"Kume, don't be anxious. When you advance with the ball, pay attention to the other players of Ryonan and pass the ball as soon as possible before the double-team comes."
"Ryukawa and I will be by your side as you advance. Pay attention to our positions."
"Play slowly, it's normal to make some mistakes."
As Sendoh Akira scored on a fast break, the offense and defense of Shohoku and Ryonan began to lose balance. At this time, Jinguji Budo also realized the problem of Katsumi Ichiro.
In fact, Ichiro Katsume's dribbling ability is quite good. Generally speaking, even if he is forced to stop the ball when facing a double-team, it will not be so easy for the opponent to steal the ball.
But Ryonan High School was not an ordinary opponent after all. Fujima Kenji and Sendoh Akira, who were wearing the jacket for Katsumeichiro, were top players even on the national stage. First-year Katsumeichiro was still too young to face these two.
After entering Shohoku, Jinguji Takeshi was already familiar with the presence of Miyagi Ryouta in the back line. Although the 168cm Miyagi Ryouta has difficulty making any achievements on the defensive end and can only play a limited role on the offensive end, in some ways, Miyagi Ryouta is definitely a qualified point guard.
Being able to bring the ball safely to the frontcourt and deliver it steadily to the hands of the ace is actually something that many guards cannot do. The higher the level of the game, the more important the role of the point guard.
I'm afraid the Chinese team before 2010 has the most say in this regard.
Takeshi Jinguji, who had long been accustomed to Miyagi dribbling the ball into the frontcourt, did not think of providing support after Katsume Ichiro came on the field. This was a mistake on Takeshi Jinguji's part.
"Yes, Jinguji-senpai!"
Ichiro Katsume received the ball in the backcourt, nodded to Budo, and then began to dribble forward. Having suffered a loss once, Xiangbei High School quickly adjusted its strategy. Budo and Rukawa protected Ichiro Katsume on both sides when he dribble forward, with a distance of several meters between them. If Ichiro Katsume was double-teamed again, Budo and Rukawa would be the most suitable points for him to pass the ball.
"Wow! Shohoku reacts quickly!"
"These kids were able to make adjustments immediately even without the coach's reminder, which is really great."
"It seems that the method of double-teaming the guard is not going to work for the time being."
"But it doesn't matter. If Jinguji Budou wants to support his teammates in advancing with the ball, Xiangbei's rhythm will inevitably slow down."
"Position warfare... We at Ryonan High School will not lose to anyone!"
Off the court, when Coach Tiangang saw Xiangbei High School change its formation, he immediately realized that his goal would not be achieved. However, Coach Tiangang was still very satisfied with the current results. Xiangbei's offensive rhythm became slow, which was definitely good news for Ryonan!
A few seconds later, with the support of Jinguji Takeshi and Rukawa Kaede, Ichiro Katsumi successfully dribbled the ball into the front court. At Takeshi's instruction, Ichiro Katsumi passed the ball to Rukawa Kaede who had just run to the corner. Takeshi himself started quickly and moved towards the inside.
In the previous few rounds of offense, Wu Dao realized that if he continued to receive the ball and attack outside the three-point line, the offensive efficiency would be greatly reduced. In order to prevent the score from being widened by the opponent, it was very important to ensure continuous firepower.
What Wu Dao is best at is actually mid-range catching and attacking. In this position, his personal ability can be fully utilized. In this position, he can fake, fake, and shoot when advancing, and he can also pull out to the three-point line to shoot three-pointers when retreating.
Playing like this will definitely tear apart Ryonan's defense and give other players good open opportunities.
Jinguji Budou's off-ball running immediately attracted the attention of Shinomiya Tano. While following Jinguji Budou's running, he glanced at Rukawa Kaede who received the ball outside the three-point line, paying close attention to the opponent's movements.
At this time, Katsume Ichiro, who had just passed the ball, quickly ran towards Rukawa and made a pick-and-roll for him. After the pick-and-roll, Rukawa made a fake breakthrough in the direction of the pick-and-roll. The next second, Rukawa broke through in the opposite direction.
With this move, he successfully deceived Sendoh, making him think that Rukawa would advance in the direction of the pick-and-roll. When Sendoh turned around to chase, Rukawa had already successfully opened up a distance of one body length from Sendoh and quickly broke through to the inside.
Shigong Tianye, who was chasing Wudao, was just in the path of Rukawa Kaede when he broke through. He hesitated for a moment and slowed down his pace. Jinguji Wudao had already passed through the basket from the right corner of the court and arrived at the bottom corner of the left side of the court.
Rukawa Kaede looked at Shinomiya Tano in front of him, his expression condensed, his eyes became fiery, he immediately held the ball and jumped up.
Shinomiya Tano clearly saw Rukawa's expression. Seeing that the other party actually wanted to shoot in front of him, he immediately raised his eyebrows, stood firmly, stared at the basketball in Rukawa's hands, and prepared to jump up to block the shot.
However, the next second, Rukawa, who was looking at the basket, suddenly pushed the ball towards the bottom corner and passed it.
"Um?!"
Sendoh, who was following Rukawa, was stunned. He looked in the direction of the ball and saw that Takeshi Jinguji was already ready to receive the ball. The next second, the basketball was in his hand and Takeshi Jinguji raised his hand.
At this moment, a blue figure flashed before Sendoh's eyes and rushed towards Jinguji Takeshi. At the moment when Takeshi raised the ball over his head, a big hand jumped high and directly blocked all the shooting routes in front of Takeshi.
"Shinomiya Tano!"
"Sure enough, your athletic ability has really caught up!"
Wu Dao held the ball, looked at Shimoya Noboru who jumped high in front of him, suddenly collected the ball, stepped sideways, easily avoided the opponent's block, and made a direct three-pointer.
The basketball flew directly past Shinomiya Tano's side and headed towards the basket. The next second, a crisp sound of the net hit Shinomiya Tano's ears.
Jinguji Budo maintained his shooting posture, turned his head to glance at Shinomiya Tano who fell back to the ground, and quickly turned around to defend.
“Huh~”
"Sorry, Tian Ye, I missed someone."
Just as Shigong Tianye was watching Jinguji Budou leaving, Sendoh came up behind Shigong Tianye with a smile on his face and said, "Although he said sorry, there was no sign of apology in Sendoh's expression."
"No... ."
"I overestimated that first-year student."
"I thought he would choose to challenge me!"
Shinomiya Tano recalled the expression he had just seen on Rukawa Kaede's face and shook his head with a smile.
That kind of fighting spirit cannot be faked, but Rukawa Kaede restrained the idea of challenging the opponent and chose a more reasonable way of playing.
The game became more and more intense as Shohoku High School and Ryonan High School switched between offense and defense.
Since Jinguji Budou did not continue to receive the ball outside the three-point line, Rukawa Kaede became the first passing choice for Katsume Ichiro after he brought the ball into the frontcourt.
The task of organizing the attack fell on Rukawa Kaede.
Carrying such a huge pressure, the freshman Rukawa performed well. In the matchup with Sendoh, Rukawa was only slightly inferior, and the difference was only in physical fitness. In terms of organizational ability and single-player offense, Rukawa was not afraid of Sendoh at all.
Jinguji Budou, who played without the ball, would receive the ball in the mid-range most of the time. His gorgeous mid-to-low-post footwork made Budou's shots smoother and smoother. The cold arrows from time to time outside the three-point line also made Shigong Tianye always easy to be fooled when defending.
Facing a formidable offensive player like Jinguji Budou who has strong shooting ability, even though Shigong Tianye's physical fitness is better, he has no good way to deal with Budou for a while. All he can do is use his unique skill - blindfold defense when Jinguji Budou shoots.
After only a dozen minutes of play, Shinomiya Tano's blindfolding defense had little effect.
Although Sigong Tianye had never counted the hit rate of martial arts, the crisp sound of the net had already made Sigong Tianye a little annoyed.
Compared to the individual performances of Xiangbei, Ryonan's offense is very systematic and methodical. Hanagata's high pick-and-roll makes it easy for Shinomiya Tano, Sendoh, and Fujima to play on the offensive end. Sometimes Sakuragi will follow the ball handler to give Hanagata a chance to shoot in the open space.
In addition to Yuzumi, the four players of Ryonan performed well in multiple areas, making it difficult for Shohoku High School to cope.
17 minutes and 40 seconds into the first half, the score between the two teams was 47:44. Xiangbei High School was close in the score, only 3 points behind Ryonan, and the ball was still in the hands of Xiangbei High School.
On the court, Jinguji Budou received the ball from the right mid-range with his back to the basket, and there were still 16 seconds left for Xiangbei's attack. Ryonan did not dare to double-team Jinguji Budou, and adopted man-to-man defense, staring at every player of Xiangbei.
At this moment, all the audience in the stands held their breath and focused their eyes on Jinguji Takeshi.
"Snap!" In the middle of the court, Jinguji Takeshi dropped the ball and leaned his body behind him, testing the defensive position of Shigong Tianye. On the defensive side, Shigong Tianye was slightly calming down, with his left hand on Takeshi's back and his right hand slightly raised, ready to follow up and block the shot at any time.
In the previous confrontation, Jinguji Budo's sudden turn and backward after the back-to-back attack had left a deep impression on him.
The force from his arm was removed, and Shinomiya Tano's expression froze slightly. The next second, Jinguji Budo, who was carrying the basket, suddenly turned around, and Shinomiya Tano followed up without hesitation, and intercepted the basketball with his right hand.
But at the moment when Shigong Tianye moved his body, Jinguji Budou actually turned around and dribbled the ball between his legs. The basketball landed not in front of him, but at his feet. At this time, Shigong Tianye's body had already chased out, and there was a half body length between the two.
In this gap, Shigong Tianye already knew what the other party was going to do, but all he could do at this moment was to stretch out his hand and symbolically block Wudao's sight.
Sure enough, Jinguji Takeshi turned around and pulled back, then leaned back and attacked.
After a cool fadeaway jump shot, Shimoya turned his head and looked at the basket, ready to face the net god who had already been tired of hearing about it.
“Ding~”
However, the ball thrown by Jinguji Budo hit the edge of the basket and flew out. Shigong Tianye was slightly startled, then quickly reacted and rushed to the basket.
Yuzumi, who was under the basket, just jumped up and was about to grab the ball, but a blue shadow suddenly rose into the air behind him, reached out from behind him and snatched the ball from over Akagi's head.
“Fight back!
!
”
After grabbing the rebound, Shimonoseki shouted excitedly, and then threw the ball directly to the front court, where Fujima and Sendoh had quickly approached the center line and rushed towards the Shohoku half.
After passing the ball, Shinomiya Tano had no intention of participating in the fast break. He turned his head to look at Jinguji Budou who was not far away. Seeing the fatigue in the other's eyes, he was delighted.
"A ball like this didn't go in!"
"Haha, it's been eighteen minutes, it's time to take a break."
"But we still can't let our guard down. This guy is probably just distracted due to physical exhaustion. He still poses a great threat on the offensive end."
Shigong Tianye said in his heart and looked towards the front.
The fast break of Ryonan High School was finally ended by Sendoh's dunk.
Between offense and defense, the basketball once again came into the hands of Jinguji Budou, and this time, Budou received the ball near the three-point line.
After a fake shot, Jinguji Budou quickly stepped forward and broke through. At the moment when Shigong Tianye followed up, he advanced in disguise, and then took a step back jump shot. Jinguji Budou's series of breakthrough actions still successfully created a gap for himself to shoot.
Two points longer.
“Ding~”
Just as the audience was about to cheer for Jinguji Takeshi's goal, the basketball actually hit the rim and made a crisp sound of hitting the iron.
After missing two consecutive shots, Jinguji Budou turned into a blacksmith and worked frantically.
However, this time, the frontcourt rebound was grabbed by Sakuragi Hanamichi. Shinomiya Tano had just rushed into the inside to grab the rebound. Sakuragi, who got the rebound, turned around and passed the ball back to Jinguji Takeshi.
At this time, Takeshi Jinguji had just retreated outside the three-point line. He was actually ready to return to defense, but he didn't expect that Sakuragi would be so powerful and get the rebound.
He took an open three-point shot, and this time, without any surprises, the basketball went straight into the net.
The audience choked for a moment but still burst into cheers. The two missed shots by Jinguji Budo were immediately forgotten by the audience.
"whispering sound!"
"Didn't you get the rebound?"
Coach Tanaka curled his lips in dissatisfaction, glared at Yuzumi and Hanagata sternly, and then crossed his arms angrily. After a short silence, Coach Tanaka suddenly sneered and said to himself:
"But it doesn't matter... Xiangbei is at the end of its rope."
"Jinguji Budo's concentration has begun to decline. I really didn't expect that this guy's concentration is so terrifying. It's only now that he starts to make some obvious mistakes."
At this point, Coach Takeo looked towards the rest area of Shohoku High School with a smile on his face, but when his eyes fell on Mitsui Hisashi and Coach Anzai who had a calm expression, Coach Takeo's smile froze on his face.
"Mitsui Shou?!"
"Yes... I was so attracted by the matchup between Jinguji Budou and Tano that I ignored the others. Mitsui Shou has not played yet!"
"Coach Anxi... what are your plans?"
"Are you planning to give up the fight for victory in order to test the lineup?"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .