"This won't work!"
"We have to find a way to suppress this kid."
While Coach Takeo was thinking about how to deal with freshman Hanamichi Sakuragi, on the court, Ryonan High School used Sendoh's singles to pierce the defense of Shohoku High School. After attracting Sakuragi Hanamichi's attention, Sendoh faked a shot and made a real pass to assist Yoshitaka Fukuda in the open space.
Although Nango Koichiro noticed it and prepared to defend early, Fukuda's attack speed was very fast and he could not block it in time.
The basketball goes into the net, and offense and defense become easier to switch.
The reminder from Jinguji Takeshi seemed to have some effect. In this attack, Sakuragi Hanamichi's running speed was obviously slower.
Sakuragi Hanamichi imitated Nango and was only slightly faster than Kiyota Nobunaga who had the ball. When Kiyota crossed the center line with the ball, Sakuragi Hanamichi had just crossed the three-point line.
Overall, his running can match the offensive speed of Xiangbei High School at that time, and his ability to learn and comprehend is quite good.
"Sakuragi's speed has slowed down."
"Not bad. I didn't rush into the front court like I did just now."
"It didn't make me waste my breath."
Wudao said with a smile as he looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was slowly approaching the paint area, but soon his smile froze on his face.
The previous few goals seemed to have made Sakuragi Hanamichi unable to recognize himself. At this time, when Kiyota Nobunaga approached the three-point line, he turned around and trapped Fukuda Yoshitaka behind him, while at the same time using his huge hands to grab the ball.
This time, Sakuragi Hanamichi actually took the initiative to ask for a one-on-one game with the ball.
"What is this guy going to do?!"
"Want to play singles?"
"This idiot, can't he recognize himself?!"
When Kiyota Nobunaga saw that Sakuragi Hanamichi actually raised his hand to ask for the ball, he immediately cursed. In Kiyota Nobunaga's opinion, the pull-up shot that Sakuragi had made that bypassed Yuzumi's defense was just a coincidence and an accident.
Many people who play basketball have that moment when, at a certain moment, an inspiration comes to them and they are able to do something that they cannot do normally.
But that was just an accident after all and there was no way to use it as a conventional weapon.
Although he thought so in his mind, Kiyota Nobunaga still chose to pass the ball after a breakthrough feint, and directly passed the ball to Sakuragi Hanamichi.
The reason why Kiyota passed the ball to Sakuragi was not because he believed in Sakuragi Hanamichi, but simply because he wanted Sakuragi to see his own strength and not do unnecessary things!
"Pah!" The basketball was in his hand, Sakuragi Hanamichi grinned, tilted his head slightly, looked at Fukuda Yoshitaka who was defending seriously, and said with a smile:
"Do you want to stop this genius?! Can you do it?"
As he spoke, Sakuragi Hanamichi smiled and quickly half-turned to face the basket. With a simple tentative step, he easily shook Fukuda Yoshitaka's defensive center of gravity.
Seeing the opportunity arise, Sakuragi Hanamichi did not hesitate at all and rushed directly towards the falling ball on the left.
Sakuragi Hanamichi has a solid foundation. Although he has only played for one year, he already has the ability to assist in the offense with his weak hand. After breaking through Fukuda Yoshitaka, Sakuragi Hanamichi dribbled the ball once and then directly entered the paint area after two big steps.
“Successful!
!”
"The genius Sakuragi's layup!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at the empty basket and shouted excitedly as he raised the ball for a layup. Uozumi Jun was delayed by Nango Koichiro and rushed to Sakuragi half a step late. He jumped up and raised his arms high to block the basketball in Sakuragi's hand.
At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi's smile became even brighter as he was doing a layup. He grabbed the ball with his right hand and pulled it into his arms again, relying on his terrifying bounce and air suspension to avoid Yuzumi's block again, and then reached out again to send the ball to the basket.
"Pah~"
A hook shot under the basket, the basketball hit the backboard and bounced into the basket.
With a relaxed layup, Sakuragi Hanamichi perfectly replicated his previous goal, and this time he broke through Jun Uozumi's defense and put the ball into the basket.
“Wha….what!
!”
"That guy actually... scored another layup?!"
Kiyota Nobunaga opened his mouth in astonishment and shouted in disbelief. He thought that Sakuragi's previous layup was just a coincidence, but now it seems that it is not!
Sakuragi Hanamichi has indeed mastered the technique of the pull-up layup, and the angles of his two layups are not the conventional angles. In other words, Sakuragi's layup technique has also improved significantly!
"How is this possible! How is it possible that the red-haired monkey can master the pull-up layup?!"
"I heard from the seniors of Xiangbei that this guy, Red-haired Monkey, started playing basketball in junior high school. It has only been a year since then."
"Not only dribbling and shooting, but now he has even mastered the pull-up lever?!"
As a teammate, Kiyota Nobunaga is very clear about Sakuragi Hanamichi's growth trajectory. In just one year, Sakuragi Hanamichi has grown from a complete rookie who knew nothing to someone who can force points against a center of Uozumi's level. This rate of growth even astonished Kiyota Nobunaga, who claims to be a genius.
Compared to the surprised Kiyota Nobunaga, Rukawa Kaede was much more calm.
There are many players in Xiangbei High School, and many of them are capable players, but in terms of talent, there are only three players that Rukawa Kaede is interested in.
The ace is Takeshi Jinguji, a small forward who is over two meters tall and as fast as a guard.
Captain Mitsui Hisashi is over 190cm tall, a three-point shooter, and has all-round abilities.
And the last one is Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Even though it was Shohoku's main center, Takenori Akagi, Rukawa Kaede did not really recognize the opponent's talent.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's talent is all-round, not just in terms of physical fitness. Sakuragi is also excellent in his hidden talents such as learning ability and court intuition, which have no fixed scale.
Without saying anything, Rukawa Kaede just took a deep look at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was smiling and greeting at the sidelines, and quickly returned to the court.
Once again, Sakuragi Hanamichi broke through the defense line head-on. At this moment, Yuzumi Jun looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi's back with a serious expression.
"Humph, kid, you won't be so lucky next time!"
Yuzumi began to take Sakuragi seriously and decided to deal with Sakuragi Hanamichi seriously. After all, although Yuzumi Jun has only been playing basketball for more than two years, he often encounters pull-up layups of Sakuragi Hanamichi's level during team practice games.
In fact, sometimes Shimomiya and Sendoh's layups are much more exaggerated than Sakuragi's.
Jun Yuzumi thought he had a way to deal with Sakuragi Hanamichi's pull-up layup.
Between the offense and defense, Ryonan High School quickly launched an attack. After dribbling the ball into the frontcourt, Fujima used continuous front-body changes to shake his body, manipulating the defensive position of Kiyota Nobunaga. Then he made a stray step and rushed directly through Kiyota's defense line. When he cut into the basket, he made a wonderful pass to Yuzumi.
Yu got the ball, turned around and hooked the ball into the net.
Ryonan's offense was very stable, and even when facing the freshmen from Shohoku, the players did not slack off on the offensive end. Sakuragi Hanamichi and the others were indeed good in their individual abilities, but overall, their defensive abilities were not that strong.
Rukawa's one-on-one defense is good, Sakuragi's one-on-one defense is also okay, and the other few's one-on-one defense is also remarkable, but when these arrogant guys form a group, the defense becomes full of loopholes.
These first-year students of Xiangbei joined Xiangbei's training as early as junior high school, but after practicing together for such a long time, these guys still don't have much tacit understanding with each other.
It wasn't very noticeable when they were attacking, but it was immediately revealed when they were defending.
If the defense is insufficient, make up for it with offense.
Although first-year students like Sakuragi Hanamichi are young, they are still relatively open-minded about some things.
With the high-frequency attack and defense conversion, Kiyota Nobunaga also planned to speed up. After receiving the ball in the backcourt, he quickly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt. Although Sakuragi Hanamichi didn't know what "integrated offensive rhythm" was, he simply saw Kiyota Nobunaga suddenly speed up, so he also speeded up.
There is no need for teammates to remind you or anything.
As Xiangbei High School approached the frontcourt, Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had just crossed the three-point line, was running towards the inside when Kiyota Nobunaga made a long ground pass and put the ball into Sakuragi Hanamichi's hands.
"Hmm?!"
The basketball was passed to Sakuragi who was moving at the right time. Sakuragi Hanamichi had never handled this kind of ball before. He could only attack after holding the ball in the mid-range. It was impossible for Sakuragi to deal with the indirect pass directly when he was moving, like now.
As soon as the basketball was in his hand, Fukuda Yoshitaka's body quickly blocked Sakuragi. Sakuragi Hanamichi, who couldn't imagine a breakthrough in his mind, subconsciously stopped the ball, then turned his back, hugged the ball in front of his chest, and then stupidly turned around and swept the ball again.
Sakuragi Hanamichi was not used to the current offensive rhythm and his movements were a little stiff, which was completely different from his previous self.
"It seems... Sakuragi doesn't have the skill to face the basket with the ball..." Wudao looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi's stiff movements and suddenly thought of something. He raised his eyebrows and had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, Sakuragi Hanamichi, holding the ball in both hands, pretended to break through to the left, however, Fukuda Yoshitaka stood in front of him with an expressionless face, his hands raised high, and was completely unmoved.
Sakuragi, who had already caught the ball, couldn't possibly make another breakthrough.
Sakuragi now has to either pass or shoot. In this situation, how can Fukuda Yoshitaka be fooled? !
After several attempts, Sakuragi Hanamichi broke out in cold sweat...
"Damn it!" Sakuragi Hanamichi would never admit that he, as a genius, did not have the "ability to face the basket". After cursing, he ignored the calls of his teammates on the outside and just tried to shoot.
What greeted him was a solid hat-trick from Yoshitaka Fukuda... .
"ah!
!”
"Red monkey, you idiot!"
When Kiyota Nobunaga saw Sakuragi was blocked, he ran towards the basketball and cursed at Sakuragi. Perhaps it was because of his anger that when Kiyota Nobunaga was trying to grab the ball, he accidentally burst out with enough strength to push Fujima Kenji over, gaining two points in front of him and taking the ball first.
This time, Kiyota Nobunaga no longer believed in Sakuragi. He dribbled the ball and passed it behind his back, quickly passing it to Katsume Ichiro on the outside. The latter took the ball and saw that there was no good opportunity, so he passed it directly to Rukawa Kaede.
Rukawa, who was half a step outside the three-point line, received the ball, dribbled the ball, took a tentative step, and then pulled back to shoot. When Sendoh raised his center of gravity, Rukawa dribbled the ball down, took a step sideways, and then directly caught the ball and made a quick stop jump shot.
The cool and quick shot made Sendoh Akira unable to fully react. When Rukawa Kaede shot the basketball, Sendoh could only raise his hands to interfere, but it had no effect on Rukawa Kaede's shot.
"Swish!" With a slight sound as the basketball entered the net, Rukawa Kaede successfully made up for Sakuragi Hanamichi's mistake and scored the ball.
Seeing the basketball go into the net, there was a cheer from the Xiangbei bench. Kiyota Nobunaga, who grabbed the ball, also breathed a sigh of relief, and then glared at Sakuragi Hanamichi.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi was completely unaware at this time. While returning to the field, he was muttering something angrily. Without thinking, one could tell that he was slandering Rukawa Kaede.
"Hey, hey, hey, why do I feel something is wrong?"
"Coach Anxi, do you want to take advantage of the current situation and call Sakuragi down to give him a beating?"
"I feel like this kid is going to do something bad!"
Mitsui Shou was quite familiar with Sakuragi Hanamichi's character. Looking at Sakuragi Hanamichi's indignant look, Mitsui Shou asked with some concern.
"That's not necessary. Sakuragi is focused enough. He will have to suffer from this kind of blow sooner or later. After he's suffered, he'll know that he needs to work harder."
"I think it's pretty good."
Unlike Mitsui Hisashi, Akagi Takenori was very open-minded. He thought he had grasped Coach Anzai's idea and knew that this game should be used to train the freshmen of Shohoku. Therefore, he was happy to see Sakuragi suffer a loss.
Wu Dao didn't say anything. He turned his head to look at Coach Anxi, quietly observed Coach Anxi's expression, and then turned his gaze back to the field.
This time, Wudao was different from Akagi. He agreed with Mitsui's idea.
Because Wudao knew that Sakuragi Hanamichi was not the kind of person who would give up easily, and Sakuragi had a very stubborn personality.
This means that Fukuda Yoshitaka's block will not make Sakuragi learn his lesson, but will have the opposite effect. In order to prove himself, Sakuragi may...
On the court, Ryonan High School used the mutual screens between players to give Ikegami an opportunity for an open mid-range shot, but the offensive ability of this defensive expert was indeed average. The mid-range shot missed the rim and the basketball bounced out and was caught by Koichiro Minamigo under the basket.
As the offense and defense switched, Xiangbei launched a fast break.
Kiyota Nobunaga dribbled the ball forward at high speed, and Sakuragi Hanamichi, who ran faster, entered the opponent's three-point line early and had a good chance.
On the Ryonan side, the other players played very well in defense and pursuit, only Yoshitaka Fukuda lost his position due to Sakuragi's off-ball shaking, giving Sakuragi a good opportunity to receive the ball.
When Kiyota Nobunaga saw this scene, he actually didn't want to pass the ball, but there was no way he could give up such a good opportunity.
The ball was passed while moving, and the basketball crossed half of the court and was accurately delivered into the hands of Sakuragi Hanamichi.
At Shohoku, Nobunaga Kiyota was trained as a point guard, and his talent was gradually discovered.
"Good spread! Wild monkey!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi received the ball and shouted happily. At the moment he got the ball, Fukuda Yoshitaka quickly came to his side, stretched out his hand to block Sakuragi's sight, and quickly moved forward to stop Sakuragi.
Just when everyone thought Sakuragi would be forced to stop again, Sakuragi received the ball and suddenly passed it to Fukuda Yoshitaka after a blast. He took two big steps to the left and right and went straight past Fukuda Yoshitaka and headed for the basket.
"Brother Budao's steps aren't difficult!"
While whispering, Sakuragi subconsciously took another step forward, and then belatedly jumped up for a layup.
Without any surprise, the basketball went into the net, and the referee's whistle also sounded at the right time.
"Walking... this idiot..."
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