Akita Prefecture's formation change was officially declared a failure as Jinguji Budo scored a spike.
Coach Domoto had a very clear plan. He asked his players to consolidate the inside line, seize Kanagawa Prefecture's offensive mistakes, and then rely on the inside and outside connection between Masashi Kawata and Kazunari Fukatsu to maintain firepower.
But Goro Domoto still underestimated Jinguji Budou. Without Zebei Rongzhi, the Akita Prefecture team was missing a player who could distract Jinguji Budou from defense. But against ordinary players, Budou could devote a considerable amount of energy to assisting defense and double-teaming.
On the court, between offense and defense.
Kazunari Fukatsu has not yet realized that his team's offensive system is actually difficult to maintain. In his opinion, the reason why Takeshi Jinguji was able to steal the ball and slam dunk just now was simply because Masashi Kawata did not notice the enemy's double-team.
After entering the frontcourt with the ball, Kazunari Fukatsu still planned to use the same trick and called for a pick-and-roll from his teammates inside when he was near the top of the arc.
However, this time, before Masashi Kawata could take position, Kenji Fujima on the defending side took direct and decisive action, rushing forward to steal the ball.
Kazunari Fukatsu, who was holding the ball, was also surprised by Fujima's steal. He quickly dribbled behind his back to avoid Fujima's steal and then prepared to speed up. However, just as he raised his head to look at the basket, a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his view with one hand.
"Jinguji Budo?!"
When Kazunari Fukatsu saw the person in front of him, he was greatly surprised. He then quickly turned his head to look at the substitute small forward of his team and found that the latter was cutting into the inside and got a good open opportunity.
Without any hesitation, Kazunari Fukatsu quickly passed the ball to his teammate who had cut to the mid-range position. The latter received the ball and shot a direct jump shot.
Although Kazunari Fukatsu was quite good at seizing opportunities and his players also moved to the right distance, when the substitute from Akita Prefecture jumped up to shoot, the two-meter-tall mermaid guarding the inside line of Kanagawa also flew over to make up for the defense.
The tall and strong Jun Yuzumi is quite oppressive under the basket. It is difficult for ordinary players to remain calm when facing such a giant center.
Sure enough, the shooting action of Akita Prefecture's substitute small forward was obviously deformed under the influence of Yuzumi, and the basketball hit the base of the basket and bounced out of the basket.
The area under the basket had become a battlefield. Both Shinomiya Tano and Kawata Masashi bent down to block the opponent's position. Shinomiya Tano was on the defensive side, and his position was closer to the basket than Kawata Masashi, thus occupying the best landing point.
Masashi Kawata was trapped by Shinomiya Tano from behind. He pushed hard against Shinomiya Tano's back, hoping to push the opponent right under the basket and grab the best landing position. However, what surprised Masashi Kawata was that in the wrestling with Shinomiya Tano, he was the one who was at a disadvantage!
"This guy is so strong?!" Masashi Kawata was also surprised by his own discovery. This was his first time to compete head-on with Shinomiya Tano in strength. However, he, who was known as the best center in the country, was actually not as good as the opponent's "part-time power forward" in strength competition.
After a light "ding~" sound, the basketball began to fall. Shimoya Nono spread his arms, blocked Kawata's position, and began to accumulate strength.
The basketball fell less than ten centimeters when Shinomiya Tano completed gathering strength and jumped up. In the sight of the audience, Shinomiya Tano's right forearm easily exceeded the basket, and then he grabbed the ball in his arms.
While grabbing the rebound, Shinomiya Tano's body inevitably collided with Kawata Masashi's body. After the two fell back to the ground, Shinomiya Tano stood firmly on his feet, while Kawata Masashi involuntarily took a step back before he steady his steps, and then looked at Shinomiya Tano with surprise.
"Quick break!" Shinomiya Tano didn't have time to pay attention to the look in Kawata Masashi's eyes. After shouting, he directly threw the ball to the front court.
At this time, Jinguji Takeshi, Mitsui Hisashi and Fujima crossed the center line and attacked the Akita Prefecture's basket.
Fujima started the fastest and took control of the basketball first. Soon after he received the basketball, Jinguji Budou came from behind, surpassed Fujima, crossed the Akita three-point line, and quickly ran towards the Akita basket. At this time, the two Akita players who were chasing him were still more than a meter away from Budou.
"Really, a reliable teammate!" When Kenji Fujima saw Jinguji Takeshi breaking into the inside, he smiled and praised, and threw the basketball in his hand towards the basket.
While running, Jinguji Budou saw Fujima's pass and began to slow down and adjust his running rhythm. When the basketball came above his head, Jinguji Budou jumped up, held the ball with both hands, and then dunked the ball into the basket.
The perfectly timed alley-oop dunk completely threw off the defender.
As Jinguji Budou scored another dunk, cheers rose from the surrounding stands.
... .
"How on earth can I stop that guy's attack?"
"Can we really stop a guy like this?"
In the rest area of Akita Prefecture, Zebei Rongzhi, who was sitting in his seat with his head down and deep in thought, seemed to be in two different worlds from the jubilation on the field. The surrounding bustle seemed to have nothing to do with him, and he could not hear the wailing from the bench.
At this moment, scenes of his confrontation with Jinguji Martial Arts were flashing through his mind.
He tried to find the flaws in Jinguji Martial Arts' attack.
It must be said that this kind of meditation is really useful. Zebei Rongji discovered that Jinguji Budo's attacks mostly tend to attack to his left side. In other words, Jinguji Budo's attack habit is to attack from his right side, which is the strong side.
Although Zebei noticed this, Zebei Rongji was unable to apply what he noticed to his defense.
Just knowing that Jinguji Budo is used to attacking on the right side is still not enough to defend against him.
He also needs to find Jinguji Martial Arts' more fatal weakness!
In the future, there will be dedicated team analysts responsible for analyzing players' offensive styles, but in today's high school basketball, it is usually the coaches or the players themselves who do this.
Goro Domoto has also watched many videos of Budou Jinguji's games. He believes that the only way to defend against a player like Budou Jinguji is to crush him with brute force.
Jumping higher than Jinguji Budo, running faster, having more experience, more strength, and even being quite familiar with Jinguji Budo, these defensive conditions are indispensable.
When Domoto realized this, he gave up the plan to kill Jinguji Budou. He only hoped to rely on the power of the ace Zebei to limit Jinguji Budou's score.
But the truth is very cruel. When Zebei Rongji was on the court, he could not limit Jinguji Budou's scoring at all. The opponent scored 20+ points on Zebei's head in just over ten minutes, which directly broke Zebei's mentality.
Goro Domoto watched as Kanagawa Prefecture launched its attack completely and his team's attack was frequently blocked. At this time, Coach Domoto no longer had any hope of winning.
"We in Akita Prefecture really lost completely this time. None of the players from Kanagawa Prefecture are easy to deal with."
Goro Domoto sighed softly, looked at Zebei who was muttering with his head down, walked silently to Zebei and squatted down.
"Zebei!" Domoto Goro called out in a low voice, but Zebei Rongji still kept his head down, as if he didn't hear it.
"Zebei!!" Goro Domoto raised his voice and slapped Zebei Rongji's shoulder hard with his right hand.
The slight pain in his shoulder finally brought Zebei out of his meditation. Looking at Coach Domoto in front of him, Zebei's eyes were empty and he subconsciously called out, "Coach."
"... .." Goro Domoto looked at Sawakita Eiji with empty eyes in front of him and remained silent for a long time.
He had not expected that his proud disciple would become like this. The blow brought to him by Jinguji Budo was far greater than the blow given to him by Shinomiya Tano at that time.
"Zebei, it's impossible to defeat your opponent just by thinking."
"No matter how smart you are or how many calculations you make, you're still going to lose on the court."
"Basketball requires hard work to accumulate skills. I acknowledge your efforts, but at the same time, I don't think you will lose to anyone."
"Jinguji's martial arts is indeed very strong, but you are definitely not weak either!"
Goro Domoto said a lot, but Sawakita Eiji's eyes were still empty and unfocused.
"Zebei, speaking of which... three threats, which three threats are they?"
Goro Domoto suddenly asked, and after hearing this, Zebei Rongzhi finally had some expression on his face, and Tong Kong regained focus.
"Triple threat... Shooting, dribble penetration, and..."
Having said this, Zebei Rongzhi stopped and looked intently at Domoto Goro.
"And pass the ball! Right?"
Goro Domoto patted Zebei on the shoulder and gave Zebei the answer that he had not said.
As Goro Domoto spoke, he pointed his finger at the center of the field. It was Akita Prefecture's attacking round.
Kazunari Fukatsu, who dribbled the ball from the backcourt into the frontcourt, was once again double-teamed by Takeshi Jinguji. Facing the defense of both Takeshi Jinguji and Kenji Fujima, Fukatsu chose to pass the ball by throwing it high.
However, the intention of this passing method was too obvious. At this moment, Shimono Yamada had already run out from the inside and blocked the substitute small forward of Akita who was cutting to the ground, ready to intercept.
The pass, whose path was seen through, was blocked by Shinomiya Tano and obviously had no way of falling into the hands of his teammates as Fukatsu had imagined. When the basketball was falling, it was intercepted by Shinomiya Tano halfway and caught in his hands.
With the steal, Kanagawa Prefecture launched a counterattack again. Takeshi Jinguji, Mitsui Hisashi and Fujima once again rushed to the frontcourt.
"Yeah." Zebei nodded woodenly, his eyes following the direction of Domoto Goro's finger, and happened to see Jinguji Takeshi receiving the ball in the frontcourt and breaking into the basket alone, while the two defensive players from Akita Prefecture quickly double-teamed Jinguji Takeshi.
This time, however, Jinguji Budou did not choose to force a layup himself. Instead, he suddenly turned half-way after jumping, faked a shot and passed the ball to Mitsui Hisashi who was moving to the bottom corner of the three-point line.
The latter took the ball and shot a three-pointer directly from the three-point line.
After a slight sound, 3 points were added to Kanagawa Prefecture's scoreboard.
When Domoto Goro saw this scene, his eyes twitched slightly, but he quickly adjusted his mentality and said calmly to Zebei:
"Offensive players are not just players who can only score."
"Zebei, you actually have very distinct characteristics. You have excellent offensive power and a variety of scoring methods. No matter what kind of opponent you face, you always have a way to put the ball into the basket."
"But your biggest problem is that your offense is too strong, so you neglect your abilities in other areas."
"I thought your problems would be exposed during your training in the United States."
"But what I didn't expect was that you were so talented that you actually developed that kind of shooting method when facing those talented monsters, allowing you to still score points on your own when facing those players."
"So at that time, I didn't point out your problem."
"But today, I'm afraid you have to face your own problems."
Goro Domoto was watching the game while talking to Eiji Zebei. The "problem" Goro Domoto was talking about was actually Zebei's reluctance to pass the ball.
Zebei Rongzhi was able to defeat most of the opponents he faced in the past with his personal ability. But today, when he met Jinguji Budou, Zebei was not able to rely on himself. Even if he called for a pick-and-roll from his teammates, it was still not enough to support him to get past Jinguji Budou's defense.
Zebei Rongzhi needs more weapons to induce Jinguji Budou's defense. Zebei Rongzhi is very sensitive in basketball. Domoto Goro didn't explain his problem thoroughly, but Zebei Rongzhi already knew what his coach was going to say after listening to the previous words.
Domoto's advice brought a glimmer of light to Zebei Rongzhi's dark world. The impeccable Jinguji martial arts seemed to have a tiny crack.
"coach... ."
"I understand, please let me play!"
Goro Domoto's words cheered Zebei up, and he wanted to go on stage quickly to verify his idea. But when Zebei was about to stand up, Goro Domoto held Zebei's shoulders tightly and prevented him from standing up.
"No."
"Let Kanagawa win today."
"I hope you can remember today's failure and work hard during training."
"When we meet them next time, we will take back the honor that belongs to us."
Domoto Goro's words were very beautiful, but there was no way to tell Zebei Rongzhi his true thoughts. He didn't let Zebei play, in fact, the fundamental reason was that he didn't think Zebei could change the situation of the team.
A player who never passed the ball before, now you tell him to pass the ball and he can pass the ball at the right time? How is this possible
The purpose of Domoto's words to Zebei was to give Zebei a direction to work towards, to train his court vision and passing ability after the game, and to make his offense more unpredictable.
If the half-baked Zebei were allowed to go onto the court now, he would definitely be beaten by Jinguji Budo. By then, it would probably take more than a few words for Zebei Rongji to adjust.
As for the game, from the moment he replaced Sawakita Eiji, Goro Domoto no longer had any hope.
"Zebei, keep a close eye on Jinguji Budo and that Shigong Tianye."
"These two people are the ones you need to surpass!"
“One day, you’re going to pull these two down and reach the top yourself!”
Goro Domoto was having a heart-to-heart talk with Sawakita Eiji off the court, but the players from Akita Prefecture on the field were having an extremely torturous time.
Jinguji Budo's defense had a very large range, which caused huge problems for the operation of Akita Prefecture's basketball. In the second half, Shinomiya Tano finally stopped slacking off and became active. With his terrifying footwork, he covered the entire basket area and mid-range defense.
While Akita Prefecture's offense was blocked, Kanagawa Prefecture's outside line also blossomed.
Jinguji Budou maintained his hot hand in the second half, and substitutes Mitsui Hisashi and Fujima Kenji were also in hot hand.
With three-pointers from three players, the gap between the two teams began to widen rapidly.
As the second half of the game progressed, the outcome was no longer in doubt.
114:71.
The Akita Prefecture team, once the overlord of the Autumn National Sports Games, lost the game with a rather ugly score.
And Kanagawa Prefecture has officially reached the top!
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