the score gap!
!”
When Coach Tian Gang saw the score difference was 4 points, he did not hide his joy. On the other side, Coach Anzai clenched his hands unconsciously. Although it was just a routine missed shot, the ball revealed something that Coach Anzai was most worried about.
Instead of passing the ball when he was in an open position, he chose to force his way through. This reckless offensive choice should not be made by a top player like Wu Dao.
In this game, Takeshi Jinguji's mentality seemed to be not right. Or, as the national competition progressed, Takeshi Jinguji's mentality seemed to be undergoing tremendous changes. And when did this change begin
Coach Anzai frowned and recalled, it seemed that since Takeshi Jinguji joined Shohoku, he had always had this style of playing. It's just that in the early days of joining Shohoku, Mitsui Hisashi had a lot of ball possession, and Takeshi's playing style was not as eye-catching as it is now. But as Takeshi gradually had more ball possession and his status in the team became higher and higher, his playing characteristics became more and more distinct.
I don’t know since when, but another outside killer of Xiangbei has lost the ball, and Xiangbei has long been accustomed to Jinguji Budou leading the team to victory.
The match against Aiwa Academy had completely exposed the problem of ball distribution at Xiangbei, but Xiangbei won that match. Everyone was immersed in Budo's terrifying performance of scoring 90+ in a single game and subconsciously ignored the problems existing in Xiangbei High School.
"Martial Arts, pass this ball first. I'm open and have a good chance to shoot."
Ryonan began to retreat, and the Xiangbei players returned to their own half to prepare to support Miyagi's advance. Mitsui took advantage of this gap and walked to Wudao and whispered. He didn't mean to criticize Wudao, he just wanted to remind Wudao to pay attention to whether his teammates had opportunities when attacking.
"Um... ."
"I'll get the points back!"
Takeshi Jinguji nodded slightly and looked at the people in Ryonan with burning eyes. The determination and desire in Takeshi Jinguji's eyes made Mitsui Shou stunned.
"That's not what I meant..." Mitsui Shou could see that Takeshi didn't listen, and was thinking about saying something else, but Jinguji Takeshi accelerated across the center line, and then reached out to Miyagi Ryouta for the ball.
Miyagi Ryouta saw that Wudao was eager to attack, so he passed the ball without thinking too much.
With the ball, Takeshi Jinguji quickly approached the three-point line. After a simple dribble in front of his body, he quickly broke through. At this time, Mitsui Hisashi and Miyagi had just finished getting into position.
Wudao's breakthrough was very fast, which was something that everyone in Ryonan had expected. Even Shigong Tianye himself knew that he might not be able to stop the opponent's breakthrough alone. Therefore, Sendoh, who was in the role of backup defense, came up early and formed a double defense against Wudao with Shigong Tianye.
Not only did Sendo's joining not make Takeshi feel any retreat, but it completely aroused Jinguji Takeshi's fighting spirit.
The basketball changed its position at high speed as Wudao moved, and Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano kept adjusting their defensive positions according to Wudao's movements. For a moment, the confrontation between the three caused the audience to exclaim in surprise, and the reporters on the sidelines also focused their cameras on the offense and defense.
Facing the defense of Shigong Tianye and Sendoh, Wudao never stopped dribbling the ball, and the basketball flipped back and forth between his left and right hands. But no matter how he changed his position and dribbling posture, the defense of Shigong Tianye and Sendoh did not have any loopholes.
Seeing that his attack failed, Jinguji Budou suddenly slowed down his pace, dribbling between his legs while retreating to the three-point line.
Shinomiya Tano and Sendoh thought that Takeshi had given up the attack, but the next second, they saw Jinguji Takeshi suddenly pass the ball while retreating, took a step back and stood directly outside the three-point line, and then shot a fade away from outside the three-point line.
This sudden attack caught Shimonoseki and Sendoh off guard. Shimonoseki knew that such a shot by Jinguji Takeshi could not be intercepted at all, so he just jumped to block it symbolically. But it was different for Sendoh. He had few opponents with Jinguji Takeshi, and thinking about trying to block the shot, he flew towards Takeshi.
"Bang!"
Sendoh's body collided with Takeshi's, but at this moment, the basketball had already flown into the air.
Wudao stood firm, looked at the basketball in the air, and grinned slightly.
"Swish!" A crisp sound of the net hitting the ground was heard, along with the referee's sharp whistle.
"Blue Team No. 7, defensive foul!"
"The goal is valid, one penalty kick!"
When the referee blew the whistle, he was making a gesture with his hand indicating a valid three-point goal. When the referee's decision came out, all the Ryonan players on the field looked at Jinguji Budo.
"How is this possible?"
"It's actually... three plus one?!"
"This... this guy..."
Sendoh raised his hand after hearing the penalty, with a little confusion in his eyes. He did not expect that his full-strength defense not only failed to stop Jinguji Budou from scoring, but also made him bear a foul. The discussions of his teammates around him made Sendoh's brain go blank for a short time.
"Haha, Xiandao, you are still too naive!"
"We have too little experience playing against that guy. Don't be impatient. Maintain our own defensive rhythm and don't lose your composure because of the opponent's goal."
Shigong Tianye didn't mean to blame Sendoh at all. Instead, he smiled and hooked Sendoh's shoulder and said. His words didn't sound like encouragement, but rather like ridicule. However, it was precisely because of his words that Sendoh's thoughts quickly returned to the court. He breathed a sigh of relief, spread his hands helplessly, and let it go.
Takeshi Jinguji was sent to the free throw line, and without any surprise, he made the free throw.
The difference between the two teams instantly reached 18:18. A 4-point gap was made up by Jinguji Budo in just one round.
Although there was a lot of cheering on the Shohoku side, Mitsui Hisashi on the court and Coach Anzai off the court did not look very happy.
"Uh... this kid actually scored 3+1..."
"Really..."
"Well... With his ability, it's not surprising that he can occasionally score a goal like this."
"The more they fight like this, the closer Xiangbei High School will be to the abyss!"
"Shohoku's weakness was only temporarily covered up, but it never disappeared!"
When Coach Tanaoka saw Jinguji Takeshi score a three-plus-one against the defense of Sendō and Shinomiya Tano, he exclaimed in surprise, but the surprise only stayed on his face for a few seconds before disappearing, replaced by a meaningless smile.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .