Rukawa Kaede had two consecutive balls intercepted by Ryonan High School. With Ryonan's two counterattacks, the score between the two teams came to 57:53, and Ryonan High School led Shohoku High School by 4 points.
On the sidelines, Coach Tagore looked at Rukawa Kaede on the field, chuckling and talking to himself.
Rookie Wall.
Rookie Wall, in the NBA, this term describes that after rookies enter the NBA, they usually have no form for a certain period of time, as if there is an invisible wall blocking their way forward.
This situation usually occurs within 2-6 months after a rookie enters the league. There are many talented players who are never able to adjust the psychological gap in their entire lives and are firmly blocked by the rookie wall, always staying where they are and never being able to get over it.
And this situation now happens to Rukawa Kaede.
Leaping from the fish pond of junior high school into the big lake of high school, Rukawa Kaede had an extremely difficult time fighting against an unprecedentedly strong enemy.
After being repeatedly intercepted by players from Ryonan High School on the court, Rukawa realized that in just 20 minutes of halftime, Ryonan had found a way to target him.
After scoring the shot, Sendoh turned around and started to defend. When he passed by Rukawa, he slightly turned his head and glanced at Rukawa.
At this moment, Rukawa Kaede lowered his head and looked at the floor in a daze. His long bangs covered his eyes. Although Sendoh couldn't see clearly, he could still feel that Rukawa Kaede had lost a lot of his sharpness.
The continuous steals have already affected Rukawa Kaede's mentality.
"Ryukawa Kaede... It's too early for you to step onto a stage like this right now!"
Sendoh said secretly in his heart, then quickened his pace to return to defense, passed Rukawa Kaede, and quickly ran towards Ryonan's half.
At this time, Mitsui Shou had already walked to the outside of the baseline, picked up the basketball and prepared to serve, but when he saw Rukawa Kaede lowering his head and not moving, he immediately realized that something was wrong with Rukawa Kaede and shouted:
"Hey! Rukawa, come back and receive the ball, get ready to attack!"
"Hey, Rukawa Kaede!"
After two consecutive shouts, Rukawa finally responded after hearing Mitsui's shout. He raised his head and looked at Mitsui with a confused face, and his eyes slowly came into focus.
"This brat!" Mitsui Shou was stunned when he saw Rukawa Kaede's eyes.
It was the first time he saw such an expression on Rukawa Kaede's face. The confused look made Mitsui Shou's heart sink.
"Are you stunned?!" Mitsui pushed the ball with both hands and passed it to Rukawa Kaede, then quickly stepped into the court and trotted to Rukawa Kaede's side. After carefully observing Rukawa Kaede's expression, he encouraged him:
"Ryukawa Kaede, don't worry about it, just maintain your pace."
"These two steals were just because you were a little slow in passing the ball."
"When advancing with the ball, pay attention to the positions of other Ryonan players, pass the ball more often, and move the ball quickly."
What Mitsui said can only be regarded as some suggestions for "beginners". Generally speaking, for a mature point guard, these so-called "suggestions" are of no use at all.
But even so, Mitsui Shou still said these words to Rukawa Kaede.
"Yeah." Rukawa nodded. At this moment, his condition seemed to have recovered a little. There was some spirit on his face, and his dribbling speed also increased a little.
Mitsui saw that Rukawa's attention was back on the court, stared at Rukawa for a few seconds and then quickly entered the front court. After entering the front court, Mitsui no longer played the triangle offense and walked directly to the bull corner on the left side of the court.
At the same time, it also signaled Koichirō Nango to sink into the inside, leaving him with a mid-range position so that the players on the outside would have sufficient space to launch offensive attacks.
When Fujima saw Rukawa dribbling into the frontcourt, he used the same trick again and rushed towards Rukawa. Without even waiting for Rukawa to get close to the three-point line, he stood in front of Rukawa and hit him with his chest.
Fujima's strength is not great for Rukawa, but such physical confrontation still greatly reduces Rukawa's dribbling space, making it very uncomfortable for him to hold the ball.
At the same time that Fujima was approaching, Sendoh and Shinomiya Tano's eyes quickly swept towards the direction of Rukawa and Fujima.
If Rukawa breaks through Fujima's defense, these two will rush up to defend immediately.
"Stop it! Is Rukawa Kaede afraid of making up for the defense? Is he afraid to fight?"
Under the defense of Kenji Fujima, Rukawa Kaede stopped unconsciously and did not use his physical advantage to break through Fujima. Seeing this scene, Mitsui Shou let out a light exclamation in his heart, and then immediately rushed towards the direction of Rukawa Kaede, trying to provide an off-ball screen for Rukawa Kaede.
At this moment, Jinguji Budou ran back without the ball, not only did he not go to meet Rukawa, but he went straight to the inside. Seeing this, Shigong Tianye hesitated for a moment, ignored Rukawa at the top of the arc, and followed Jinguji Budou out of the three-point line.
"Ryukawa Kaede, don't lose your edge because of that little setback!"
"No matter what kind of player you are, you will encounter situations where you are intercepted. If you recognize your own shortcomings and use all the weapons you have, you will be able to break through the current difficulties!"
Takeshi Jinguji looked at Rukawa Kaede in the distance. When he was near the free throw line, he suddenly stopped, changed direction again, and rushed back to the top of the three-point arc.
The continuous shuttle runs finally allowed Jinguji Budou to gain a little distance, and he already had space to catch the ball.
"Ryukawa! Pass the ball!"
Jinguji Budou saw that Rukawa Kaede had not passed the ball yet, so he shouted loudly. Rukawa Kaede, who had focused his attention on Fujima, finally heard Jinguji Budou's shout at this time, and without thinking much, he directly passed the ball in the direction of Budou.
“Bang!”
The basketball flew quickly over Fujima's head and fell directly into the hands of Takeshi Jinguji. Takeshi Jinguji, who had the ball, was about two meters away from the three-point line. The moment the basketball got his hands, Takeshi Jinguji swept the ball and turned to face the basket.
Shinomiya Tano, who had been chasing and defending Jinguji Takeshi, suddenly stopped at this moment. He took a step back and put nearly fifty centimeters between himself and Takeshi, leaving himself enough defensive depth.
In front of the center line, Rukawa Kaede, who successfully passed the ball, felt his head become clear for some reason and his tense muscles relaxed at this moment.
The feeling of relief made Rukawa Kaede couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
It was not until now that Rukawa realized how comfortable it felt to be able to rely on his teammates on the court.
Jinguji Budo, who started with a basketball, also became nervous at this moment.
Fujima Kenji, who was originally defending Rukawa, now let go of Rukawa in front of the center line and instead surrounded Jinguji Takeshi from behind, trying to steal the ball from Jinguji Takeshi from behind.
Although Jinguji Budou was holding the ball and facing the basket at this time, Fujima's movements behind him did not escape his attention at all.
In Jinguji Budo's mind, the moment he received the basketball, he had already anticipated the possible reactions of Ryonan, and his attack would definitely not give Ryonan the possibility to steal the ball!
After a crotch dribble, Jinguji Takeshi moved sideways and directly stuck to Shinomiya Tano, and the moment Takeshi quickly closed the distance between the two, his posture quickly changed from facing the frame to facing the basket sideways.
With the ball in hand, he half-turned and broke through in disguise. Jinguji Budou faced the basket again, and at the same time, he successfully passed through Shinomiya Tano's defense line and was level with Shinomiya Tano. At the moment when Shinomiya Tano slid to follow up, Jinguji Budou, who was facing the basket, dribbled the ball between his legs and changed direction again.
Takeshi Jinguji's continuous and high-frequency changes of direction allowed him to successfully break away from Shinomiya Tano's defense and invade the edge of the three-point line. When Shinomiya Tano was chasing him, Takeshi Jinguji had already gathered the ball and jumped, then made an emergency stop and shot a three-pointer.
The basketball flew directly out of Jinguji Takeshi's hands, and in the astonished eyes of everyone in the audience, it fell steadily into the net with a crisp "swish" sound.
The audience was stunned for a moment, and then burst into amazing cheers.
"Three-pointer?! Can you make a three-pointer like this?!"
"After changing direction continuously, he was able to shoot three-pointers without adjusting his posture. Is this guy really human?!"
“ohhhhhhh! Shohoku! Shohoku!
”
The cheers from the audience surged into the stadium like a tsunami.
Many of the people who came to watch the game today were players, including college students, high school students, and many college scouts and coaches. These industry insiders knew exactly what kind of body control Jinguji Budo needed to score a three-pointer.
Jinguji Budo, who was able to complete this attack, was already at the top of his game in terms of rhythm control and body coordination.
"Jinguji Budo... turns out to be such a scary guy."
"In the match against Sanwang, this guy didn't even use much of his strength."
"Looking across the country, I'm afraid only Shinomiya Tano of Ryonan can force out such Jinguji martial arts!"
In a corner of the stands, Zebei Rongji, wearing a baseball cap, stared at Jinguji Budou who was starting to return to defense on the court, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
This talented player who has had smooth sailing since childhood has suffered setbacks on the national stage. Now, he has temporarily given up the idea of going to the United States.
There are still people he needs to pursue in the current high school arena, and Zebei plans to go to the United States after he becomes the "true" number one high school student in the country.
But after watching the game between Xiangbei and Ryonan today, Zebei suddenly realized that the gap between himself and those two top players was far more than just physical fitness.
The scoreboard on the sidelines was ticking, and the score between Ryonan High School and Shohoku High School had reached 57:56, with the difference narrowed to one point.
Jinguji Budo's three-pointer was a shot in the arm for Shohoku, and both the players on and off the court were extremely excited.
After quickly returning to the court, Jinguji Budou went straight into the paint and played the power forward position. After Rukawa Kaede and Budou returned to the court and took their positions, Budou said loudly to Rukawa Kaede:
"Ryukawa Kaede, the main attacker, does not just hold the ball and play one-on-one."
"Cutting without the ball is also very important."
"You slacked off after just passing the ball!"
Jinguji Budou's voice attracted the attention of Rukawa Kaede at the top of the arc. His face tightened slightly, and Rukawa Kaede turned around and looked at Jinguji Budou. After a moment of silence, Rukawa Kaede whispered, "Sorry, I will pay attention."
Mitsui Shou, who was not far away, clearly heard Rukawa Kaede's apology and was very surprised.
He was really surprised that such a proud boy like Rukawa Kaede would say such words!
Of course, Mitsui Shou scoffed at what Wu Dao said.
If someone else said this, he would actually believe it to some extent, but when Jinguji Budou said this, he could only be teaching Rukawa Kaede, a first-year student, a lesson.
After all, Mitsui Hisashi knew clearly that Jinguji Budou seldom passed the ball when he was attacking.
Just as the Xiangbei players were communicating, the Ryonan high school players had already entered the frontcourt. Sendoh Akira assisted Fujima, who had the ball, with a pick-and-roll, allowing Fujima to successfully pass Rukawa Kaede's defense and break into the inside.
However, Xiangbei also switched defense in time, and Mitsui blocked Fujima when he was approaching the free throw line.
Just when Mitsui thought the opponent would pass the ball, Shinomiya Tano suddenly appeared beside Mitsui and helped Fujima to make a pick-and-roll.
"This guy... set a pick-and-roll for Fujima?!"
As Mitsui Shou exclaimed in surprise, Fujima used the pick-and-roll to make a horizontal shot directly from the free throw line.
The basketball flew out and fell directly into the net.
The cooperation of the people in Ryonan was very tacit, and Fujima's attack was also very sudden. The martial arts in the inside focused all their attention on Shinomiya Tano, and they did not expect that Ryonan would actually let Fujima attack.
As the basketball went into the net, the gap between the two teams widened to three points.
Akagi Takenori quickly served the ball at the baseline and passed it to Rukawa. As he ran past Rukawa, Budo patted Rukawa on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "If you rush forward with the ball, you will be blocked by the opponent."
"Then why not try cutting without the ball."
"Although Fujima's speed is pretty good, his body size is way different from yours. More importantly, his jumping ability is way different from yours!"
After saying this, Jinguji Budo quickened his pace and quickly entered the front court. Rukawa's eyes lit up after hearing this. With his talent and awareness, it was impossible for him not to think of this method. It was just that Ryonan blocked several balls in a row, and Rukawa's mentality was a little unbalanced.
With the guidance of Jinguji Budo, Rukawa Kaede can easily find advantages that he can exploit.
Soon, all the players of Xiangbei entered the frontcourt one after another. After entering the frontcourt, Rukawa Kaede passed the ball directly to Jinguji Budou without waiting for Fujima's defense to come forward.
Everyone in Ryonan was stunned when they saw this scene. Coach Tian Gang, who was standing by the court, was slightly surprised. Then he hugged his chest, smiled and shook his head: "Are you realizing your incompetence and starting to pass the ball?"
"That's good too. This is the defensive rhythm that we at Ryonan are more familiar with."
However, just as Coach Tanaoka finished his murmur, something strange happened on the court.
After getting the basketball, Jinguji Budou did not immediately shoot one-on-one. Instead, he held the basketball high with both hands and lowered his head slightly to look at Shinomiya Tano who was ready in front of him.
Suddenly, Jinguji Budo jumped lightly and threw the ball directly.
"Huh?! The strength of your knees is not enough, this is not a shot!" Shinomiya Tano turned his head and happened to see that Rukawa had actually passed Fujima Kenji's defense and quickly cut into the inside.
Jinguji Budo's "shooting" is fake, passing the ball is real.
Soon, Rukawa entered the basket and jumped in front of Fujima and grabbed the ball. Then after a dunk, he turned around and shot a close-range jump shot.
Although Kenji Fujima tried very hard to block Rukawa's shot, his height and jumping ability made it impossible for him to limit Rukawa's shot in such a close position.
The basketball hit the backboard and went into the net, making a crisp sound.
The score between the two teams was 59:58, and the difference was still only one point.
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