Between offense and defense, Jinguji Budo has already demonstrated his unparalleled dominance on the court.
Before the three players formed a siege, Takeshi Jinguji easily scored a shot under the defense of Masashi Kawata. His relaxed shooting posture was engraved in the hearts of every Sanno player.
Sawakita Eiji has the deepest understanding of Jinguji Budou's strength. During the team's practice games, Sawakita Eiji is often the one who breaks through with the ball, and the player who often defends him in the interior is Masashi Kawata.
When facing Masashi Kawata, Sawakita Eiji couldn't be as relaxed as Jinguji Budou.
It is very difficult to get past Kawata Masashi's defense head-on. Zebei often tries to avoid Kawata's defense, only in this way can he score the ball.
But like Jinguji Budou shooting from the front of Kawata Masashi... Such a thing, Zebei Rongji had never thought of it.
After Jinguji Budou scored a goal, Shohoku High School began to retreat quickly.
Zebei Rongzhi turned his head to look at the scoreboard on the sidelines, looking at the difference between the two teams with a solemn expression.
Disadvantages...huge disadvantages.
Since he joined Sanno Industrial, he has rarely encountered such a disadvantageous situation. The last time was when he played against Ryonan High School.
Unexpectedly, they faced a tough battle in their first game of Sannoh this year.
"Fukatsu, give me the ball, I'll play."
"The most urgent task now is to catch up with the score."
"Zebei, if you can't break through Jinguji Budo's attack head-on, just run more. If the opportunity arises, I will give you the ball."
"When Xiangbei realizes the disadvantage in the interior, Jinguji Budo will take action. At that time, your chance will appear!"
"This is a five-person sport, don't take previous mistakes personally."
After Kawata Masashi sent the ball out from the baseline, he immediately spoke to Fukatsu and Zebei Rongzhi. Fukatsu Kazunari did not want to undermine Zebei Rongzhi's self-confidence, and Kawata Masashi had already seen this.
But Kawata doesn't care about Zebei's feelings. His purpose is simple and pure, which is to win!
Fukatsu looked back at Zebei and nodded slightly, agreeing with Kawata Masashi's statement. Zebei Rongzhi did not refute, but lowered his head and ran towards the front court, his feeling of loss fleeting.
Zebei is also a mature player. He knows what the most important thing is at the moment.
If they can't hold on to the score here, the gap between the two teams will get wider as the game progresses, and the more Jinguji Budo continues to perform like this, the lower the morale of Sannoh will be.
It is crucial for Sannoh to take advantage of this moment to withstand the pressure brought by Jinguji Budo and prevent the score between the two teams from being further widened!
Kazunari Fukatsu brought the ball into the frontcourt, and Rukawa opened his arms and quickly pressed forward when the opponent approached the top of the arc. But this time, Kazunari Fukatsu did not plan to make a move at the top of the arc. He turned his head to look at the positions of Jinguji Budou and Zebei Rongzhi, and moved along the three-point line with the ball to the left corner.
Matsumoto Minoru, who was originally standing here, quickly cut into the inside. His movement also took away Mitsui's defense. However, Matsumoto Minoru did not stay in the inside for long. His feet just touched the floor of the paint area and quickly ran towards the bottom corner.
Seeing this, Mitsui Hisashi did not follow up, but directly settled in the middle distance at the right baseline, actually ready to fill in the basket at any time.
"Mitsui Hisashi is very experienced!" Coach Tanaoka in the stands saw Mitsui Hisashi's running position and praised him with a smile.
The next second, Kazunari Fukatsu changed his rhythm, stepped wrong, and quickly accelerated to break through. When Rukawa followed up, he changed direction in front of his body. Just as Rukawa adjusted his position to chase again, Kazunari Fukatsu passed the ball with his left hand and passed it directly into the inside line.
At this time, Masashi Kawata was standing in the middle distance on the left side. After getting the basketball, he raised the ball high and turned to face the basket. After quickly raising the ball and making a fake shot, he quickly dropped the ball and turned around.
He instantly passed Akagi Takenori's defense, rushed directly to the basket, and dunked the basketball into the basket with one hand.
His sharp low-post footwork easily tore through Takenori Akagi's defense and helped the team score.
Not to mention that Akagi Takenori didn't react, even Mitsui Shou, who was ready to make up for the opponent, didn't react at this moment. From the time Kawata Masashi got the ball to the time he dunked, it was probably only two seconds. In such a short time, he broke through Akagi's defense, which Mitsui Shou didn't expect.
He thought Akagi would be able to hold out no matter what, and as long as he delayed the opponent's attack a little, Mitsui Shou would be able to double-team him. Unexpectedly, Kawata Masashi did not give him such a chance.
"good!
!”
After scoring the goal, Masashi Kawata pounded his chest and growled to cheer himself up.
His goals and his enthusiasm brought some vitality to the lifeless Sanwang bench.
"Come on! Sanwang! Come on! Sanwang!"
"Defend! Defend! Defend!"
Led by an unknown Sanno supporter, rhythmic shouts rang out from the stands and the bench.
"Masashi Kawata... As expected, this player has become the biggest obstacle for us at Shohoku."
"The gap between Akagi and him is so huge..."
Jinguji Budo looked at Kawata Masashi's back and trotted towards the front court. Kawata Masashi's outstanding performance was actually within his expectations. He predicted that Akagi might be beaten.
Because in the past two years at Xiangbei, Akagi Takenori has not made much progress due to the arrival of Jinguji Budo. His talent has determined the speed of his progress. In fact, compared with the first year of high school, Akagi Takenori has made great progress.
From a big guy who couldn't even dribble the ball steadily, to one of the best centers in the county and ranked in the top ten in the country, Akagi's progress has surpassed many ordinary people.
But after all, he is not a genius like Sakuragi or Rukawa, and there is a limit to the speed of his improvement.
Perhaps the only thing that Jinguji martial arts brought to Akagi was an improvement in his mentality.
There is an insurmountable super genius in the team, so it is not unacceptable for Takenori Akagi to lose to Masashi Kawata.
However, he still felt a little guilty about being passed by the other party so easily.
"At least, we need to hold him off for a while longer to give our teammates a chance to fill in!" With this thought in mind, Akagi quickly entered the frontcourt and moved to the inside.
Rukawa Kaede advanced with the ball, and when he crossed the center line, his eyes turned to Takeshi Jinguji. Sure enough, this time, Takeshi Jinguji still had his back against Zebei Rongji and reached out to him for the ball. It seemed that Takeshi Jinguji was planning to take over the game.
"Sure enough, this kid is going to pass the ball to Jinguji Takeshi!" Kazunari Fukawa, who was defending Rukawa, saw Rukawa looking at Jinguji Takeshi. At the same time, he also saw that Takeshi was already with his back to Zebei ready to receive the ball. He immediately made a judgment in his mind.
Rukawa dribbled the ball in mid-air with his palm covering the basketball, as if he was preparing to pass the ball. At this moment, Kazunari Fukatsu took a step forward and directly blocked the passing route between Rukawa and Jinguji Budou, and at the same time reached out to grab the basketball, trying to steal the ball.
However, he just made a move, and Rukawa, who was dribbling in the air a second ago, quickly pressed the ball down and dribbled past Kazunari Fukatsu. Fukatsu was on guard against Jinguji Budo, so he had left Rukawa's breakthrough route empty.
"What?!" The hand that was trying to steal the ball was empty, and Kazunari Fukatsu saw Rukawa Kaede passing quickly in front of him. He let out a low cry and hurriedly chased after him.
The breakthrough of Rukawa Kaede also attracted the backup defense of Nobe Masahiro. Everyone's attention was focused on Rukawa Kaede at this moment.
"stop!
”
Just when everyone thought that Rukawa would force his way into Nobe Masahiro's defense, a red column flashed before everyone's eyes. Rukawa passed the ball sideways to Mitsui in the corner.
At this time, Matsumoto Minoru, who was defending Mitsui Hisashi, was moving towards the inside to fill in the position and try to grab the rebound. There was no one defending in front of Mitsui Hisashi.
"Good pass, Rukawa Kaede!"
With a snap, the basketball was in his hand, and Mitsui Shou smiled and shot the ball directly in two stages. The beautiful shooting posture made the reporters on the sidelines press the shutter of the camera involuntarily.
“Swish!”
The basketball went into the net, and the slight sound it made was heard by everyone.
Three-pointer, hit!
Mitsui Shou clenched his right fist and a confident smile appeared on his face.
"More flowers blooming, Sanwang can't stop Xiangbei's attack and is about to collapse!"
Seeing Mitsui Shou make a three-pointer, Coach Tanaoka in the stands said to his players with a faint smile on his face, "Shohoku was able to suppress Sanno so easily, and he, the coach of Ryonan, was very happy to see it."
The stronger Shohoku becomes, wouldn’t Ryonan, who defeated Shohoku High School, have a higher status
In other words, the more comprehensive the strength of Xiangbei is now, the more time they have to think about countermeasures. The Xiangbei team on the court now is showing itself in front of the national audience for the first time.
This was also the first time that Coach Takeka saw such a lineup of Shohoku.
The appearance of Rukawa Kaede brought about a qualitative change to Shohoku. If Ryonan had run into Shohoku first, Coach Takeo would really not be able to think of any good way to deal with it for a while.
However, after Mitsui Hisashi scored the three-pointer in the first half, the game situation did not develop in the direction predicted by Coach Tanaka.
Rukawa's sudden pass had a very good effect, which made Rukawa full of confidence in himself. He used the same trick in the next few balls, hoping to break through Sanno's blockade and mobilize all the Xiangbei players.
But Sanno Industrial was not stupid after all and reacted quickly. Matsumoto Minoru, who was defending Mitsui Hisashi, was also not stupid. In the next few balls, he did not give Rukawa Kaede the opportunity to pass the ball to the open space like this.
At the same time, Rukawa, who broke into the inside, was double-teamed from both sides by Fukatsu and the inside players.
When facing double-teaming, Rukawa passed the ball to Takenori Akagi, but when Akagi was shooting, he encountered Masahiro Nobe's cover position and missed the shot. At the same time, the rebound was grabbed by Masashi Kawata who came back.
The second time, Rukawa also broke through successfully and tried to pass the ball back to Jinguji Budou on the outside, but because he was too concerned about Zekita Eiji, the pass was too high and flew out of bounds.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Rukawa planned to attack alone, but due to the interference of Masashi Kawata's defense, his layup fell out of the basket and the rebound fell into Sakuragi's hands. Sakuragi Hanamichi, who stood up to shoot, was directly blocked by Masashi Kawata.
The offensive end was frustrated continuously, and the defensive end was also average. Kawata Masashi's personal strength was very strong, and this guy's vision was also very broad. Mitsui Shou knew that Akagi Takenori could not stop it alone, so he often went to support Akagi and fill in Kawata Masashi.
Often at this time, Masashi Kawata can accurately pass the ball to Matsumoto Minoru in the open position, who will then complete the finish.
After Jinguji Budo followed the team to do a few round trips, the advantage that Xiangbei had just established was gone... ..
And it seems that Rukawa Kaede has not learned his lesson, or rather, Rukawa Kaede tried to find a way on his own to break through Sannoh's defense, and then made several attempts. After the high pick-and-roll, he passed the ball back to Akagi, who finished with a mid-range shot.
Or he could call for a pick-and-roll with Mitsui Shou, and then use Mitsui Shou's offensive threat to break through and shoot. Even Rukawa Kaede has a tough style of play with a one-stop layup.
Some of these attempts were successful, some failed, but overall, Rukawa's performance can be considered remarkable.
However, the score between the two teams came to 31:34 as the game progressed. Thanks to the efforts of Rukawa Kaede, Shohoku High School successfully fell behind Sanno Industrial by 3 points.
However, few people think there is anything wrong with Rukawa Kaede's approach.
The reason is very simple. From the perspective of a point guard, Rukawa Kaede often has no problems with his passing and shooting choices.
It's just that his own hit rate and that of Akagi and others were so-so, and in terms of offensive efficiency, they were not as good as Sanwang. But to say that Sanwang defended the attack organized by Rukawa Kaede? That's not complete, Sanwang only defended part of it.
On the offensive end of Shohoku High School, Jinguji Budo suddenly became marginal.
Besides Jinguji Takeshi himself, the first person to discover this problem was fellow ace Eiji Zebei. Zebei Eiji was shocked to find that Jinguji Takeshi suddenly had less ball possession.
The reason why Zebei was able to discover this problem was because he suddenly felt that his defense had become easier!
But it is obvious that the reason why his defense was easy was definitely not because Jinguji Budou became weaker, or that he suddenly became stronger, but because Jinguji Budou had fewer one-on-ones with the ball.
"Swish!" Under the basket, Masahiro Nobe made a small hook shot and sent the ball into the basket.
14 minutes into the first half, the score between the two teams was 31:36, with Shohoku High School trailing Sanno Industrial by 5 points.
When the score difference reached 5 points, Shigong Tianye in the stands also came to his senses, looked intently at Rukawa Kaede who was advancing with the ball, and suddenly laughed:
“A talented but ambitious first grader.”
"I don't know whether it's good or bad for Xiangbei."
"Jinguji Budo has been deprived of a considerable amount of ball possession imperceptibly. This first-year student is really daring to do it!"
Shinomiya Tano's words made everyone in Ryonan look over. Upon hearing this, Coach Tanoka glanced at the players around him and said with some dissatisfaction:
"Haven't you noticed yet?"
"Think about it, the last time Jinguji Budo attacked with the ball was two minutes ago, right?"
"What about last time? Think about it!"
"Then think about the previous games of Xiangbei High School. Jinguji Budou often attacked with the ball! Almost every ball was initiated by him, right?!"
"Have you not figured it out yet?"
"Rukawa Kaede used a 'reasonable' playing style to deprive the Xiangbei ace of his unreasonable possession of the ball!"
"This freshman is trying to change Xiangbei's ball distribution!"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..