During the half-time break, the Ryonan stadium seemed very quiet. How does the saying go? The eve of a big battle is often extremely depressing.
The closer it gets to the start of the second half of the game, the greater the pressure on the players.
This pressure comes from both their opponents and the players themselves.
After many months of absence, both the players of Ryonan and the people of Shohoku were gathering their energy to completely defeat their opponents.
The heavy and depressing atmosphere completely dissipated as Shimono Shima and others walked into the court. At the referee's whistle, the players from Shohoku and Ryonan stood in the center circle, ready for a jump ball.
"Long time no see, I can feel that you have become stronger!"
"It seems that you got a lot of training during your time in the United States!"
"I was originally planning to go to the United States, but something held me back. However, as for martial arts, my strength has greatly increased during my time in Lingnan. You have to be more serious and don't let me down!"
Shinomiya Tano stood next to Takeshi Jinguji, leaned over slightly, looked at Jun Uozumi and Takenori Akagi who were preparing to jump the ball in the center circle, and spoke to Takeshi Jinguji beside him.
"You're still the same, with such a condescending attitude."
"I hope you can maintain this attitude after the game."
Wu Dao smiled and replied. He also had some understanding of Shigong Tianye's character. On the court, this person was more proud than anyone else. This was probably related to his experience. Players of his level were indeed unmatched in this country, so it was understandable that he would develop such a character.
“Beep!
”
At this time, the referee on the field blew the whistle and prepared to kick off. Shimoya Tano did not respond and focused his attention on the game.
As the basketball was thrown high into the air by the referee, Jun Uozumi and Takenori Akagi both shouted loudly, jumped up with all their might, and headed towards the basketball.
Now in his third year of high school, Jun Uozumi is 202cm tall and weighs 90kg. The training in Ryonan over the years has made his body more symmetrical, and his personal jumping and explosive power have also been developed.
Akagi Takenori is 197cm tall and weighs 90kg. He has been active since childhood and has stronger athletic ability than Uozumi. In addition, Akagi was somewhat influenced by martial arts in Xiangbei, and focused on strengthening his explosive power and footwork under the basket.
In this jump ball, Akagi Takenori, who had better athletic ability, completely made up for the height difference between him and Uozumi. He took the lead and touched the basketball with one hand.
"pretty!"
Miyagi Ryouta let out an excited cry and quickly took the ball in his hands without any hesitation or pause. The moment he got the basketball, Miyagi Ryouta passed it directly to the frontcourt. The basketball quickly hit the floor next to Akagi Takenori and Uozumi, passed over the two and flew into the frontcourt. The target of Miyagi's pass was the small forward of Shohoku, Jinguji Takeshi, who was standing in the frontcourt at the kick-off.
"Planning for a quick attack?!"
"Hurry back to defense!"
Seeing this scene, Shigong Tianye shouted loudly, and dodged and rushed directly to Jinguji Budou who had the ball. Budou was still quite far from the three-point line, but Shigong Tianye had no intention of returning to the court to wait for Xiangbei to attack. Instead, he took the initiative to attack and targeted Jinguji Budou.
He and Takeshi Jinguji are old rivals, and he is very clear about Takeshi Jinguji's offensive characteristics. Now he disrupts the opponent's ball-holding rhythm before Takeshi Jinguji enters the shooting range. In this way, he can still defend against him. Once the opponent enters the shooting range, the difficulty of defense will increase exponentially.
"Um?!"
Shigong Tianye's defensive moves were very aggressive and completely different from the defensive state he showed in the first half. His body was directly pressed against Jinguji Takeshi's body, trying to force Takeshi to make a mistake.
The heavy force poured onto his body, causing Wu Dao to sway his body and frown.
"How can this guy be so powerful?!"
Shigong Tianye's strength was very terrifying. Wudao started quickly and tried to get rid of him. At the same time, his forearm was supported on Shigong Tianye's waist and abdomen, trying to maintain his dribbling space. Wudao had only felt this kind of defensive pressure when he participated in the training camp in the United States at that time.
Budou sped up his pace, but Shinomiya Tano's pursuit speed was not slow at all. He chased Budou all the way and forced Jinguji Budou, who received the ball near the center circle, to the sideline. However, at this time, Budou had successfully approached the three-point line.
Although it is close to the three-point line, it is located on the sideline, so the choice of breakthrough direction becomes a bit awkward.
“This position won’t work!”
Jinguji Budou realized at the first moment that his position was not suitable for attacking, and decisively gave up moving forward. He dribbled the ball between his legs and stopped instantly. At the same time, he took two steps back and immediately distanced himself from Shinomiya Tano, intending to readjust the rhythm of the attack.
In the time it took Budo to adjust, Xiangbei's fast break failed, and the rest of the Ryonan players had also returned to the court smoothly and took up their defensive positions.
When Budou retreated with the ball, Shigong Tianye did not immediately follow up. He knew that if he rashly pursued, Jinguji Budou would only seize the opportunity to break through. It was not until his teammates were in position that Shigong Tianye moved forward and expanded the defense line.
"Very cautious..." Wu Dao sighed in his heart as he watched Shi Gong Tian Ye slowly approaching, but at this moment, he felt more relaxed than before.
Because this position is already within his shooting range!
While Wudao was dribbling the ball, he was still two meters away from the three-point line and looked up at the basket. Seeing this, Shigong Tianye shrank his eyes, quickly took a step forward, and stretched out his hand to block Wudao's sight.
As soon as he made a move, Wu Dao also reacted, started to dig, and rushed to the right. Wu Dao's fake shot did not completely fool Shigong Tianye, but Wu Dao's dig was very fast, and he still seized the opportunity, leading Shigong Tianye by half a body length, and in two steps he was directly close to the three-point line.
Jinguji Budou quickly crossed the three-point line, but did not slow down as Shigong Tianye expected. On the contrary, Jinguji Budou's speed was still very fast, and soon he entered the mid-range.
When Budo moved to this position, Ryonan's inside players also had to take action. Hanagata Toru left the basket and quickly came over to defend.
"Are you going straight to the basket?!" Shigong Tianye's heart sank a little, and he couldn't help but quicken his pace, trying to bypass Wudao and get into position early. He thought that Wudao would make a quick stop and jump shot from mid-range, so he didn't speed up at all and was always on guard. However, seeing that Wudao's position was getting deeper, he had to give up this idea.
During the pursuit, Shinomiya Tano's position surpassed Jinguji Takeshi, and just at the moment when he passed Takeshi, Jinguji Takeshi suddenly stopped, grabbed the ball and tried to turn around and break through.
Sigong Tianye slammed on the brakes, and his sneakers rubbed against the ground violently, making a sharp sound.
At this moment, Shigong Tianye actually reacted completely, stopped abruptly in an instant, and rushed towards the position after Wudao turned around. The moment Wudao turned around, he would directly crash into his arms!
However, Shimono's reaction was too fast. When Budou turned halfway, he was already prepared. But in the next second, Jinguji stopped turning, turned around quickly to face the basket, and shot a fadeaway jump shot.
The defensive Hua Xing was still some distance away from Wu Dao. Even if he raised his arms high, he couldn't affect Wu Dao's shot.
"It was actually a feint!" It was only at this moment that Sigong Tianye fully reacted. He wanted to reach out to stop it but suddenly his shoe slipped. He subconsciously reached out to support himself and managed to keep his balance.
When he looked up at Jinguji Takeshi, Takeshi had already shot the ball, and the basketball hit the backboard and went into the net with a crisp sound.
The Xiangbei rest area did not receive the expected thunderous applause. All the Xiangbei players looked at Jinguji Budou in astonishment. They had never thought that Budou would end in this way.
The Xiangbei team also played practice games before, but during the practice games, Jinguji Budou just shot one-on-one, broke through with digging steps, and then performed various dunks.
A fighting style similar to that of Jinguji Budou, which included a sudden stop, a feint, and a turn and lean back, had never been displayed before.
"This... Jinguji-senpai's playing style seems to be very different from the previous team practice match!"
A first-year student scratched his head and said in confusion that these newly joined first-year students' understanding of martial arts is still limited to the freshman practice games - a senior with extremely terrifying physical talents and accurate shooting.
That's all.
"Of course, there's no need to use footwork or technique to deal with players of your level."
"When facing a 160cm competitor like you, I can just force myself to eat him."
"But it's clear that Shinomiya Tano isn't the kind of opponent that can be easily defeated with his body."
Kiyota Nobunaga glanced at the first-years with disdain, and then bit his nails involuntarily, looking very nervous.
Coach Anxi also turned his head to look at the players at this moment, and then retracted his gaze, sighing in his heart: "It seems that Shigong Tianye's defense has put a lot of pressure on Wudao."
Unlike the quietness of the Xiangbei rest area, the Ryonan rest area was already in an uproar at this time.
No one expected that Shinomiya Tano was almost knocked down by his opponent while defending. They had never seen such a situation before.
Even Coach Tagora shrank back when he saw this scene, and his heart sank as he looked at Jinguji Budo who had already started to defend on the field.
"Such a tall player can actually break through so quickly!"
"If it was just speed, it would be fine, but it can actually do an emergency stop and half-turn while moving at high speed..."
"This guy's athletic performance is truly horrible..."
"I originally thought that this kid's height would begin to restrict his ability to combine with the ball, but now it seems that this kid has not been affected at all."
"Jinguji Budo... now he is covered with weapons..."
Even Coach Tanaoka couldn't help but sigh at Jinguji Takeshi's terrifying talent. With his eyesight, he could roughly judge Jinguji Takeshi's current height, and looking at Takeshi's well-proportioned body and developed muscles, it can be imagined that his weight would not be like that of a paper man.
However, even though he is almost as tall as Yuzumi, he has a completely different basketball style from Yuzumi.
Fortunately, the one defending Jinguji Budou was the equally talented Shinomiya Tano. If Yuzumi had gone to defend, he would probably have been passed by the opponent in one step.
On the court, offense and defense switch.
Jinguji Budou's attack just now left a deep impression on all the Ryonan players. Fujima Kenji and the others also realized that although Jinguji Budou was taller now, he was still incredibly agile when he stretched out his hands.
Jinguji Budo in his second year of high school must be more difficult to deal with than he was in his freshman year.
If they want to defeat Shohoku led by Jinguji Budou, they must be fully focused and not slack off at all.
Fujima received the ball in the backcourt, quickly dribbled across the center line, and then without thinking, passed it sideways to Shimono who was standing outside the three-point line.
At the same time, the rest of the Ryonan players began to move away, just like they did with the freshmen from Shohoku before, leaving enough space for Shimonoseki to move around.
The basketball went into Shinomiya Tanno's hands, and Shinomiya Tanno held the ball with his back to the basket. Seeing the opponent holding the ball, Wudao was instantly alert, and his left forearm directly pressed against Shinomiya Tanno's waist, preventing Shinomiya Tanno from turning around and breaking through easily.
Feeling the pressure coming from behind, Shinomiya Tianye tilted his head slightly and passed the ball back to Fujima. Just when Wudao thought that the opponent was going to give up the singles, Shinomiya Tianye suddenly turned around without the ball and quickly cut towards the basket.
Shimoya Tano, who cut in without the ball, was much faster than him with the ball, and Wudao fell one body length behind the opponent.
As Shinomiya Tano cut in, Fujima also passed the ball at the right time, giving Shinomiya Tano a little lead time and accurately delivering it to Shinomiya Tano. Shinomiya Tano, who had the ball, did not slow down, actively seeking confrontation, and on the way he pushed against Jinguji Budou, and when he approached the paint area, he quickly passed the ball and invaded the basket with two steps.
Shimonoya actively sought confrontation, which caused Wudao's pursuit speed to slow down sharply. Wudao, who was preparing to jump to block the shot, was also affected. He had no way to fully utilize his bounce, and his hand swung in the air and hit the backboard.
“Bang!”
Shimono Shima's dunk was fierce, with one hand dunking over Budou's block and over Akagi Takenori who was defending in the paint.
In front of Shimonoseki, Akagi's jumping ability was not good enough, and the opponent had enough running time when dunking, so Akagi could not resist such a dunk at all.
Shigong Tianye grabbed the rim with one hand, steadied himself, and then let go of his hand and fell back to the floor. He smiled and pointed at Fujima, glanced at Jinguji Budou, and hurried back to defense.
Although Shimono did not say anything provocative, the tension between him and Jinguji Budou was growing stronger.
"This guy plays basketball in such an 'American' way..."
Wu Dao sighed inwardly, quickly adjusted his mentality, and ran to the front court. After being breached by Shigong Tianye, Wu Dao's mentality was very calm, but as a point guard, Miyagi Ryouta felt a little guilty at this moment.
Fujima Kenji can pass the ball so easily in front of him, so he has big defensive problems.
But then again, if Fujima breaks through on his own, Miyagi will still be able to stop him. After all, his speed is not slower than Fujima, and he is also good at stealing the ball.
But letting Fujima pass the ball would be a bit difficult for him. After all, there is a big difference in height between them, and it is not easy to do this.
Coach Anxi on the sidelines has also seen this, but there is nothing he can do about it. Even if he plays a zone defense, it is impossible for Miyagi to block the opponent from passing the ball.
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