The first half of the game between Xiangbei High School and Ryonan High School lasted 17 minutes and 30 seconds.
The score between the two teams came to 39:43, with Shohoku High School taking a four-point lead. Not only that, after making a three-pointer, Takeshi Jinguji also successfully tricked Sendoh into a foul.
At this moment, Jinguji Budo was already standing at the free throw line.
The referee gave the ball to Jinguji Budou, who stretched his shoulders and neck, dribbled the ball in place, and then shot directly. Jinguji Budou's mid-range shot was very accurate, and the basketball went into the net with a crisp sound.
At the moment of the goal, Xiangbei's supporters began to cheer. At the same time, the scoreboard on the sidelines jumped, and the score between the two teams reached 39:44, with a difference of 5 points.
The disadvantage that had just been almost eliminated by Ryonan High School was once again widened to the three-goal level by Shohoku after Jinguji Budo scored 3+1.
A 4-point difference and a 4-point difference give people different feelings.
There were only two and a half minutes left in the first half. Shinomiya Tano glanced at the scoreboard and ran towards the front court silently.
Ryonan’s goal in the first half was to eliminate the disadvantage, and ideally, to gain some lead and carry the lead into the second half.
Shimono Shimoya had a clear understanding of the situation on the court. He had no hope of completely blocking Shohoku's offense. All he could think about now was preventing Jinguji Budou from getting the ball.
Shimono knew that as long as he could do this, Shohoku's offensive would collapse in an instant!
"Jinguji's martial arts have improved a lot over the years, and his physical combat abilities have also improved."
"Although I can still beat him, the strength and energy required are completely different from before."
"Up to this point in the match, Jinguji Budo's hit rate has not dropped at all due to the fierce physical confrontation. This guy is getting more and more terrifying."
Shinomiya Tano trotted into the frontcourt and when he was near the three-point line, he looked at Jinguji Budou who was defending near the three-point line and thought to himself.
By now, the game was going on, and Shigong Tianye's jersey had been soaked with sweat. Fine beads of sweat kept oozing out of his forehead, sliding down his cheeks to his chin. Shigong Tianye turned his head to look at Fujima's position, and wiped the sweat from his chin with one hand by grabbing the collar of his jersey.
Then, when Takeshi Jinguji came up to defend, he swung without the ball, made a fake move to the right, and quickly seized the gap to break through Takeshi Jinguji's defense and cut into the inside.
"This guy!" Shimono's speed was very fast. The moment he cut into the air, Fujima, who had the ball on the outside, directly threw the ball into the inside.
Shigong Tianye successfully caught the ball in the middle distance, and at the moment he got the ball, Jinguji Budao's figure had bypassed him and came in front of him. Shigong Tianye quickly fell sideways and hit Jinguji Budao's body hard. After pushing Jinguji Budao back, Shigong Tianye shot directly with a small hook shot facing the basket.
The basketball hit the backboard at a 45° angle and went into the net, making a crisp sound.
The scoreboard on the sidelines was ticking, and the score between the two teams was 41:44, with the difference narrowed to three points.
"Beautiful! Field!"
“Good throw!”
"Good pass, Fujima."
After scoring the goal, Shinomiya Tano left the Shohoku inside line and started running towards the frontcourt with the encouragement of Sendoh and Fujima. Shinomiya Tano, Sendoh and Fujima high-fived to celebrate and gave Fujima a thumbs up.
The harmonious team atmosphere makes it impossible to feel that Ryonan is the lagging side.
The difference between Ryonan and Xiangbei is that although they are behind, the pressure on the players is much less than that of Xiangbei. Every time they score a goal, the players can see the score difference narrowing, and the pleasure of catching up stimulates everyone.
Chasing this goal that is within reach can fully mobilize the players' enthusiasm.
On the other hand, every goal scored by Ryonan was a blow to Shohoku. When the young Sakuragi saw the opponent score a goal, he covered his head and cried out in frustration.
Although it is just a minor complaint that is insignificant, this kind of emotion will inevitably affect the team's morale.
"The pressure of being chased is just too great. Even if the players of Xiangbei have strong willpower, they are still just high school students after all."
"It doesn't matter if we don't catch up in the first half. As long as we hold on to the score, Xiangbei will collapse on its own."
Coach Tiangang glanced at the scoreboard and smiled. Although the team was behind, Coach Tiangang was not in a hurry at all. The first half was not over yet. What difference did this score difference make
However, due to the pressure, the Xiangbei players will accelerate the consumption of physical energy. If this snowball continues, the main players of Xiangbei will collapse in the second half after a short period of time.
Coach Tiangang is quite satisfied with the current situation.
On the court, Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had been playing very attentively, began to become distracted. Not only him, but Akagi, who had been running back and forth with the team, also began to have a confused mind.
Takeshi Jinguji and Mitsui Hisashi are still in good shape, but Rukawa Kaede became even more silent after seeing Takeshi Jinguji score 3+1. He exudes a low pressure. At this time, seeing Shinomiya Tano narrow the score, the desire to attack in his eyes became stronger.
Takenori Jinguji noticed the emotions of Takenori Akagi and Sakuragi, but he ignored Rukawa Kaede's ambition.
During the alternation between offense and defense, Rukawa had already entered the front court with the ball, and Jinguji Budou pressed his back against Shinomiya Tano and reached out for the ball. However, facing Jinguji Budou's request for the ball, Rukawa did not choose to pass the ball immediately.
This also gave Shinomiya Tano time to react. He pressed his body directly on Jinguji Takeshi's body, and his right arm directly blocked Takeshi's eyes.
Facing the aggressive defense of Shinomiya Tano, Jinguji Budo could only turn around without the ball to release his energy, and then quickly bypassed Shinomiya Tano and cut into the inside. When Shinomiya Tano chased him, he quickly ran back with his hands on his chest, ready to catch the ball.
However, just when Jinguji Budou missed the opportunity, Rukawa Kaede made a fake breakthrough and then shot the ball directly in front of Fujima.
Rukawa still had some advantages against Fujima, and Fujima's attention was also distracted by Jinguji Budo who ran out of the open space. Facing Rukawa's fake pull-up, Fujima didn't react at all.
“Swish!”
Rukawa's shot hit the basket directly. His goal also made everyone in the Ryonan audience exclaim.
"What?!
!”
"This guy voted on his own again?!"
“Three points, or three-pointers
As the Ryonan substitutes exclaimed, there was a buzz of discussion in the stands. Obviously, Rukawa's sudden three-pointer surprised everyone. What surprised them even more was that Rukawa not only dared to shoot, but also made the shot.
It seems that this freshman from Xiangbei is really planning to get promoted through this game!
When playing basketball, he completely ignored the ace Jinguji Budou!
"Hey, hey, hey, is this true? It seems like your first year is planning to replace you, Budo."
"I ignored your request for the ball, aren't you angry?"
"I'm not trying to cause trouble. If it was a player like this in our Ryonan, I would have asked the coach to put him on the bench a long time ago."
When Shinomiya Tano saw Rukawa Kaede score the three-pointer, he not only did not feel unhappy, but walked up to Wudao as if he was watching a good show, and said with a smile.
In his opinion, anyone from Shohoku can attack, as long as it's not Jinguji Budo.
As for the freshman Rukawa? Maybe he can score a few goals occasionally under Fujima's defense, but so what? Rukawa's offensive efficiency is still not as good as Jinguji Budou. If Rukawa controls the ball for Xiangbei, Shinomiya Tano will be very happy!
"So what? The ball went in. Didn't the freshmen on our team play really well?"
"Don't be jealous, Tian Ye, I know you don't have any outstanding first-year students in Ryonan."
"This year you Ryonan will lose to us Shohoku, and the same will be true next year!"
Budo didn't care about Shigong Tianye's "provocation" at all. Although Rukawa Kaede's actions were indeed a little beyond his expectations, in competitive sports, only success and failure matter.
Whether it is reasonable or not, as long as you can win, who cares whether it is reasonable or not
If Rukawa can really prove that his offensive efficiency is better than his own, and his personal ability is better than his own, then Budou will only improve himself madly off the court. On the court, Budou has only one goal, and that is to win!
"Well... you're right. We at Ryonan don't have any outstanding freshmen this year. But you're wrong about one thing. This year, we're still the winners!"
After Shigong Tianye finished speaking, he ran towards the front court. When Wudao heard this, he also chuckled, quickly passed Shigong Tianye, and returned to his own half of the court to defend early.
Not long after, Fujima dribbled the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt. After a pick-and-roll, Fujima quickly broke through. When he met Sakuragi Hanamichi's defense, he turned around and passed the ball in the opposite direction. The basketball hit Sakuragi's feet and flew into the inside.
Hanagata got the ball under the basket and slam-dunked it directly, helping Ryonan High School get back two points.
43:47, only one and a half minutes left until the end of the first half.
During Xiangbei's offensive round, Rukawa realized that there was not much time left and began to deliberately suppress the offensive rhythm.
His calm way of handling the matter surprised everyone in Ryonan, because before, Rukawa gave them the impression of being a sharp and ambitious freshman point guard.
When Wudao saw that Rukawa took the initiative to slow down the offensive tempo, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was not afraid of Rukawa fighting alone, he was afraid that Rukawa would fight by himself mindlessly.
Fortunately, Rukawa Kaede is still conscious.
When the Ryonan players saw that Shohoku began to slow down the pace, they did not dare to expand the defense line easily. There was no other way. Several outside players of Shohoku High School had excellent shooting abilities. If the defense line was too stretched, it would be impossible to defend against Shohoku.
Therefore, after crossing the center line, Rukawa can still easily carry the ball, press in front of the center line, and quietly wait for time to pass.
Fujima did not rush forward to press. His physical fitness is not as good as Rukawa. It is meaningless to press in that position, as Rukawa will only seize the opportunity to break through.
More than ten seconds passed, and Rukawa finally made a move. While dribbling the ball quickly and approaching the three-point line, he actually made a pick-and-roll gesture to his teammates on the side. Without hesitation, Wudao directly broke away from Shigong Tianye's defense line, quickly ran towards Rukawa, stood on Fujima's left, and made a pick-and-roll.
However, Wudao's pick-and-roll has little effect on Rukawa, because Shinomiya Tanaka is following behind Jinguji Wudao. If Rukawa breaks through, he will encounter Shinomiya Tanaka's backup defense and pursuit.
However, in this way, martial arts has the opportunity to use the bigger opponent to defeat the smaller one.
After the martial arts pick-and-roll was in place, Rukawa seemed not to notice this and rushed directly in the direction of Shinomiya Tanaka's defense. Shinomiya Tanaka's expression was slightly condensed, and he looked at Rukawa deeply. He did not go to make up for the defense and let him go directly.
He didn't want to give Wudao the opportunity to defeat the smaller one through mismatch!
Rukawa, who had successfully broken through, soon encountered Yuzumi's defense near the free throw line. Rukawa quickly stopped and passed the ball, then held the ball with both hands and made a fake pass to Akagi who was in an open space in the interior, successfully making Yuzumi turn his head to look at Akagi. The next second when the opponent's attention was distracted, Rukawa jumped and shot the ball on the spot.
The basketball hit the backboard and bounced into the net.
Rukawa clenched his fists slightly, then turned around and quickly returned to defense.
43:49, the score difference widened to 6 points. Rukawa Kaede passed Fujima and Shinomiya Tano successively, and scored again under the defense of Uozumi.
Rukawa Kaede's success in getting in again made the audience in the stands, who had not seen much of Rukawa Kaede, exclaim in surprise. No one had expected that at the last moment of the first half, Shohoku High School's Rukawa Kaede would actually perform so amazingly.
Everyone thought that the last two minutes would be a contest between Jinguji Takeshi and Shinomiya Tano, but unexpectedly, the person dancing solo on the stage was actually a first-year player.
It was not until this moment that Shinomiya Tano took a serious look at Rukawa's back as he returned to defense, with a hint of surprise revealed between his brows.
Jinguji Takeshi saw the surprised expression on Shigong Tianye's face. Looking at the surprised Shigong Tianye, Takeshi smiled and said:
"How about it?"
"You're surprised by his performance, right?"
"We, Xiangbei, have never been a one-man team."
"Compared to our Xiangbei, your Ryonan's defense has a huge loophole. You should have noticed it by now."
"Shinomiya Field."
After Wudao finished speaking, he turned around and quickly returned to the court. After hearing this, Shigong Tianye couldn't help but frowned and turned to look at Fujima who was going to the baseline to receive the ball.
The defensive loophole that Jinguji Budo was referring to was Fujima!
In high-level competitions, the height of the players is very important.
If it was an ordinary opponent, Fujima, who was less than 180cm tall, would be able to handle it. In fact, most people were no match for Fujima.
But if the opponent is a tall guard like Rukawa Kaede who is nearly 190cm tall, Fujima's physical fitness is really not enough.
Whether it is direct defense or switching defense after a pick-and-roll, Fujima's presence makes it more difficult for Ryonan to play on the defensive end.
If this defensive weakness is not resolved, even if Ryonan High School can overtake the score in a short period of time, this lead will definitely not last until the end of the game.
"Fujima..."
"Who could have thought... Fujima would become the weak point of our Ryonan defense?!"
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