After a whistle, the referee kicked off.
The national competition semi-final match between Shohoku High School and Ryonan High School officially began.
As the basketball entered the air, Yuzumi Jun and Akagi Takenori jumped up almost at the same time and stretched out their hands to hit the basketball. Although there was a difference in height between the two, Akagi Takenori's jumping explosive power was stronger than Yuzumi's, so the palms of the two people also hit the basketball at almost the same time.
“Bang!
”
Two big hands, one on the left and one on the right, slapped the basketball hard. Under the influence of these two huge forces, the basketball was slightly deformed and then rolled to the side without flying towards either side's backcourt.
In the competition for the jump ball, Takenori Akagi and Jun Uozumi were evenly matched, with not much gap between them.
“ohhhh!
!”
"Amazing! There's no winner in jump ball!"
"Go grab the ball!"
The audience in the stands exclaimed when they saw this scene. Coach Tiangang on the sidelines saw the basketball fall to the side and hurriedly reminded the players on the field.
In fact, Coach Takeo didn't need to say anything more, because Sendoh was already rushing towards the basketball.
In today's game, Sendoh Akira's opponent is the third-year Mitsui Hisashi. The two are very similar in height and weight, but in terms of athletic ability and performance, Sendoh is much stronger than the third-year Mitsui Hisashi.
"Snap!" Sendoh, who jumped out first, was one body length ahead of Mitsui Hisashi and got the ball first. After getting the basketball, Sendoh did not stick to the ball, but directly passed the ball behind his back and gave it to Fujima Kenji in the backcourt.
The basketball fell into Fujima's hands. Realizing that they had no chance, the Xiangbei players did not continue to fight with the opponent in the midfield. They quickly retreated to their own half and took up defense.
Facing the familiar old rival Ryonan High School, Xiangbei adopted the familiar man-to-man defense. Coach Anxi did not choose a double team defense. His idea was to use man-to-man defense first to test the offensive tendency of Ryonan High School. At the same time, through this local one-on-one defense, Xiangbei's players quickly entered the game state.
Coach Anzai is very familiar with his players. Whether it is seniors Mitsui and Akagi, or juniors Sakuragi and others, each of these players from Xiangbei High School is very confident and proud. Such players can only be fully stimulated by one-on-one defense.
On the court, Fujima Kenji, who got the jump ball, raised a finger and shouted "steady and steady" while slowly advancing towards the Shohoku half with the ball.
Unlike any opponent that Ryonan High School has ever encountered, Shohoku High School is not the kind of team that can win just by playing casually.
Fujima must handle every ball well, because every ball may be the key 2 points in the final stage!
"Pick and roll!"
As he approached the three-point line with the ball, the guard Rukawa Kaede from the Xiangbei side quickly came up. Rukawa Kaede's cold eyes under his bangs stared at the basketball in Fujima's hand, bent his waist slightly, followed the opponent's dribbling rhythm, and adjusted his position.
"A first year student at Xiangbei High School?"
“The defense looked very imposing.”
“It’s very stressful.”
After encountering Rukawa's defense, Fujima Kenji subconsciously changed his dribbling posture from high dribbling to low dribbling. He felt a strong threat from Rukawa.
After dribbling the ball in place for two seconds, Hanagata Toru in the interior quickly moved to the high position, stood behind and to the side of Rukawa, and made a pick-and-roll out of Rukawa's sight. The quality of the pick-and-roll was quite excellent.
"Ryukawa Kaede, switch defense!"
At the same time that Hanagata was taking a stance, Fujima Kenji had already made a move. After a large change of direction in front of his body, he quickly broke through in the direction of Hanagata's pick-and-roll. At the moment when Rukawa turned around to chase, Sakuragi Hanamichi's roar exploded in Rukawa's ears.
Turning around, Rukawa Kaede accelerated and took a step forward, but was forced to stop because right in front of him was the "human wall" of Hanagata Toru.
However, Sakuragi's reminder came in time. Rukawa didn't think much about it when he heard it. The next moment he stopped, he flashed in front of Hanagata, completed the defense switch, and cut off the passing route between Fujima and Hanagata.
Although he is only a freshman in high school, Rukawa has a sharp defensive instinct.
Kenji Fujima, who broke through Rukawa, was soon met by Hanamichi Sakuragi who came to defend him. When the tall and strong Sakuragi raised his arms, the sense of oppression he gave to Fujima was even stronger than the one Rukawa had just given him.
With an abrupt stop, the basketball switched to his right hand. Fujima paused and looked up at the basket.
His action aroused Sakuragi's vigilance and his defensive center of gravity was raised. But at this moment, Fujima quickly changed direction, lowered his body, and broke through directly to his left side. The speed was so fast that in the eyes of the audience, Fujima's body flashed and he was already level with Sakuragi.
"Oh!
! A breakthrough, worthy of being Kenji Fujima! "
"No, not yet!"
Fujima's breakthrough speed is indeed very fast, and he also seizes the opportunity of breakthrough very well, but Sakuragi Hanamichi's physical fitness cannot be predicted by common sense at all.
If it were someone else, this kind of high-center-of-gravity defensive method would make it impossible to catch up with Fujima, but Sakuragi Hanamichi is not an ordinary person!
He is a true genius!
"Bang!" Sakuragi's pursuit came very quickly. Fujima, who was rushing forward, suddenly saw a figure jumping out from behind. The next second, his body hit Sakuragi's solid chest.
Sakuragi raised one hand flat and the other high, and actually kept up with Fujima's breakthrough with this posture.
In the physical confrontation with Sakuragi, Fujima Kenji had no advantage at all and was forced to stop by Sakuragi Hanamichi. However, Fujima did not dare to stop the ball in this position, and jumped forward directly. When he was in the air, he also looked behind him, ready to pass the ball to Hanagata.
However, the moment Fujima turned his head and saw Hanagata, he realized that Hanagata had no space to receive the ball, so he could only focus his attention on Shinomiya Tano who was farther away.
"field!"
Fujima grabbed the ball with both hands and threw it outside the three-point line.
Fujima's pass was very powerful, and the arc of the pass was also quite high. In the eyes of others, Fujima's legend was obviously a dying struggle after being forced into a desperate situation. This pass was a mistake!
However, Shimono Shimomiya, who was standing on the outside, remained calm when he saw the high pass. He pressed his right hand against Jinguji Budou's chest and quickly retreated to the sideline. When the basketball fell, he jumped high and actually caught the "missed" pass in his hands.
The height of Shimono's jump was definitely more than one meter. At this time, the reporters near the position where Shimono received the ball only felt the lights above their heads dim. When they looked up, a tall young man had already grabbed the ball in one hand, and then quickly put it into his arms and fell back to the ground.
"Good pass, Fujima."
When Shimoyasu Shimoya landed, his feet just stepped on the floor inside the sideline. Shimoyasu Shimoya got the basketball with a smile on his face. After saying a compliment with a smile, he slowly moved the ball towards the three-point line.
"As expected of you, you even caught the ball like this."
"I should have put some defensive pressure on you just now, so you wouldn't be able to receive the ball."
Jinguji Budo watched Shinomiya Tano slowly dribbling the ball towards the three-point line, and he smiled and praised him casually.
"There's no need for such hypocritical compliments."
"What does this level mean to you?"
Shinomiya Tianye was not in a hurry to attack. He glanced at the corner of his eye and saw that there were 20 seconds left for the attack, and replied calmly.
“It’s still the same!”
"Shinomiya Tano, it's been a while since we last fought, right?"
"Come on, I want to see if I can stop you now!"
Jinguji Budo lowered his center of gravity slightly and hooked his finger at Shigong Tianye. Seeing this, Shigong Tianye's eyes were full of fighting spirit and he quickly accelerated the pace of dribbling.
"You can never defend against me!"
"I'm much stronger than I was in the county competition!"
As Shigong Tianye spoke, he quickly dropped the ball and accelerated to break through. His movements were clean and neat, without any drag. The simple acceleration and breakthrough made Jinguji Budo feel like he was facing a formidable enemy.
"Here it comes!" The martial arts boy's hole shrank, and he quickly moved sideways to catch up, his chest directly hitting the side of Shigong Tano. The huge force made Jinguji Wudao's breathing stagnate.
Even the current him couldn't withstand that familiar terrifying force!
"How can this guy be so powerful?!"
"My strength has improved greatly, but I still can't stop it?!"
Wu Dao was surprised by the terrifying power displayed by Shigong Tianye at this time. They were all high school students. He had deliberately gained muscle during his stay in the United States in order to strengthen his ability to fight.
But even so, when he faced Shinomiya Tano again, Jinguji Budo still felt that he was not up to the task.
It is hard to imagine how a yellow person can have such terrifying power in high school. Because normally, the yellow person's body matures slower than that of blacks and whites.
However, Shimoya's physical fitness is not like that of a yellow person at all. This kind of terrifying physical talent can be described as "top" even among black players.
Jinguji Budo was pushed back a step by Shinomiya Tano's huge force, revealing a flaw.
And Shigong Tianye, who relied on confrontation to gain a gap, was also slightly stunned and a little surprised. His breakthrough had already fully exerted his strength. Under such circumstances, Jinguji Budou, who was passively sliding to chase and defend, actually only retreated one step? !
During the team practice matches, Sendoh's physique was enough to push the opponent away!
"really!"
"Jinguji Budo, you are indeed the opponent most worthy of being defeated by me!"
The surprise on Shigong Tianye's face was fleeting, and the next second, he accelerated and rushed forward. However, it was far from enough to break through Jinguji Budou's defense. Budou, who took a step back, quickly adjusted his posture and caught up with Shigong Tianye just when he crossed the three-point line, and covered Shigong Tianye with one hand.
Sigong Tianye, who was moving quickly, seemed to have anticipated this. He held the basketball in his right hand and dribbled the ball behind his back to change the direction of the breakthrough. Then, Sigong Tianye slapped the basketball with his left hand, and then, one meter inside the three-point line, he grabbed the basketball with his left hand and quickly rushed towards the basket.
Catch the ball with one hand and attack the basket directly.
Shimono's breakthrough was beyond Wudao's expectations. He caught the ball with one hand and his speed increased a bit. He directly crossed the free throw line and then jumped high.
At this time, only Takenori Akagi could defend under the basket, but Akagi had just run two steps forward when Shinomiya Tano, who grabbed the ball with his left hand, rose to the highest point, hooked the ball and sent it towards the basket.
“Swish!”
As a soft sound sounded behind Takenori Akagi, the audience in the stands suddenly burst into amazing cheers.
Shigong Tianye fell back to the ground with a calm expression, turned around, looked at Jinguji Budo and said with a smile:
"That Xiaoguang's lob shot is pretty good. It's very useful."
After saying that, Shigong Tianye ran towards his own half. Wudao looked at Shigong Tianye who was leaving, and after a brief moment of daze, his eyes burst into a fiery fighting spirit.
"Interesting! Really interesting!"
"Not only did he perfectly replicate Zebei's lob shot, but he also used his weak-side hand."
"This guy's talent is far more terrifying than Zebei Rongzhi!"
"Haha, as expected, such an opponent... is really interesting!"
Jinguji Takeshi clenched his fists and got goose bumps all over his body. The opponent's powerful strength made him feel a long-lost sense of tension.
"Ryukawa... give me the ball!"
Jinguji Budo turned and said to Rukawa Kaede, his face full of excitement.
Rukawa had just received the pass from Akagi in the backcourt. When he heard Wudao's words, he looked up at Wudao.
Seeing Takeshi's expression at this moment, Rukawa was also stunned. It was the first time he saw such an expression on Takeshi's face.
As for the request of martial arts, Rukawa Kaede had no way to refuse.
After quickly dribbling the ball into the frontcourt, Rukawa Kaede quickly passed the ball to Jinguji Budou.
Wu Dao, who caught the ball with both hands, was only one meter away from the three-point line. As he caught the ball, Shinomiya Tano quickly came up to him, not wanting to give Wu Dao any space to dribble the ball.
This is not the first or second time that these two have fought each other. Shigong Tianye is very familiar with Wudao's offensive methods. He will not give Wudao enough space to adjust his posture and rhythm!
However, just as Shinomiya Tano approached Jinguji Takeshi, Jinguji Takeshi, who had the ball, turned his back to the basket and dribbled the ball between his legs. Then, he quickly turned around and rushed towards the basket, then he quickly pulled the ball back in one step, and then followed with a bow.
At the moment when Shinomiya Tano raised his center of gravity, Jinguji Budo had already lowered his center of gravity again and took a step forward.
Jinguji Budou's speed was very fast. By the time Shinomiya Tano turned around to chase Jinguji Budou, Budou had already penetrated more than two meters into the three-point line.
Facing the chasing Shinomiya Tano, Takeshi Jinguji was not afraid at all. He actively sought physical confrontation. The next second after he bumped into Shinomiya Tano's chest, Takeshi Jinguji took a step back and then made a jump shot with a fade away.
The basketball flew directly over Shinomiya Tano's head and headed towards the basket.
"whispering sound!"
"This guy is still so difficult!"
Shimono looked up at the basketball and saw the arc of the basketball, and couldn't help but curse.
"Normally, my opponents are not worthy of my step-back fadeaway jump shot."
"No matter who it is, it's impossible to stop my attack!"
Wu Dao looked at the basketball in the air, and after it landed, he turned around and started running back. And the next second after he turned around, the basketball went straight into the net with a crisp sound.
“Swish!”
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