At the end of the first half, Jinguji Budou shot a three-pointer against Maki Shinichi and successfully hit the buzzer beater.
The score between Xiangbei High School and Hainan team was temporarily fixed at 47:35. Xiangbei High School took the initiative in this game with a 12-point lead.
"Wow! Jinguji Budo is so strong! In less than two minutes, he made two consecutive three-pointers over Maki Shinichi's head, one of which was a difficult mid-range shot."
"That's already 8 points. This scoring ability is really strong!"
"It's really enviable! I wish I could play like him."
"Did you see that pull-up jump shot? It was so clean, so cool, so unrestrained, so strong!"
Hikoichi Aida in the stands glanced down at the notebook in his hand, then sighed as he watched Jinguji Budou leave the field.
Bench players like him who can't even play are very envious of ace players like Jinguji Budou who can perform amazingly in big competitions. Although Jinguji Budou is not a player of their Ryonan High School, this does not prevent Aida Hikoichi from envying and admiring players of Jinguji Budou's level.
"Two minutes and eight points..."
"How should I put it... Jinguji's martial arts are very strong, but that's also to be expected."
Coach Tanaoka looked at the scores of the two teams on the scoreboard and a smile appeared on his face. He had already expected that Hainan would not be able to stop Jinguji Budo.
"Hikoichi, don't envy people like Jinguji Budou, and don't even think about imitating them."
"Every player has different physical conditions, suitable directions and tasks on the court."
"The physical condition of Jinguji Budo is undoubtedly the absolute core of the offense."
"Indeed... If you can play like him, you will definitely attract a lot of attention, but if you blindly imitate him, you will only lose the capital to stand on the court!"
Coach Tiangang could sense the yearning in Aida Hikoichi's heart, but he did not hesitate to strike back. Turning back, Coach Tiangang looked at the expressions of the other players and continued:
"Jinguji Budo has a unique physical condition. He is over two meters tall, but his speed is not inferior to any guard."
"He has a soft touch and strong shooting ability. Although he is not as strong as a player like Tian Ye who is also very talented, he is not inferior to most inside players."
"This physical condition gives him the capital to be so arrogant. If it were another player, his shooting would definitely not be as threatening as it is now."
At this point, Coach Tanaka's face darkened.
"His playing style is something that none of you can replicate."
"Absolutely! Don't even think about imitating Jinguji Budo's basketball skills!"
Coach Tanaoka said this to the Ryonan players to give them a heads-up. He was afraid that some ignorant players would imitate Jinguji Budo after watching the game.
Let's not talk about how much powerful offensive ability can be learned. If the "wave shot" of Jinguji Budo is learned 100%, then the player will be useless. While speaking, Coach Tanaoka stared at Fukuda Yoshitaka, as if he was speaking specifically for this guy.
"Coach, you're overthinking it."
"How can I possibly go back and imitate Jinguji's martial arts?"
"I know my qualifications. I want to be a player like Ryouta Miyagi, the defender who supports the whole team and the unsung hero behind the victory!"
Hikoichi Aida listened carefully to the advice of Coach Tanaoka and expressed his ambitions. However, Hikoichi Aida changed the subject and looked towards the rest area of Hainan.
"But... even a top point guard like Maki Shinichi can't stop Jinguji Budou's attack!"
"Coach, why is the gap so big? Jinguji Budo... is there really no way to resist? If we can't resist, what will we do when Ryonan faces Shohoku?"
Aida Hikoichi frowned, as if he was simulating the match between Shohoku High School and Ryonan. Although Ryonan and Shohoku had played practice matches before, practice matches were just practice matches after all, and they were only for reference. Moreover, it was still unknown how much strength Jinguji Budo had shown in that practice match.
Upon hearing this, Coach Tiangang frowned slightly, took a deep look at Shigong Tianye beside him, shook his head, and said in a rather helpless voice:
"If we look at the whole country, no one can say they can defend against Jinguji Budo in a one-on-one situation."
"It's really hard to defend against a player with that height who wants to pull up."
When Coach Tanaoka said this, he couldn't help but observe Shimono's expression. Seeing that the latter didn't show any expression on his face, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Emm... There really is no way to defend alone."
"We can only pray that his shooting touch is not good and he misses the shot."
At this moment, Shinomiya Tano smiled, took over the conversation and started joking.
"When defending alone, I can only create some physical confrontation as much as possible and try to affect his touch."
"More physical confrontations, more double-teams. If his rhythm is affected, his shooting percentage will naturally drop."
"If he tries to break into the inside, then there's an opportunity for defense!"
"No matter how strong Jinguji Budo is, he is still just one person. Maybe he can score 40+, 50+ or even 60+, but so what? Xiangbei will still lose."
"Even though the Bulls have the God of Basketball, they still can't necessarily win every game."
Shinomiya Tano did not get angry because of Coach Tanoka's comment that he could not defend Jinguji Budou alone. On the contrary, he admitted it directly and generously. At the same time, he also conveyed his defensive ideas to the players.
"Yes! No matter how strong Jinguji Budo is, he is just one person."
"As long as we Ryonan plays at our own pace, Shohoku will not be our opponent!"
"Hahaha, yes, yes, Jinguji Budo's offensive threat is indeed great, but if the intensity of the confrontation increases, he may not be able to maintain such a high offensive efficiency."
The players of Ryonan felt relieved when they heard what Shigong Tianye said. As a team that had defeated Xiangbei and won the national championship, Ryonan High School was qualified to say this.
"Well, what Tian Ye said is absolutely right."
"The same is true for this match. Now it depends on whether Hainan can maintain his offensive rhythm under the violent attack of Jinguji Budo."
"Shohoku is different from us, Ryonan. I'm afraid they won't be able to suppress that freshman from Kainan."
"The variables of the game will depend on the inside players of the two teams!"
While Coach Tiangang was speaking, the players from both teams had already left the field.
Many spectators in the stands also left the stadium, taking advantage of the halftime break to go to the bathroom, eat something, and rest. After all, even sitting on the sidelines and cheering requires a lot of energy.
...
"I'm fine. The conference doctor has checked me out. It's just a sprain. No bones are broken. I just need to rest for a while."
"Mitsui, how did the martial arts competition go?!"
In the rest area of Xiangbei, the Xiangbei players who had left the field gathered around Akagi, concerned about his injury. Akagi sat on the bench with his injured left foot flat on the bench. The redness and swelling at the ankle made the onlookers Sakuragi and Kiyota exclaim.
"Oh my, it's really swollen! Is it congested?" As Sakuragi Hanamichi spoke, he tried to poke the bulge on Akagi's ankle, but Mitsui Hisashi grabbed him by the collar with his quick eyes and hands.
"With us here, there will be no problem with the competition!"
"47:35, the score difference widened to 12 points."
"If you leave, we will be better at fighting Xiangbei!"
"You don't have to worry about the game. Take good care of your injury and make sure you catch up with the game against Ryonan!"
Mitsui lowered his eyebrows and glared at Sakuragi, making the latter calm down a little. Then he spoke to Akagi with some sarcasm in his words.
"Humph!" Akagi snorted. When he heard that the team was leading by 12 points, a smile appeared on his face, and his mental state improved a lot:
"You should play well in the game. Don't cling to martial arts and help share the pressure!"
Although Akagi didn't watch the game, he could instantly guess what happened on the court when he heard the score difference. When he left the court, Xiangbei only had 37 points. Including his layup, it was only 39 points. In just over a minute, 8 points were added. There was no doubt that Jinguji Budo must have made a move.
It's not that he underestimates Mitsui Hisashi, but in today's Shohoku, Jinguji Budo has an absolute offensive position.
“I just want to save some energy and let the first and second year players express themselves.”
Mitsui Shou curled his lips, knowing that Akagi was fine, and relaxed a lot. He left a word, went to his closet, found a new sweat towel, and wiped the sweat off his body.
"Okay, don't gather here, just do what you need to do."
"The players who played in the game should take a good rest, and the rest of the players should also make adjustments."
"Ryukawa Kaede, do some warm-up exercises before the second half of the game and get ready to play."
"Mitsui, you will take a rest in the second half of the game."
Just as the Xiangbei players were gathered around Akagi and chatting, Coach Anzai pushed open the door and walked in, clapped his hands, and announced.
"Ryukawa Kaede, you have to do your best when the time comes!"
Although Mitsui was a little surprised to learn that he was taking a rest, he still smiled and nodded, said a word of encouragement to Rukawa, and simply took off his jersey, wiped the sweat off his body, and put on a clean white T-shirt.
When Sakuragi Hanamichi heard that Rukawa Kaede was coming on as a substitute in the second half, he immediately focused his attention on Rukawa Kaede, curled his lips in dissatisfaction, and thought to himself:
"This damn stinky fox is actually able to play!"
"I absolutely cannot let this guy steal the spotlight!"
"This genius has already scored 13 points in the first half. Even if that idiot Rukawa Kaede can play later, he won't be able to score more points than this genius!"
“Hehe… hehe… hahahaha!”
Sakuragi Hanamichi's little brain turned, and his unhappy face instantly turned into a satisfied smile. Wudao wiped his sweat, noticed Sakuragi Hanamichi's meaningless smile, and greeted him in his head.
Sometimes, he really couldn't grasp Sakuragi's thoughts.
...
Unlike the cheerful and relaxed atmosphere in the Xiangbei rest area, the Hainan lounge was depressing at this time.
After returning to the lounge, Maki Shinichi sat on the bench, with a towel covering his head, hiding his facial expression. His upper body was naked, and beads of sweat kept oozing out of his skin pores, gathering into beads and flowing into columns. His whole body exuded a heavy sense of oppression, making some of the new freshmen in the team cautious and dare not make any loud noises.
The last few goals scored by Jinguji Budou completely shattered Maki Shinichi's original expectations for this game. In the first half of the game, he always felt that Hainan had restricted Jinguji Budou very well, and the opponent's score was even within 10 points at one point.
But those last two minutes finally woke up Shinichi Maki.
It turned out that it was not Hainan that had ever restricted Jinguji Martial Arts, but that Jinguji Martial Arts had not launched an all-out attack.
Different from Maki Shinichi's gloomy tone, Mori Shigehiro was wiping the sweat off his body calmly. He didn't think about the game at all and didn't care about the score difference between the two teams.
Not long after, Coach Gaotou pushed the door open and broke the depressing atmosphere in the Hainan lounge.
Coach Gaotou scanned the entire rest area, carefully observed the expressions of all the players, and finally, turned his gaze to Maki Shinichi.
"I can't believe that even Amu has become depressed!"
"That's right. After all, Amu is only 17 years old."
"It's normal to feel emotional when facing a player of Jinguji Budou's strength, but right now... it's far from the time to be depressed!"
Coach Gaotou saw Maki Shinichi's condition and thought to himself. Then, he clapped his hands vigorously, attracting the attention of all the Hainan players. Even Maki Shinichi looked up at Coach Gaotou, with a little confusion in his eyes.
"really!"
Coach Gaotou noticed Maki Shinichi's expression, his heart sank, he quickly walked up to Maki Shinichi, slapped him hard on the shoulder, and suddenly laughed:
"Hahaha!"
"Very good! Amu, you defended very well in the first half! Jinguji Budo's personal score was less than 20 points!"
"This is all thanks to you!"
“Keep up the good work in the second half!”
Shinichi Maki was confused by Coach Takato's sudden praise.
Is the coach stupid? Can't he see that Jinguji Budo is impossible to defend? Maki Shinichi was about to speak, but the coach Takato interrupted him:
"You guys performed very well in the first half. Although the score difference was 12 points, our Hainan's overall offensive rhythm was still very beautiful!"
"In the second half, keep this offensive rhythm, centering around A-Kuang, A-Shen, and A-Mu, and continue to attack."
"Give Ah Shen more chances to shoot. It doesn't matter even if he is not in an open position. You have to believe in Ah Shen's strength!"
"Xiao Guan, you take a rest in the second half. Muto, you come on the bench and defend Miyagi Ryouta."
"Pay attention, just keep up with the opponent's position, beware of his breakthrough, don't worry about his shooting! You have plenty of energy, wear him down."
Having said that, Coach Gaotou put his arm around Maki Shinichi's shoulders and continued to speak to the players:
"Don't worry about who's attacking in Xiangbei, and don't worry about whether Jinguji Budo scored 20 points or 40 points!"
"In the second half, all you have to do is guard every ball!"
"All you have to do is play every ball well!"
"Yes! Three points is one point more than two points!"
"But so what?!"
"No team, no player, can win a game simply by relying on three-pointers!"
"Cheer up! Victory will eventually belong to us, Hainan!"
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