Point guard Rukawa's one-on-one performance was beyond the expectations of all the Sanno players. Kazunari Fukatsu, who was responsible for defending Rukawa, did not expect that Rukawa would perform such a one-on-one performance when playing as a point guard.
The unsuspecting Kazunari Fukatsu could only watch Rukawa score.
"Well done, Rukawa."
Jinguji Budou smiled and praised, then turned around and started to defend. Budou would not say anything more about Rukawa Kaede's singles. As long as he could score the ball, all the problems would not be a problem.
Of course, if the ball is lost, then even if there is no problem in handling the ball, it becomes a problem.
Basketball is such a simple and realistic sport.
After receiving Wu Dao's praise, Rukawa simply nodded with a cold face, as if it was a matter of course.
Unlike other members of the Xiangbei team, Rukawa has never put himself in a position inferior to Jinguji Budou. In his opinion, on the court, the person in a good position should get the ball to attack, and the capable person should get the ball to attack.
And Rukawa Kaede thinks that he is a very capable person.
"Okay, defend the next goal! Increase the score gap!"
Jinguji Budo clapped his hands and shouted loudly.
Not long after, Sanno Industries' counterattack came.
Five players quickly entered the Shohoku half. Inside players Masashi Kawata and Masahiro Nobe went straight to the Shohoku basket. Kazunari Fukatsu, who quickly dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, gave Kawata some lead when he ran towards the inside and passed the ball towards the inside.
"Snap!" The basketball was in hand, and Kawata Masashi, who had just got the ball, happened to arrive in front of Akagi Takenori. Akagi Takenori in front of Kawata Masashi took the ball, and subconsciously reached out to slap the basketball, wanting to steal it.
However, Masashi Kawata did not stop for a moment while running. He turned flexibly and easily passed Akagi as the ball fell, and broke into the basket. Then he hooked the ball towards the basket with his left hand and sent the ball directly into the net.
"Ohhh! It passed in a flash!"
"Kawata, you're amazing!"
Kawata Masashi's easy score made the Sannoh bench excited. Several players from Xiangbei High School scored one after another, which actually put a lot of pressure on Sannoh. However, Kawata Masashi's easy score at this time also made the Sannoh players feel at ease.
"With Kawada-senpai on the field, we at Sanno will never lose!"
"Shohoku High School has no way to deal with Kawada-senpai."
The substitute players of Sannoh were celebrating, with smiles on their faces.
These players have been playing for many years, and although the match between Xiangbei and Sannoh has only been played for a few rounds, the problems Xiangbei faces are obvious at a glance.
There is no doubt that Masashi Kawata is the strong point of their Sanno Industrial. As long as they rely on Masashi Kawata to launch an attack, the victory of this game will go to Sanno.
What? You said Xiangbei is also scoring
The stability of outside attack and the stability of inside attack are completely different!
Between offense and defense, Rukawa took the ball from the backcourt and advanced to the frontcourt. Rukawa's point guard style, which was different from that of Ryouta Miyagi and Nobunaga Kiyota, also fully mobilized the enthusiasm of all the players of Xiangbei.
Except for Jinguji Budou, the other team members showed more offensive desire than before.
As for Jinguji Budou, he became more Buddhist. After entering the frontcourt, he stood at the corner position outside the three-point line without moving, quietly waiting for Rukawa Kaede to perform.
However, even though Jinguji Budou did not show a strong desire to attack, Sanno Industries did not dare to relax its defense against Jinguji Budou for a moment.
Wudao didn't move, and Zebei Rongzhi didn't dare to move either. He just stood in front of Wudao, watching with his peripheral vision whether Rukawa Kaede would pass the ball, while being on guard against Jinguji Wudao's sudden run and intrusion.
The same is true for Masashi Kawata in the inside. He did not compete with Takenori Akagi for position under the basket to grab rebounds. Instead, he kept stealing glances at Takenori Jinguji on the outside. Most of his attention was actually on Takenori Jinguji.
Even Kazunari Fukatsu, who was facing Rukawa directly, did not take Rukawa's threat seriously. While defending, he would occasionally glance at Jinguji Budo.
Jinguji Budo simply stood outside the three-point line and attracted the attention of most of the Sanno players.
"This kind of defense... can't stop him!"
"Mountain King."
Although Wudao did not move, his attention was always on the court. He could feel the Sanwang players looking at him from time to time.
Although it is a comfortable feeling to be valued by the opponent, Wudao has to admit that Sanwang underestimated Rukawa Kaede.
Sure enough, after dribbling the ball for three or four seconds as he approached the top of the arc, Rukawa noticed that the Sanno players' attention was somewhat distracted.
With a simple dribble between the legs, Rukawa adjusted his rhythm and then suddenly changed his steps and started to accelerate.
When he broke through, his side body directly hit Kazunari Fukatsu. The huge force pushed Kazunari Fukatsu back without warning. At the same time, Rukawa Kaede successfully created a gap of body length between himself and Kazunari Fukatsu.
Rukawa cut straight into the basket, took the ball and jumped at the free throw line, and when Nobe Masahiro came up to defend, he made a layup.
The basketball flew towards the basket, hit the backboard steadily in front of it, and then bounced back into the net.
A beautiful breakthrough layup added two points to the scoreboard of Xiangbei High School.
“Wow—”
There was a cheer from the Xiangbei bench, and Rukawa Kaede's consecutive scoring also attracted the audience's attention. Some viewers who were not familiar with Rukawa Kaede also began to pay attention to Rukawa Kaede's performance at this moment.
In the stands, Sendoh, who had played against Rukawa Kaede before, suddenly smiled and said softly, "Shohoku seems to be planning to use this freshman as the main attacker."
Upon hearing this, Shigong Tianye looked at the field intently, thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "If Sanwang can't put pressure on Xiangbei, it will be like this."
"However, Sanwang will not allow a first-year student to run rampant for too long."
While the two were talking, Sanno Industries had already launched a new round of attack.
After a pick-and-roll by Nobe Masahiro who was pulled to the high position, Kazunari Fukatsu took advantage of the situation to break through. However, there were some problems in the communication between Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa. When the opponent made a pick-and-roll and broke through, Sakuragi and Rukawa both followed Kazunari Fukatsu who was breaking through.
Sakuragi's idea was very simple. He thought that Rukawa, who was caught in a pick-and-roll, would definitely not be able to keep up with Fukatsu. Facing a pick-and-roll, switching defense was natural. He had already developed a habit of doing so during his normal training.
However, Rukawa's idea was different from Sakuragi's. He felt that he could keep up, so after bypassing the opponent's pick-and-roll, he still chased after Fukatsu Kazunari.
The pursuit of the two people instantly gave Masahiro Nobe an open opportunity. Kazunari Fukatsu, who was rushing forward with the ball, saw the two people chasing him when he looked back at the moon. He flipped his wrist while dribbling and hit the ball directly on the floor between Sakuragi and Rukawa. The rebounding basketball fell directly into Masahiro Nobe's hands.
Ye Bian, who had the ball, didn't dare to shoot from a high position. He took two steps closer with the ball, approached the free throw line, and then slowly shot.
But even with such a shot, Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede were unable to defend in time. The basketball passed over their heads and went straight into the net.
"Good pass, Fukatsu!"
Masashi Kawata patted Fukatsu's shoulder and smiled. Kazunari Fukatsu and Masahiro Nobe, who were preparing to return to defense, also fist-bumped to celebrate, and on the way back they did not forget to look back at Sakuragi and Rukawa, full of sarcasm.
"Asshole Rukawa Kaede, can't you switch defense?"
"It's all because of you, an idiot, that Sanwang got the points. Damn you, get off the field quickly and stop holding this genius back."
After a defensive coordination error, he put his hands in his shorts and walked in front of Rukawa Kaede to mutter. He put all the blame on Rukawa Kaede, and the simple-minded Sakuragi didn't want to be overshadowed by Rukawa Kaede, who was also a freshman, so he mocked him.
Rukawa glanced at Sakuragi Hanamichi coldly, ignored Sakuragi, and stretched out his hand to signal Akagi Takenori to serve.
When the ball was passed, Akagi saw Sakuragi Hanamichi still whispering in Rukawa's ear, so he grabbed Sakuragi's ear without saying a word and ran towards the front court with Sakuragi.
Upon seeing this, Mitsui Hisashi and Takeshi looked at each other, and spread their hands tacitly, expressing their helplessness.
After a small incident, Xiangbei High School launched an attack again.
Fukatsu was wary of Rukawa's consecutive goals, but on the surface, he still maintained an appearance of focusing all his attention on Jinguji Budou. And Fukatsu Kazunari's posture also successfully confused Rukawa.
Rukawa was holding the ball and approaching the top of the arc. He made a explosive shot and was about to accelerate forward after a scissors step. However, Kazunari Fukatsu, who had been squinting his eyes a second ago, stared directly at Rukawa, leaned forward suddenly, and reached out to touch the basketball in Rukawa's hand.
"Um?!"
Rukawa was startled, but he was unable to react in time, and the basketball was picked up by Kazunari Fukatsu who was rushing forward, and he quickly rushed towards the Shohoku half.
Fast break!
Without even needing Kazunari Fukatsu's reminder, all the players of Sanno immediately launched a counterattack and quickly rushed towards the Shohoku half.
Jinguji Budo did not intercept the fastest running Fukatsu Kazunari, but followed Zebei Rongzhi. Therefore, at this time, Rukawa Kaede, who was intercepted, had already started chasing. He was only three behind Fukatsu and was able to complete the interception before the opponent entered the basket.
And there is a high probability that Kazunari Fukatsu will choose to pass the ball to his following teammate, Zebei, is his only choice!
Soon, Kazunari Fukatsu dribbled the ball into the basket. Just as Jinguji Budou had expected, Rukawa was only half a body length away from Fukatsu. If Kazunari Fukatsu dribbled the ball and went for a layup, Rukawa could easily block Fukatsu from behind with his height and bounce.
Just as Fukatsu crossed the free throw line, Fukatsu Kazunari took the ball, took a step forward, turned around suddenly, grabbed the ball with one hand, and shook it towards Zebei who was following up.
His action immediately alerted Rukawa. He slowed down and pounced on the basketball, blocking Fukatsu's passing route.
Taking the second step, Kazunari Fukatsu looked up at the basket with a smile on his face, took the ball into his arms, jumped lightly, and then put the basketball into the basket.
“False rumor!
”
Rukawa was knocked down by Kazunari Fukatsu and couldn't even jump up to block the shot. He could only watch the basketball go into the net.
Sanno Industrial's defensive counterattack was successful, and the score difference between the two teams was eliminated.
"ah!
!
”
"Ryukawa Kaede, you're such an idiot again. You can't even defend against this kind of ball!"
"Big fool!"
"Hurry up and get down, don't hold this genius back!"
Before Rukawa could digest the opponent's attack, Sakuragi's roar as he returned to defense sounded from behind Rukawa.
Rukawa's thoughts were interrupted. He snorted and ignored Sakuragi.
At this time, Jinguji Takeshi went to the baseline and picked up the basketball. When he was preparing to serve, he saw Rukawa Kaede, who had always been expressionless, now showed a hint of anger, which was probably unexpected.
However, seeing Sakuragi muttering beside him, Wudao also understood Rukawa's feelings.
If it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to remain calm under Sakuragi Hanamichi's "ridicule".
"Rukawa, Sannoh is a team without any weaknesses."
"Every player on their team would be an ace if placed on any other team."
"That Kazunari Fukatsu was named the best point guard in the country by a magazine."
"You used to play in a different position than him, but in this match, he is your opponent."
"Don't underestimate him just because he's a point guard. In previous Sannoh games, this point guard averaged 20+ points per game. He's very strong."
When serving, Wudao reminded Rukawa. He noticed that Rukawa seemed to underestimate Kazunari Fukatsu. Maybe he had scored a few points on the opponent's head, which made Rukawa unable to recognize himself.
Rukawa is indeed very strong, and his offensive power can be said to be among the best in the country, but compared to Kazunari Fukatsu, in addition to offense, Rukawa still has a lot to learn.
Rukawa Kaede, who had the ball, nodded silently, then quickly dribbled forward.
Seeing that Rukawa seemed to have taken his words to heart, Wudao didn't say anything more and quickly ran to the front court to get into position.
Having had the experience of being intercepted, Rukawa was obviously much more cautious when holding the ball. Before he even approached the top of the arc, he had already passed the ball to Jinguji Budo.
The ball being released so early also surprised Wu Dao. At the same time, Kazunari Fukatsu, who had just started to take Rukawa seriously, did not expect that Rukawa would give up so easily.
His gaze lingered on Rukawa Kaede for a moment, and then looked at Jinguji Budo.
"That's right, this is the offensive rhythm of Xiangbei."
"Go! Jinguji Budo, step into our Sanno's trap!"
Seeing Takeshi Jinguji taking the ball and sweeping it low to prepare for a breakthrough, Kazunari Fukatsu's eyes lit up. He completely ignored Rukawa Kaede and stared at Takeshi Jinguji.
At this moment, Jinguji Budo, who was about to break through the previous second, suddenly straightened up and passed the ball to the middle.
"What?!"
Kazunari Fukatsu and Sawakita Eiji, who was well prepared, were both surprised. They didn't expect that Jinguji Budou would actually pass the ball. They turned their heads and saw Rukawa Kaede receiving the ball at the free throw line. He dribbled the ball once, took a big step towards the basket, and dunked the ball into the basket.
Both Rukawa Kaede and Jinguji Budou grasped Fukatsu's mentality and found a big loophole.
“Motor motor!
!
”
Just when Rukawa was about to complete a slam dunk, a loud shout suddenly exploded in his ears, and an ape-man face suddenly appeared in Rukawa's sight. At the same time, a big hand pressed tightly on the basketball, preventing Rukawa from moving forward.
"It's actually... Masashi Kawata!"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..