"Empty seat?!"
"Why didn't I see it!"
As Shinomiya spoke, he rushed to the side of Miyagi Ryouta, jumped up, and snatched the ball from the air.
After successfully blocking Miyagi Ryouta's mid-range shot, Miyagi Ryouta was shocked when he saw Shinomiya Noda catching the ball in front of him. He obviously didn't expect Shinomiya Noda to come to him so quickly and grab the basketball that had already risen for some distance.
This level of athleticism and bounce was something Miyagi Ryouta had not expected. It was also the first time for him to face Shinomiya Tano's defense on the offensive end. Miyagi Ryouta had never experienced such a terrifying feeling of oppression before.
In the normal team practice matches of Xiangbei, his opponents have always been at the level of Yasuharu Yasuda. After Nobunaga Kiyota entered Xiangbei High School, most of his opponents were Kiyota.
Even in competitions, the opponents he met were of the same level as Fujima.
But Shinomiya Tano... .
"Do you think it's so easy to score against our Ryonan High School?!"
"You underestimate me too much!"
Shinomiya Tano glanced at Miyagi Ryouta and didn't take Miyagi seriously at all. He turned around and said to Jinguji Budo.
"Return to defense."
Seeing this, Wudao ignored Shigong Tianye, reminded Miyagi Ryouta, and quickly turned back. After Wudao left, Miyagi Ryouta still stood there in a daze and did not return to the field immediately.
The continuous setbacks on both offense and defense made Miyagi Ryouta not know what to do now.
Although it was only a round of confrontation, Miyagi Ryouta was clear about one thing: in front of Shinomiya Tano, he would not have any chance of winning at all.
The defense was unsuccessful and the offense was ineffective. Miyagi Ryouta suddenly felt that he was a little redundant on the court.
"What can I... do?!"
While Miyagi Ryouta hesitated, the Ryonan players would not give up this opportunity of 5 vs. 4.
The basketball was quickly passed from Shimono's hands, and after several passes, it successfully entered the frontcourt and landed in Sendoh's hands.
The one defending Sendoh was Rukawa Kaede, and without Miyagi Ryouta's defense, Fujima Kenji was already in an open position. Just as Budou was about to fill Fujima's position, Shinomiya Tano moved his feet and tried to cut into the inside.
Helplessly, Wudao had to give up defending Fujima and chose to follow up with Shinomiya Tano.
Just when Wudao's defense was tied down, Sendoh attacked Rukawa alone, but passed the ball back to Fujima while moving. Fujima, who was holding the ball outside the three-point line, shot the ball directly into the basket.
A beautiful three-pointer added three more points to the scoreboard of Ryonan High School.
It was not until Ryonan High School scored a goal that Miyagi Ryouta, who was in the backcourt of Ryonan, slowly raised his head and looked at the basket on the Shohoku side in confusion. He now felt weak all over and couldn't muster even a little strength, even though he had only played for a few minutes of the game.
"Basketball... A short guy like me would only be a burden to the team."
"Instead of staying on the field, it is better to..."
While thinking, Miyagi Ryouta took a step and actually walked off the court. This sudden scene made all the players on the court look towards Miyagi. At the same time, Coach Anxi slowly stood up from his seat and went to the referee's seat to call a timeout.
The ball was stopped.
The players from Xiangbei and Ryonan returned to the rest area at the referee's whistle.
"Hey! Miyagi, what are you doing?!"
"This isn't like you! What are you fighting about?!"
Seeing Miyagi Ryouta returning to the rest area, the furious Mitsui Hisashi grabbed Miyagi Ryouta's collar and yelled.
Facing the furious Mitsui Hisashi, what responded to him was Miyagi Ryouta's deathly pale face.
"I don't want to fight anymore."
"Let Coach Anxi make a substitution."
"Basketball, what's so good about it?!"
Miyagi Ryouta stretched out his hand to open Mitsui's hand, and said in a dull tone. At this moment, his mind flashed back to his previous training, and when he thought about how his attack was easily blocked by Shigong Tianye, he felt that all his previous efforts were like a joke.
"After all, it's just a community movement."
"I thought too highly of myself. From the beginning to the end, I was just a talentless... short guy."
"Isn't it better to let people with talent play this kind of sport?"
Miyagi Ryouta sat down on the bench, looked up at the ceiling, covered his face with a sweat towel, and tears flowed from Miyagi Ryouta's eyes.
Miyagi Ryouta has been under tremendous pressure in Shohoku High School. It has never been easy to keep up with Jinguji Budo and Mitsui Shou. Since entering Shohoku in the first year of high school, Miyagi Ryouta has lost himself.
Although he is the starter of Xiangbei, on the court, Miyagi Ryouta's role is simply to bring the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Then, he passes the ball to Jinguji Budou or Mitsui Shou.
As for other functions, it is to follow the team and do shuttle runs.
Did Miyagi Ryouta come to Shohoku to follow the team's return run? Never... .
But whenever Miyagi Ryouta wanted to prove his worth through hard work, the blow would come as expected.
This year, the addition of freshmen has put more pressure on Miyagi Ryouta, including Rukawa, who has superb skills and is comprehensive; Sakuragi Hanamichi, who has great talent even though he has only been playing for a short time; Nango Koichiro, who is tall and strong; Katsume Ichiro, who has excellent shooting; and Kiyota, who is only 178cm tall but can dunk.
In such a talented team like Xiangbei, Miyagi Ryouta is still the starting player in the Xiangbei back line, which makes Miyagi feel fortunate but also pressured.
Why would someone like him be the starting point guard? Miyagi asked himself countless times, and the final answer was only endless effort.
However, his efforts did not pay off in the game.
That poor performance had already made Miyagi lose the confidence to continue standing on the court.
"That's enough... I don't want to play basketball like this anymore!"
The depression in Miyagi Ryouta's heart finally burst out at once.
He was tired of himself accomplishing nothing and tired of his basketball career that had no future.
He couldn't see his future, and he couldn't even picture himself on the court in his mind. He didn't know what he should or could do on the court.
If that's the case... then just don't continue!
Under the sweat towel, Gongcheng Liangtian burst into tears. He hated his fragility, his lack of talent, and his inability to accomplish anything.
But at this moment, whether it was Mitsui Hisashi, Rukawa Kaede, or Sakuragi Hanamichi, they had no way of understanding how Miyagi Ryouta was feeling at this moment, and had no way of understanding why Miyagi Ryouta collapsed after just a few minutes of fighting.
Several people looked at each other, their eyes focused on Coach Anxi.
And after staring at Miyagi for a long time, Jinguji Takeshi also lowered his eyelids slightly.
Jinguji Budou could understand Miyagi Ryouta's feelings. He also had a deep understanding of the feeling of being a marginalized person at one time or another.
But unfortunately, Jinguji Budou has always focused on himself. At most, he cares a little about Mitsui, Sakuragi, and Rukawa. If Miyagi hadn't exploded today, Budou wouldn't know that the pressure he was under had reached a critical point.
He had already noticed some signs on the court just now and made some changes, but the result was... .
"Katsumi Ichiro, you should play in the game instead of Miyagi."
"Pass the ball more, run more into open space, shoot when you have the chance, don't hesitate."
Coach Anzai just glanced at Miyagi and made arrangements. He did not send Mitsui Hisashi or Kiyota, but instead sent Katsume Ichiro on the field.
"Okay, coach."
Katsume Ichiro, whose name was called by Coach Anzai, smiled, nodded calmly, quickly took off his coat, and stood next to Jinguji Budou. When he glanced at Miyagi Ryouta out of the corner of his eyes, he revealed a hint of disdain.
"Weak... too weak, Senior!"
After Coach Anzai made the substitution, he hooked his finger at Takeshi, and when Takeshi leaned over to whisper, Coach Anzai said in Jinguji Takeshi's ear:
"Budo, I have always believed in your ability."
"From the beginning, I have never corrected your playing style. After all, you do have unparalleled talent and almost unstoppable scoring ability."
"To be honest, you have already surpassed me when I was a player. I am a little afraid to teach you."
"I'm afraid that it will hinder your growth."
"I always knew you could go further, and your basketball journey would be more brutal. You wouldn't have time to wait for others to catch up with you."
"So, you just play the way you want to play. You don't have to make changes just for others."
Coach Anxi said, patted Wudao's shoulder, and then sat back in the rest area.
When Takeshi Jinguji heard what Coach Anzai said, he took a deep look at Miyagi Ryouta who was lying on the bench and nodded slightly. Then, at the referee's whistle, Takeshi Jinguji walked into the court with his teammates.
Coach Anzai looked at Jinguji Budo walking into the stadium, and suddenly he saw the figure of Tanizawa.
"The team doesn't exist just for you! It exists for you!"
"Basketball is never a one-person sport!"
Coach Anzai vaguely remembered the words he said when he taught Tanizawa a lesson. Now, seeing that Jinguji Budo's strength and talent far exceeded Tanizawa's, Coach Anzai no longer said those words.
"Selfish... Then be a little selfish..."
"If you want to gain a foothold in the basketball environment outside, how can you gain a foothold if you are not selfish?"
"Budo, let me see what kind of player you have become since you came back from the United States!"
Coach Anxi thought about it, turned his head to look at Miyagi Ryouta, and sighed softly.
Jinguji Budo no longer needs teammates of this caliber...
On the court, the players from Xiangbei and Ryonan returned to the court. Katsume Ichiro looked at the people from Ryonan, trying to suppress his excitement, walked to Budo's side, and asked:
"Jinguji-senpai, how do we fight?"
In response to Katsumi Ichiro's question, Wudao thought for a moment and then replied, "Just follow my pace, try to get into position, and seize every opportunity."
"Just give me the ball when you get to the frontcourt with the ball, and try to get to the open space."
After getting a clear reply from Wudao, Katsume Ichiro nodded heavily and then quickly went to the baseline. Sakuragi Hanamichi was also standing outside the baseline at this time and passed the ball to Katsume Ichiro, who organized the attack.
"Is that weak-looking boy a first-year student at Xiangbei?!"
“I’ve never seen it before!”
In the stands, the audience started talking when they saw Katsume Ichiro appear on the stage.
In the backcourt of Ryonan, Shinomiya Tianye saw Katsume Ichiro coming on the court and smiled and reminded Fujima: "Hey, Fujima, this kid has a three-pointer, don't run too far when defending!"
Fujima just smiled when he heard that and didn't care.
As Shohoku High School entered the frontcourt, Fujima quickly ran towards Katsume Ichiro.
"Odo~"
"So dangerous, so dangerous."
Facing the rapidly pressing Fujima, Katsume Ichiro passed the ball early. For Katsume, who is 185cm tall, it was not very difficult to pass the ball in front of Fujima.
The basketball passed into the hands of Jinguji Budou. Katsume Ichiro, who had just passed the ball, immediately wandered to the top of the arc. Facing Fujima's defense, he began to run quickly with all his might in an attempt to shake off his opponent.
Jinguji Budou, who was playing the ball, faked the ball with both hands and then quickly dropped the ball, accelerating forward. Under the blockade of Shigong Tianye, Jinguji Budou made continuous breakthroughs in disguise, and the extremely fast rhythm of disguise kept mobilizing Shigong Tianye's defensive position.
At the same time, Wu Dao also crossed the three-point line in a series of disguised breakthroughs.
The distance is right.
During one of his breakthroughs, Takeshi Jinguji turned sideways and bumped into Shinomiya Tano. Despite the huge recoil, Takeshi Jinguji maintained a good shape. He turned his back to the basket, put the ball together with both hands and swung his shoulders, while mobilizing Shinomiya Tano's defense, he instantly turned around and faced the basket for a fake shot, successfully fooling Shinomiya Tano, and then leaned back to shoot on the spot.
The basketball was shot and hit the backboard directly, bouncing into the basket.
A beautiful one-man attack made the entire stadium cheer.
"Huh~ Jinguji-senpai is really strong!"
"He scored the goal with ease, haha."
When Katsume Ichiro saw Takeshi score a goal, he smiled and praised him, then followed Takeshi Jinguji's back and ran towards the backcourt.
After scoring the goal, Takeshi Jinguji remained silent, without much expression on his face. For him, scoring a goal over Shinomiya Tano's head was already a common thing.
Between offense and defense, it was time to test Katsume Ichiro's defensive ability.
As Fujima dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, Katsume Ichiro's defense immediately arrived in front of Fujima.
Under the defensive pressure of Ichiro Katsume, Fujima kept changing his dribbling methods to prevent the basketball from being stolen by the opponent.
Not to mention, although Katsume Ichiro is only a freshman, the defensive pressure that this 185cm tall guy brings to Fujima is much greater than that of Miyagi Ryouta.
He is taller than Fujima, has longer arms, and his speed and reaction are also remarkable. In terms of strength, he is even stronger than Fujima. It is not so easy for Fujima to play under the defense of Katsume Ichiro.
It was difficult to attack alone, so Fujima chose to call for a pick-and-roll.
With the arrival of Sendoh's pick-and-roll, Fujima passed the ball to Sendoh. Faced with this situation, Katsume Ichiro and Rukawa Kaede tacitly chose to switch defense.
When Sendoh received the basketball hand-to-hand and attacked, he was directly blocked by Katsume Ichiro. Under Sendoh's strong pressure, although the opponent was unable to cope with the ball, he did not completely lose his position.
Afterwards, Sendoh made a quick stop and jump shot from mid-range. Although Katsume Ichiro couldn't block Sendoh, he still provided enough interference.
Sendo's throw of the basketball was inaccurate, hit the edge of the rim, and bounced out of the basket.
The rebound was caught by Sakuragi Hanamichi.
“Wow!”
"Good defense, that first-year boy!"
"Successfully interfered with the immortal projection!"
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