The 360-degree turn layup in mid-air was the first time that Jinguji Budo had performed such an exaggerated skill, which was seen by both the spectators and the players present.
Even the knowledgeable Coach Anxi opened his mouth slightly wide at this moment, his eyes full of shock.
On the court, Mike Okita watched Jinguji Budou complete this series of operations in front of him. After a brief shock, he shook his head slightly.
Mike Okita can completely replicate this skill. He believes that as long as he practices well in private, he can definitely accomplish it. His own jumping, air retention, waist and abdominal strength are all pretty good. This kind of difficult skill is not something unattainable for him.
But Mike Okita knew very well that even if he mastered such skills, he would never use them on the court. The reason was very simple, because he was not completely sure that he could perfectly avoid the opponent's defense and score the ball.
The fact that Takeshi Jinguji was able to hit such a ball showed that his opponent's ball skills were indeed much better than those of ordinary people. It also showed that Takeshi Jinguji was full of confidence in himself.
This kind of inner strength of unlimited trust in one's own abilities is what the team's ace should truly pursue.
Being able to reach this inner state also means that Jinguji Budo has never encountered the so-called "peak" on his path to growth.
All peaks can be climbed in front of Jinguji Budou. Only in this way can Jinguji Budou be so confident in his abilities.
"This guy is really not the same kind of person as me."
"Can someone who plays in a more American style than me really be cultivated in the current basketball environment in Kanagawa Prefecture?!"
Mike Okita was filled with doubts. The confidence and strength of Jinguji Budo made him see the figures of those proud sons of America.
Between offense and defense, Green Wind High School once again began to reorganize its offense.
Xiangbei High School followed Coach Anxi's arrangement during the timeout and no longer used full-court pressing defense to pressure Green Wind's back line, causing the opponent to make mistakes.
When returning to defend, all the Xiangbei players moved to their own half of the court, using the simplest man-to-man marking style of play, completely releasing some restrictions on Green Wind, hoping that Green Wind could play his true style.
During the previous timeout, the tactics arranged by Coach Oshina were actually very simple.
If Shohoku still plays full-court press, let the Tsurumi brothers pass the ball to Mike Okita, who will take the responsibility of holding the ball and advancing, thus breaking Shohoku High School's full-court press.
Jinguji Budou's personal strength is indeed very strong. If someone cooperates with him to double-team, even Mike Okita may not be able to successfully dribble the ball across half court. However, for Green Wind High School, it is no longer a last resort for Mike Okita to dribble the ball across half court while the other players go up to set screens.
After all, there is a huge gap in the hard power of the two teams. This method may be effective and successfully break through Xiangbei's full-court press. The other methods have no possibility of success at all.
The Green Wind team was established too recently, and the players have not been able to get along with each other enough. It is already very good for them to be able to do simple pick-and-roll and screen. Coach Ofuna does not expect the players to be able to play any sophisticated cooperation.
Therefore, on the offensive end, Coach Ofuna also gave Mike Okita, the "returnee", full choice.
In a nutshell, the ball is given to you, and you lead Green Wind to win!
The Green Wind players who entered the frontcourt quickly took their positions, using the standard three outside and two inside positioning. Tsurumi Seiji dribbled the ball across the center line and passed the ball early to Mike Okita at the corner position.
Rukawa Kaede was still defending Mike Okita. He made a simple sweeping pass and faked a breakthrough. Mike Okita followed up with a fake shot and then quickly broke through.
After the fake move in practice, although Rukawa Kaede did not completely lose his position, he allowed Mike Okita to find a gap to break through. After one step forward, Mike Okita made a quick stop and jump shot from a high position.
The skillful and smooth breakthrough shot made the Green Wind students watching the game cheer.
“Swish!”
At the same time, the basketball went into the net.
The height difference between Rukawa and Mike Okita is not that big. Rukawa is even a few centimeters shorter than Mike Okita. Mike Okita's jumping ability is not weaker than Rukawa. Facing Mike Okita's pull-up jump shot, Rukawa was only half a body behind and still couldn't successfully block the opponent.
However, for the same goal, Mike Okita was able to score on Rukawa Kaede's face, but if the defending player was Jinguji Budou, he would probably be blocked.
When facing a player with height and bounce like Rukawa, Mike Okita only needs to move half a body length away to have enough clearance for shooting.
However, when facing a player with the height and bounce of Jinguji Budou, even if Mike Okita moved two body lengths away from him, it would probably only be enough for him to shoot.
And the one who was able to create two gaps between Jinguji Budo and him by fake moves and dribbling... ...
"Sure enough, it's much easier to deal with than Jinguji Budo."
The basketball went into the net and a smile flashed across Mike Okita's face. He didn't feel happy even though he scored in front of Rukawa.
In Mike Okita's opinion, this is what should be done!
However, the way Mike Okita scored so nonchalantly made Rukawa Kaede raise his eyebrows.
I can only say that he is worthy of being a four-star high school student in the United States. Mike Okita is "weak" only because he is in front of Jinguji Budo!
“The outside facing basket skills are very comprehensive.”
"Ryukawa's physical fitness is similar to his opponent's. Unless you can accurately predict his movements, you won't be able to defend against him."
"Indeed, Mike Okita is a great opponent for Rukawa Kaede!"
After watching this round of attack and defense between Mike Okita and Rukawa Kaede, Jinguji Budo immediately judged the strength of the two.
Compared to Mike Okita's "offense", Rukawa Kaede's defensive ability is slightly worse.
After losing the point, Xiangbei immediately organized an attack. Mike Okita's attention was still on Takeshi Jinguji. After dribbling into the frontcourt, Mitsui Hisashi turned his head and looked towards the position where Takeshi Jinguji was.
Seeing that Mike was still defending him, Wu Dao couldn't help but reach out to Mitsui Shou for the ball.
The opponent's desire to fight is very strong, and Wudao doesn't mind satisfying his desire to be abused.
There were no fancy moves. Wudao just took the ball, feinted with his right foot, and then pulled his foot back to shoot.
The clean and neat pull-up shot attracted the attention of all the substitute players of Xiangbei.
“Swish!”
The basketball went into the net, and the Green Wind students who were cheering for the Green Wind basketball team fell silent. But a few seconds later, the cheers from the Green Wind students became even louder. They were already behind on the court. If they didn't encourage the players at this time, how could the players on the court get the motivation to play? !
"This guy's moves are so fast!"
"Besides, it's so high."
Mike Okita was running towards the frontcourt, thinking about the attack that Jinguji Budo had just made. It was a clean and neat pull-up shot. Although it was not as impressive as the opponent's previous "360° turn and layup" in terms of technique, this "ordinary" attack was the real terrifying thing.
There is no doubt that the three-pointer is a superstar weapon for scorers, except for gorillas.
Between offense and defense, Mike Okita took advantage of a pick-and-roll by his teammates and rushed to the basket quickly after receiving the pass from his teammates. After attracting the defense of Sakuragi Hanamichi, Mike Okita passed the ball, faked the pass, and then threw the ball into the basket with one hand.
His skills were very good and Sakuragi Hanamichi was completely fooled by his opponent.
In the subsequent games, Xiangbei High School and Green Wind High School finally felt that they were evenly matched.
After Jinguji Budo stopped defending Mike Okita, Mike Okita justified his status as a "four-star high school student" on the offensive end. Whether he was holding the ball and playing one-on-one, or facing help defense and double-teaming, his handling of the basketball was quite mature and outstanding.
Rukawa's defense was useless in front of him, and Shohoku's defense was once broken by Mike Okita alone.
While Mike Okita was performing brilliantly, Tetsu Naito of Green Wind High School also attracted a lot of attention. This broad and fat high school student was quite dominant in the interior. Although his skills under the basket were rough, his weight and strength were his greatest weapons. He frequently relied on his strength to score points under the basket.
Compared with him, the performances of Sakuragi Hanamichi and Minamigo were a little weaker. 11 minutes into the game, Sakuragi Hanamichi was ready to change his defensive strategy in the face of the "invincible" Naito Tetsuya.
At the beginning, he was still unwilling to accept the challenge and wanted to wrestle with his opponent. It was not that he could not win the wrestling match, but if Sakuragi Hanamichi wanted to withstand the opponent's blocking position, he would need to sacrifice some bounce and use a lower center of gravity in exchange for a more stable lower body.
But after losing several backcourt rebounds, Sakuragi Hanamichi realized that this defensive method was not working. He realized that he could not compete with the opponent on his strengths, and he had to pull the opponent to the same track as himself.
Having figured this out, Sakuragi Hanamichi no longer obsessed with seizing advantageous positions under the basket. Sometimes, he even deliberately gave up good positions to Naito Tetsuya in order to gain some space for a run-up.
Sakuragi Hanamichi plans to use his jumping ability to compete with his opponent in rebounding.
Sakuragi soon reaped the benefits of the change in strategy.
After Mike Okita missed a quick stop and shot, Sakuragi Hanamichi rushed for the rebound, finished off a shot over Tetsuya Naito's head, and easily took the ball into his arms.
After that, the ball was passed and Jinguji Budou scored on the counterattack. After helping the team to score on the counterattack, Sakuragi was unstoppable. During the remaining time of the first half, Sakuragi Hanamichi's excited roars often broke out in the field.
As the game progressed, Rukawa gradually adapted to Mike Okita's breakthroughs. Although he still couldn't block the opponent's offense, Rukawa was able to affect the opponent's concentration when Mike Okita attacked.
This kind of defense also caused Mike Okita's offensive efficiency to drop significantly. Mike Okita, who was aware of this problem, reduced mid-range shots and increased breakthroughs. In this way, Green Wind maintained a certain degree of offensive efficiency.
However, Shohoku High School's offense has always been led by Jinguji Budo.
Unlike Rukawa defending against Mike Okita, Mike Okita defending against Jinguji Budou, there is really not much difference between that and no defense at all.
On the offensive end, Jinguji Budo can break through and shoot whenever he wants. While straining the Green Wind's outside defense, he can also often draw the Green Wind's inside players to provide backup defense.
However, whether he makes up for the defense or not does not affect Jinguji Budo's score.
18 minutes into the first half, Takeshi Jinguji's personal score had reached a terrifying 32 points.
To him, Green Wind was like the meat on his plate. When he wanted to eat it, he just cut it twice.
Jinguji Budo, who was scoring crazily, gave up his attack near the end of the first half. He had already tried the depth of Green Wind in 18 minutes, and it was boring.
After that, Wudao was more likely to pass the ball to Rukawa and Mitsui, and actually played the role of a point guard.
In the second half of the game, Jinguji Takeshi was replaced by Coach Anzai and replaced by Miyagi Ryouta.
Compared to the boring first half, the game between Xiangbei High School and Midori Wind High School in the second half was much more intense.
The focus of people's attention shifted from Rukawa Kaede vs. Mike Okita at the beginning to Mitsui Hisashi vs. Mike Okita.
Rukawa Kaede and Mike Okita can be considered to be a mutual explosion, but the battle between Mitsui Hisashi and Mike Okita cannot be simply described as a "mutual explosion".
Because Mike Okita's scoring efficiency is far lower than that of Mitsui Hisashi!
Mitsui Shou has already mastered the technique of the flip shot, and in today's game, his touch was also very good. He could shoot whatever he wanted, and at one point he defeated Green Wind High School.
The big ship coach called a timeout and helped the players adjust their emotions before allowing Green Wind to recover.
But under Mitsui's fierce attack, the Green Wind players completely lost hope of winning.
At the end of the practice match, Xiangbei High School won by 34 points with a score of 112:78.
The score of over 100 gave Coach Ofune and the players of Green Wind High School a new understanding of the strength of the Xiangbei High School team.
In high school games, scores of 60 or 70 are very common. If strong teams compete with each other on offense, 80+ or 90+ is already a terrifying offensive efficiency.
Before Xiangbei High School, few teams could score over 100 points.
Coach Dachuan, who has coached high school basketball for many years, is well aware of this.
The terrifying firepower of Xiangbei High School on the offensive end can be seen from their scores alone.
“Beep—”
With the referee's long whistle, the game between Xiangbei High School and Midori Wind High School came to an end. The players of the two teams shook hands with each other. Although they lost the game, Mike Okita did not show much disappointment on his face. He had experienced so many failures before.
After shaking hands with Mitsui and Rukawa, Mike Okita suddenly said to them:
"Mitsui Hisashi, Rukawa Kaede, given your abilities, it's really a waste of your talents to continue playing here."
"I think you should pursue a higher level of basketball instead of languishing here!"
Mike Okita admired the strength of the two opponents and tried to persuade them kindly.
Mitsui and Rukawa looked at each other, and finally Mitsui nodded, turned his head to look at Jinguji Budo who had changed his clothes and was sitting on the bench, and said:
"Yes, after winning the national championship with him!"
"And this kid will be able to do it too!"
"After being 'Neon No. 1'!"
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