"That kid not only caught up with Sendoh's running and stole the ball, but he even blocked Sendoh's position during the fast break."
"If it wasn't for him, with Sendoh's speed, he would definitely be able to catch up with Takeishi's No. 5. With Sendoh's size, it's not impossible for him to block this ball."
"This kid is very experienced!"
Under the court, Akizuki High School coach Katori Shingo was stroking his chin as he looked at Jinguji Budou who was standing in front of Sendoh. Although he didn't know Jinguji Budou, it didn't stop him from looking up to him.
Although it wasn't long since Budou came on the court, just the way he handled the ball was enough to attract Katori Shingo's attention.
Such court experience is not something an ordinary junior high school student possesses.
"Xian Dao!"
Katori Shingo shouted Sendoh's name loudly, and when Sendoh looked at Katori Shingo, Katori Shingo spread his palms flat and pressed down.
After seeing Katori Shingo's actions, Sendoh nodded silently, and then ran towards the backcourt, ready to support his teammate who was serving the ball.
"Huh?" Sendoh was preparing to go back to the court to catch the ball, but after running a few steps, he suddenly found someone following him.
He looked back in surprise and saw Jinguji Takeshi following him with a smile on his face.
"This guy wants to keep me in check and prevent me from catching the ball?!" Xiandao was a little surprised and a little amused when he saw Wudao's figure shrink. It is quite difficult to defend a player without the ball.
"Huh?" Wu Dao's strange behavior also attracted the attention of others. In terms of defense, generally speaking, the defensive players will wait for the opponent to enter their own half before defending.
One is that the attacking players are not threatening before entering their own half, so there is no need to defend, thus saving energy. Another reason is that the opponent has a long distance from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Generally speaking, it is easy for players without the ball to get rid of the defense in such a large range.
Instead of wasting energy chasing and defending, it is better to stay in the backcourt and maintain the defensive formation.
A defensive method like Wudao's, which closely follows a player and even follows him to the opponent's half of the court, is generally only used when the team is playing a full-court press, which requires teammates to apply pressure together.
Although Xiandao didn't think that Wudao had the ability to prevent him from receiving the ball, he was still quite alert to Wudao's defense. After realizing that Wudao had caught up with him, he suddenly changed his pace, and suddenly accelerated to rush to his own baseline.
At this time, the player from Qiuyue Middle School had completed the baseline serve, and the basketball was being carried forward by No. 5 of Qiuyue Middle School.
He noticed Sendoh's actions and just as he was about to pass the ball, he found that Takeshi had also sped up and was following closely behind Sendoh.
In order to avoid repeating the same mistake, the player did not choose to pass the ball. Instead, he glanced in the direction of Sendoh and advanced to the frontcourt with the ball.
When Sendoh saw his teammates entering the front court, he suddenly stopped and then ran slowly towards the front court. Although Sendoh was slow, Wudao did not slack off. Facing Sendoh, he walked backwards towards his own half of the court, while keeping an eye on the position of the basketball.
"Squeak!" Suddenly, Sendo propped up Wudao's body with his forearm and rushed to the side. Wudao, who noticed Sendo's move, turned around and followed closely, but at this time, he was already one body length away from Sendo.
After briefly getting rid of Wudao, Sendo ran in the direction of the No. 5 player of their team. When Sendo approached, the No. 5 player had already brought the ball to a distance of about 3 meters outside the three-point line. Sendo moved very quickly and passed by the No. 5 player in a blink of an eye, and the basketball successfully fell into Sendo's hands.
"Hand-to-hand pass? It's unrealistic to let Sendoh not be able to catch the ball."
"But even if you catch the ball, there is still a way out!"
Wudao was only one body length behind Sendoh. The next moment Sendoh successfully caught the basketball, Wudao had already arrived in front of Sendoh, calmly opened his arms.
However, between him and Sendoh, the No. 5 player from Qiuyue Middle School stood there motionless, vaguely blocking between Budo and Sendoh.
Sendoh stood still with the ball in both hands, calmed down, raised his head slightly, stared into Takeshi's eyes, looking for an opportunity to break through.
"Let's begin, Jinguji-san. Whether you can stop him or not will determine your position in the team."
"Let me see if you are qualified to be among the starting lineup in your first year!"
The matchup between Wudao and Sendoh attracted the attention of everyone on the court. Sendoh was the ace scorer of Qiuyue High School, which everyone could judge from the previous few goals.
And Wu Dao, who came on as a substitute, was obviously also highly expected by Anzai Zhengyi, otherwise he, a first-year student, would not have replaced Toyokawa Taro, a third-year student.
In this game, whether Takeishi Junior High School can suppress the offensive of Akizuki Junior High School depends largely on the matchup between Budo and Sendoh.
“Here it comes!”
Wudao's eyes were fixed on the basketball in Sendo's hand, and his peripheral vision was watching Sendo's legs. Suddenly, the basketball in Sendo's hand moved quickly to Wudao's right, but his legs bent in the other direction. Wudao noticed this and took action decisively.
"Bang!" The basketball hit the ground heavily, and Sendoh quickly broke through to the left side of Takeshi. As soon as Sendoh made a move, Takeshi's figure quickly stuck to Sendoh, and at the same time, his left hand followed the rebound trajectory of the basketball and quickly hit the basketball.
"squeak!"
Just when Wudao was about to touch the basketball, Sendo's left hand suddenly slapped the basketball. The basketball was quickly protected by Sendo's side, and Sendo's body suddenly stopped.
As soon as Xiandao's body paused, Wudao's body also paused. He bent his waist, put one hand in front of Xiandao's face, and raised the other hand to guard against Xiandao's breakthrough.
"I've been seen through!" Xiandao's heart sank slightly. After the basketball moved back and forth between his legs several times, he raised his center of gravity and took a step back. It seemed that he had given up the attack.
However, his movements were only meant to confuse people. As long as Wudao raised his center of gravity to catch up, Sendoh would be able to speed up instantly and break through Wudao's defense, although Sendoh's calculations were very loud.
But the Wudao in front of him didn't fall for his tricks at all, and remained calm. As Xiandao retreated, Wudao even maintained his center of gravity and took a small step forward without slacking off at all.
The position where Sendoh paused was more than one meter away from the three-point line. Even though he had a good opportunity to shoot, Sendoh did not dare to shoot from this position.
Although his attack was blocked, Sendoh was not frustrated at all. Instead, his face was full of smiles.
"An opponent like this is really interesting!"
Sendoh whispered, lowering his center of gravity again, the basketball moving back and forth in front of him, as if to induce Takeshi to steal the ball.
"Come over here quickly, why are you just cooking right there?"
Wudao had no intention of making a shot to steal the ball. His eyes were fixed on the basketball, and his peripheral vision was paying attention to Sendoh's feet. Seeing that Sendoh was slow to attack, he urged him on.
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