The practice match between Xiangbei High School and Ryonan High School has completely entered a white-hot stage. As the players on the field become more focused, the cheers from the audience on the sidelines can't help but become much quieter.
The players on the field, except for occasionally speaking out to remind their teammates, spend most of the time running and passing the ball silently on the field.
Whether it is Shohoku or Ryonan, all the players performed well under the leadership of their respective ace players. However, as the game progressed, the score difference between the two teams did not change much. As the lagging side, Shohoku High School had to make changes first.
"If we continue to trade points like this with Ryonan High School, I'm afraid we won't be able to close the gap by the end of the game."
"For such a long time, Ryonan High School has not made any major mistakes. They have done a good job of protecting the backcourt rebounds. Moreover, under the leadership of Shigong Tianye, Ryonan's offense has been very smooth."
"Even if the ball occasionally misses, Ryonan's overall shooting percentage remains quite good."
"As expected of Ryonan... A team like this is indeed the biggest stumbling block for us on our way to the championship!"
Coach Anxi sat in his seat, watching the stalemate on the field, and sighed in his heart.
Although the game was close, it was just a practice match after all, and both Shohoku and Ryonan still had some strength left, and they didn't fight to the death. As Coach Anzai watched the game draw to a close, his eyes turned to Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was sitting not far away.
"It's time to see if he can break the delicate balance on the field."
Coach Anxi made a decision, and suddenly waved to Sakuragi Hanamichi, calling softly: "Sakuragi! Come, come to my side."
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was sitting on the bench and watching the game attentively, didn't hear Coach Anzai calling him for the first time. It was not until Ayako reminded him that Sakuragi looked at Coach Anzai belatedly. He stood up without knowing why, walked in front of Coach Anzai, and asked in a somewhat impatient tone:
"Dad, what are you doing?!"
"The game is going on intensely, don't disturb me from watching the game!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi looked so focused on the game, which made Coach Anzai very happy.
"Haha, very good, Sakuragi."
"Being able to focus on watching the game, I thought about the court and being able to maintain this concentration."
Coach Anzai's words made Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes light up, and now Sakuragi Hanamichi's mind was full of the words "on the court". When Sakuragi looked at Coach Anzai with expectation, Coach Anzai had already stood up and walked towards the central referee seat.
Coach Anxi's actions instantly attracted the attention of everyone at Ryonan High School.
"What?! Coach Anxi actually wants to let a red-haired monkey like you play?!"
"With a match of this level, what can a fool like you do even if you go to the court?!"
"It would be better to send me on the field. At least I can run and won't hold the team back!"
Kiyota Nobunaga was sitting not far from Coach Anzai. When he heard the conversation between Sakuragi Hanamichi and Coach Anzai, he immediately found Sakuragi and said something unconvinced.
At the same time, Rukawa's eyes also fell on Sakuragi Hanamichi. Although he didn't say anything, Sakuragi Hanamichi could still easily understand Rukawa's eyes. The other party was basically saying, "A person like you is worthy of being on stage?"
The other first and second graders of Xiangbei looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi in shock. They didn't know what ability Sakuragi had that would be favored by Coach Anzai and get a chance to play in a game of this level.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi, the person involved, completely ignored the strange looks from the people around him.
Seeing that Coach Anzai seemed to be preparing to send him into the court, Sakuragi put his hands on his hips and laughed wildly, even more wildly than Kogoro Mori. I'm afraid the four laughing heroes of Uchiha would have to admit defeat in front of Sakuragi.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
"Dad is worthy of being the coach of Xiangbei. He has a good vision! He knows how powerful this genius is!" Lan
"Unlike some fools..."
As Sakuragi Hanamichi spoke, he glanced at Kiyota Nobunaga, Rukawa Kaede and others.
At this moment, Shinomiya Tano successfully broke through Budo's defense with the help of Sendoh Akira's pick-and-roll. At the same time, he broke through Mitsui Hisashi who was switching defense and entered the basket of Xiangbei High School. Akagi Takenori who hurriedly made up for the defense was not only dunked by Shinomiya Tano, but also committed a foul.
As the referee blew the whistle, Xiangbei High School called a timeout.
"Damn... How can this guy be so powerful!?"
After the timeout whistle sounded, the players of Xiangbei and Ryonan began to walk off the court. Akagi Takenori was still upset about the dunk he had just received. Obviously, he had hit the opponent's forearm, but it still did not affect Shigong Tianye's dunk.
The terrifying impact of Shinomiya Tano's attack on the basket was so great that Akagi Takenori couldn't even block it head-on, let alone prevent the opponent from dunking.
"Don't worry about it, Akagi."
"Even if he gets a two-plus-one, it's only three points. We can get it back quickly."
"Compared to the opponent's score, you should pay attention to the number of fouls you commit. It doesn't matter if you can't block the ball. There is no need to force a block and commit a foul!"
Takenori Jinguji, Akagi and others walked off the field. Takenori noticed the expression on Akagi's face and comforted him.
The second half lasted just over 16 minutes, but Akagi had already committed three fouls. If today's game was not a practice match, but a county tournament or a national tournament against Ryonan High School, Akagi, who had committed three fouls in just 16 minutes, would be the biggest flaw for Shohoku.
Shinomiya Tano's style of play was quite damaging to the inside. Not only did Akagi have 3 fouls, Chiba Daishi also had 2 fouls, and Budo, who was defending alone, only had one foul. But overall, it can be said that the inside of Xiangbei has been penetrated by Shinomiya Tano.
Compared to the number of fouls committed by Xiangbei, Ryonan was much better. Jun Yuzumi, who was also an inside player, only committed one foul, and Hanagata also committed only one foul. This was because the inside players of Ryonan played rationally, and also because Jinguji Budo's number of attacks on the basket was far less than that of Shinomiya Tano.
"Ah! I see."
"hateful!"
Although Akagi said that he understood, he was still not convinced in his heart. He just didn't believe that he couldn't stop Shinomiya Tano's attack!
"Haha, they all played very well!"
"Take a break now."
"Chiba, take a rest in the remaining few minutes. Sakuragi Hanamichi will replace you later."
Coach Anzai stood at the sidelines to greet the players who were leaving the court. The timeout was not long, and Coach Anzai quickly made arrangements. When Coach Anzai was about to replace Chiba Daishi with Sakuragi Hanamichi, all the Xiangbei regulars looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was standing next to Coach Anzai with a proud look on his face.
"Sakuragi Hanamichi? Coach, are you sure? Should we let Sakuragi Hanamichi play instead of Nango Koichiro?"
Coach Anzai's decision was somewhat beyond Chiba Daishi's expectations. Even as a loyal man, he couldn't help but ask when he heard the news.
He could understand what Coach Anzai meant. He could take advantage of the practice game with Ryonan to hone Shohoku's future inside line. After all, he was already a third-year player and there was a high probability that he would not continue playing after this summer.
Chiba would not question Coach Anzai's idea of substitution, but replacing him with Sakuragi Hanamichi... ..
"Hohoho... Don't worry, Chiba."
"Have a good rest."
Coach Anzai walked up to Chiba Daishi and patted his arm with a smile. Seeing that Coach Anzai was not confused, Chiba Daishi scratched the back of his head and reluctantly accepted it.
"Sakuragi, play well, just like you do in normal training, more movement, more defense, less holding the ball, less positioning."
"Of course, the most important thing is rebounds! Whether it's us, Xiangbei, or Ryonan High School, the most urgent task is to control more rebounds. Only by controlling the rebounds can we have a chance to close the score."
"On the other hand, if Ryonan controls the rebounds, the gap between our two teams will be widened quickly!"
"Once you're on the court, rebounding and defense are all up to you."
Chiba Daishi is a generous person and a qualified senior. Knowing that Coach Anzai intends to train Sakuragi Hanamichi, he immediately came to Sakuragi and spoke earnestly.
Coach Anxi also smiled when he saw this. Chiba's maturity and stability saved him a lot of trouble. He was very satisfied with the character of this player.
Although Chiba Daishi was giving serious instructions, Sakuragi could also feel Chiba's importance to this game, and he listened carefully and nodded frequently. Although his attitude was good, only Sakuragi knew how much he had heard.
During the timeout, Coach Anxi simply made some personnel adjustments. As for technical and tactical adjustments, he did not make any adjustments, and did not even give any suggestions to the players.
After a short break, the players walked onto the court at the sound of the referee's whistle.
"Oh? Did Xiangbei change players?"
"The red-haired one replaced the third-year student Chiba Oishi? As I remember... the red-haired one was a first-year student, right?"
The personnel adjustment on the Xiangbei side was instantly noticed by the Ryonan players. Coach Takeo looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi, searching for the relevant memories of Sakuragi Hanamichi in his mind, and stroked his chin in thought.
Sakuragi Hanamichi played well in the first half and was worth mentioning.
But at that time, Ryonan didn't send out its main inside players. Sakuragi's outstanding performance in the second half of the first half was only because he was facing Guan Ping and Fukuda from Ryonan. The defense of these two people... let's not talk about it.
"This red-haired kid did perform well in the first half. He is a promising inside player."
"Coach Anxi, are you planning to train this kid..."
Coach Tiangang thought to himself and looked at the court.
At this time, Shigong Tianye had already stood on the free throw line and completed his free throw. Shigong Tianye's free throw was very accurate, and the basketball went into the net. On the way back to defense, Shigong Tianye's eyes inadvertently flashed across Sakuragi, and a look of interest appeared on his face.
He did not forget that this red-haired freshman had tried to challenge him before. Although he was knocked down by him, Shinomiya Tano still took this freshman from Shohoku seriously.
"Okay! Get the first ball!"
Miyagi Ryouta received the serve from his teammate in the backcourt and advanced to the frontcourt with the ball. Taking this opportunity, Budo came to Sakuragi's side, whispered a few words in Sakuragi's ear, and hurried into the frontcourt.
I don’t know what Jinguji Takeshi and Sakuragi Hanamichi talked about, but after listening to Takeshi’s words, Sakuragi Hanamichi became full of enthusiasm and ran a lot faster.
Soon, the players of Xiangbei took their positions in the frontcourt. Mitsui Hisashi sank into the bottom corner, Budou was at 45 degrees outside the three-point line on the right, Miyagi Ryouta was at the top of the arc, Akagi entered the basket, and Sakuragi Hanamichi ran to the mid-range baseline on the same side of Budou.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's position distracted Hanagata's defense. Hanagata Toru, who originally planned to stand under the basket to defend against Takeshi's advance, now stuck in front of Sakuragi.
The basketball passed from Miyagi Ryouta's hands and accurately into Wudao's hands.
Jinguji Budou, who had the ball, faced the defense of Shigong Tianye directly. After two simple attempts, he quickly broke through after a fake shot. After playing for more than ten minutes, Jinguji Budou's breakthrough speed was still quite fast, but Shigong Tianye, who was facing him, was not in a hurry and quickly chased after him after a moment of hesitation.
After advancing a short distance, Jinguji Takeshi changed direction decisively. What made everyone feel incredible was that Jinguji Takeshi's change of direction did not pause at all, and his speed did not slow down at all.
On the contrary, the defender, Shigong Tianye, had no way to do this. The defender was in a crab step and was in a backward state when defending. It was impossible for him to move at high speed without slowing down.
Even if two people have exactly the same physical fitness, the one who is attacking and the other defending will have a greater advantage.
And Jinguji Budo knows how to take advantage of this.
Jinguji Budo's sudden change of form allowed him to successfully distance himself from Shinomiya Tano, and this slight distance was enough for him to make some changes in rhythm.
When Shigong Tianye followed up again, Jinguji Budou suddenly took a step back and bowed. Jinguji Budou finally succeeded in deceiving Shigong Tianye, and then broke into the inside line directly.
The breakthrough of Jinguji Budo instantly attracted the attention of Uozumi Jun and Hanagata Toru. Almost at the same time, the two gave up their respective team members and rushed towards Budo. At the same time, hurried footsteps were heard behind Budo.
The group of Sigong Tianye, who was tricked by him a second ago, was actually already chasing after him. This terrifying ability to convert movement and stillness also made the martial arts boy Kong shrink.
"It's like a dog-skin plaster, it sticks so tightly! Asshole."
Wudao couldn't help but curse in his heart. Seeing that a triple-team was about to form, he decisively gave up on forcing the basket and passed the ball to the side.
"The ball was passed! Was it Akagi?"
When Yuzumi Jun saw Wudao pass the ball, he subconsciously looked in the direction of Wudao's pass. He thought that the target of Wudao's pass was Akagi Takenori, but when he glanced over, he found that a red-haired boy caught the basketball while moving.
With the ball, Sakuragi Hanamichi took only one step, went directly to the basket, and suddenly attacked the basket.
Hanagata Toru turned around and wanted to provide backup defense, but his speed was not as fast as Sakuragi Hanamichi who was well prepared. Before he could jump up completely, Sakuragi Hanamichi's flying body hit him hard.
And there was also a muffled "bang" sound from the top of Hua Xingtou's head.
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