There was a full minute left in the game and the team was still three points behind their opponent.
If the basketball was in your hands at this moment, how would you choose to attack
Should I play it safe and go for two points? Or should I risk my life and shoot a three-pointer
At this time on the court, Ryonan High School's Fujima Kenji was thinking about this question. Uozumi Jun had already picked up the basketball and went to the baseline, leaving Fujima only a few seconds to think. When the basketball fell into Fujima's hands, Fujima needed to make a decision.
"Fujima! Give me the ball!"
The role of the ace is to be the person who makes decisions on the court when the team faces a choice.
Just when Fujima Kenji was in a dilemma, Shinomiya Tano's voice came from behind Fujima. Without turning back to look at Shinomiya Tano, when the basketball came out of Uozumi Jun's hand, Fujima already knew what he should do.
Kenji Fujima received the serve in the backcourt without any pause. After getting the basketball, he quickly passed the ball to Shimonoseki who was jogging towards the center line at that time.
At this point in the game, Shinomiya Tano didn't need his teammates to help him dribble the ball into the frontcourt. At this time, Shinomiya Tano only believed in his own abilities!
With the basketball in hand, Shinomiya Tano quickly dropped the ball and accelerated, and in the blink of an eye he arrived in front of Jinguji Budou.
Shinomiya Tano paused outside the three-point line, dragged his feet and faked a dribble with the ball, his eyes fixed on the position of Jinguji Budou's feet. When he moved sideways to mobilize Jinguji Budou's defense, Shinomiya Tano seized the opportunity when Budou adjusted his steps.
He accelerated directly and broke through with the ball. At the same time, Shinomiya Tano's ball protection hand was against Takeshi's lower abdomen. The huge force pushed Takeshi Jinguji away from his original position, causing Takeshi Jinguji, who was already adjusting his steps, to lose balance instantly. He staggered back a few steps before he stood firm.
Shinomiya Tano, who had quickly passed Jinguji Budou, did not let his guard down. He knew that such a breakthrough move would not be able to completely defeat Jinguji Budou.
The result was exactly as Shinomiya Tano had expected. Jinguji Takeshi quickly stood firm, then turned around and quickly caught up with the attacking Shinomiya Tano. At this time, Shinomiya Tano was only more than one meter across the three-point line.
When Budo caught up with the charging Shinomiya Tano, the Ryonan players on the sidelines couldn't help but let out a series of exclamations. The impatient Aida Hikoichi even shouted loudly to remind Shinomiya Tano of the threat from behind: "Shinomiya-senpai, behind you!"
“They’re catching up!”
The advancing Shigong Tianye had no interest in even looking back. After quickly attacking the basket, Shigong Tianye grabbed the ball with both hands, paused, looked at the basket and bent his knees slightly. His action instantly attracted the attention of Wudao and Akagi Takenori who was defending. They both jumped up and blocked Shigong Tianye's head.
And just the next moment after Akagi Takenori jumped, Shinomiya Tano, who had paused in the rhythm of the ball, jumped up, and his body directly pressed against Akagi Takenori, grabbing the ball with both arms and leaning towards Akagi Takenori's arms.
"Akagi, don't foul!"
Takeshi Jinguji noticed Shimono's intention and quickly reminded Akagi. He also quickly stopped the hand that was about to hit the basketball in Shimono's hand.
At this time, even Wu Dao would not dare to gamble whether he could block Shinomiya Tano's attack or cause a foul.
Akagi Takenori had suffered such a loss before. When Shinomiya Tano attacked the basket, he tried hard to restrain his wrist blocking action.
After colliding with Akagi Takenori, Shimonoseki in mid-air seemed to lose his balance, and his body quickly tilted sideways and fell to the ground. However, the basketball in his hand went directly from under Akagi Takenori's armpit to the basket in this way.
“Bang!”
The basketball spun from bottom to top and hit the backboard. The next second, the basketball spun directly upwards and in the blink of an eye it was right above the basket, and then fell steadily into the net.
The basketball went into the net and Shimoya Tano fell back to the ground, but he seemed to have lost his balance in the air. He did not stand firmly after landing. After taking a step sideways, he fell directly to the ground with a dull "bang" sound.
At this time, the Xiangbei players did not look at the basketball falling from the net, but turned to look at the referee at the baseline.
The referee blew the whistle and indicated that the goal was valid, but the whistle did not sound.
This also made all the Xiangbei players breathe a sigh of relief.
“Full-court press!”
"Go up and double-team, don't let Jinguji Budou get the basketball."
Just as Akagi Takenori picked up the basketball and walked to the baseline with great relief, Coach Tanaka on the sidelines immediately jumped up from his seat and shouted towards the court.
After failing in his attempt to "bump into someone", Shinomiya Tano quickly climbed up from the floor. Without needing anyone's help, he went straight towards Jinguji Budou.
"You guys, are you going to stop pretending?"
"Why don't you lie on the ground for a while?"
Wu Dao taunted the opponent while running and trying to break free from Shinomiya Tano's defense.
"If the referee blows the whistle, I don't mind lying down for a while."
At this point in the game, Shimono's mentality was very relaxed. Facing the ridicule of Jinguji Takeshi, he was not angry. He just put his hands on Takeshi's chest and followed closely when Takeshi ran, not giving him any extra space.
"It sticks very tightly and is not easy to get away."
Wudao's heart sank. Seeing Akagi Takenori holding the ball with both hands and looking at a loss, he immediately shouted to Akagi:
"Pass it to Rukawa Kaede, lob it!"
While Wudao was speaking, Akagi Takenori had already thrown the ball out.
There was nothing wrong with Wudao's judgment. Ryonan High School's full-court press did not have as much effect on Shohoku High School as imagined.
The height difference between the point guards will be the key to Xiangbei's breakthrough.
The basketball flew out of Akagi's hands and was thrown towards the direction of Rukawa and Fujima Kenji. Rukawa looked up at the falling basketball, easily caught Fujima Kenji with one hand, and then jumped lightly and caught the ball directly in his hands.
The moment he grabbed the ball and landed on the ground, Fujima Kenji came directly in front of Rukawa Kaede, stretched out his hand and hit the basketball in Rukawa Kaede's hand from bottom to top.
When players have the ball, they are often the most relaxed.
But that's for rookies, and Rukawa is not that kind of rookie.
Rukawa quickly raised the ball above his head, dodged Fujima's steal, and quickly dropped the ball to the side, accelerating the breakthrough and instantly passing Fujima.
"Quick attack!"
“No need to press the time!”
"Fight when you get a chance!"
When Mitsui saw Rukawa successfully break through Fujima Kenji, he hurried to the front court and shouted loudly.
After being reminded by Mitsui, Rukawa, who was moving forward quickly with the ball, quickly looked in the direction of Mitsui and threw the ball out directly.
Sendoh Akira saw Rukawa passing the ball towards him, and just when he was about to speed up to pass Mitsui Shou, he was blocked by Mitsui Shou. He lost his speed and watched the basketball being taken by Mitsui Shou.
Although Mitsui's physical fitness is slightly inferior to Sendoh's, his game experience is enough to make up for such physical defects.
Mitsui Hisashi, who got the ball, quickly entered the frontcourt. When he approached the three-point line, Jinguji Takeshi and Shinomiya Tano had already entered the Ryonan basket one after the other.
Wu Dao had no intention of stopping to catch the ball from the outside. He simply pointed to the basket with his right hand, indicating that Mitsui Shou should pass the ball.
Seeing this scene, Mitsui Shou didn't hesitate at all and threw the ball directly towards the basket. The basketball instantly came above Wudao and Shinomiya Tano.
"Are you going to challenge me at this time?!"
"Jinguji martial arts, aerial combat, I will never lose to anyone!"
Shinomiya Tano looked at the basketball in the air, and the muscles all over his body began to tense up. Soon, Jinguji Takeshi, who was approaching the basket, jumped up and grabbed the basketball with his right hand. Shinomiya Tano, who was following closely behind Takeshi, also jumped up almost at the same time, and did not try to grab the ball, but directly intended to push the ball down.
The purpose is to prevent Jinguji Takeshi from having an opportunity to slam dunk.
Jinguji Budo was obviously aware of Shinomiya Tano's actions. He grabbed the ball with one hand and quickly put it into his arms, and then fell back to the ground. At this time, he was less than one meter away from the basket.
After landing with the ball, Takeshi Jinguji raised the ball with both hands and faked a move, then he directly pressed his body against Shinomiya Tano. While using his body to fight, Takeshi Jinguji also quickly threw the ball out with a hook shot.
The basketball hit the backboard and went into the net, making a crisp sound.
102:99, the score difference is still three points, and there are only 38 seconds left.
Between offense and defense, Fujima Kenji received a pass from his teammate in the backcourt and quickly advanced to the frontcourt.
Shohoku High School did not adopt a full-court pressing defense like Ryonan High School. For Shohoku, what they need to do is to be steady.
As long as they maintain their advantage, victory in the game will surely belong to them in the end!
Under the leadership of Takeshi Jinguji, Shohoku returned to the court early. While running towards the frontcourt with the ball, Kenji Fujima was observing Shohoku's defense. Seeing no obvious loopholes, Fujima immediately passed the ball to Shinomiya Tano.
For Ryonan, every attack is very crucial. Ryonan has three people who are capable of handling such key balls, but relatively speaking, Shimoya Tano is actually the most stable one.
With the basketball in hand, Shinomiya Tianye quickly glanced at the offensive time, and seeing that there were only 32 seconds left, he did not hesitate and directly dropped the ball to accelerate the breakthrough.
As Jinguji Takeshi followed up, Shimonoya paused, dragged his steps to adjust his posture, and after continuous changes of direction, he accelerated the breakthrough with a drop ball. This time, when Takeshi followed up again, Shimonoya immediately changed direction with his back dribbled. The moment he completed the change of direction, Shimonoya quickly combined the ball with both hands and threw the ball out quickly with a lob.
The sharp and smooth offensive moves made it impossible for Jinguji Budo to defend in time. He could only watch the basketball fly towards the basket.
“Swish!”
As a slight sound was heard, the audience in the stands burst into amazing cheers, but the cheers only lasted for a few seconds and came to an abrupt end when Takenori Akagi took the ball and walked outside the baseline.
29 seconds.
The score difference is one point and Xiangbei still controls the ball. For Ryonan High School, it is far from time to relax.
"Defend! Defend! Defend!"
The Ryonan substitutes off the court shouted loudly for defense, and coach Takeo also yelled at his players to run actively for defense.
However, in the face of absolute physical advantage, Ryonan High School's full-court pressing tactics were very ineffective.
The basketball flew out of Akagi Takenori's hands and quickly fell into Rukawa Kaede's hands.
Rukawa, who got the basketball, quickly scanned the game time and dribbled the ball slowly. Fujima defended actively and tried to steal the ball many times, but with Rukawa's combination of fast and slow breakthrough techniques, Fujima's steals were easily resolved.
Hanagata realized that Fujima could not complete the steal alone and decisively gave up on Sakuragi Hanamichi and hurriedly double-teamed Rukawa.
At this moment, Rukawa Kaede did not dare to be careless. Facing double-teaming, he passed the ball quickly, and the target of the ball was Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Seeing Rukawa shoot the basketball, Hanagata hurriedly left and ran towards Sakuragi.
Sakuragi Hanamichi was not as decisive in passing the ball as Rukawa. After Hanagata came up, Sakuragi saw that his teammates were all being stared at by the Ryonan players, and at this moment he didn't dare to pass the ball easily.
The pause in the basketball pass also allowed Ryonan to smell an opportunity.
Uozumi Jun ignored Akagi Takenori and decisively double-teamed Sakuragi Hanamichi.
At this point, Xiangbei's ball had not yet crossed half court and was about to commit a violation.
The two burly men, Hanagata Toru and Uozumi Jun, directly sandwiched Sakuragi in the middle. Sakuragi Hanamichi, who rarely faced such a situation, panicked for a moment, and the basketball in his hand was taken away by Uozumi Jun at some point.
After getting the basketball, Yuzumi Jun's face was full of excitement. After dribbling twice, he quickly entered the basket of Xiangbei, grabbed the ball with one hand, and intended to dunk the ball directly into the net.
However, at this moment, Akagi Takenori, who had been ignored by him, had already arrived in front of Yuzumi Jun, jumped high and pressed one hand on the basketball, preventing Yuzumi from moving forward!
"Ryonan!"
"We are the winners, Xiangbei!"
Amid Akagi's roar, the basketball was directly blocked by Akagi Takenori.
The basketball fell to the floor and bounced back into the hands of Mitsui Shou who rushed over. With the ball in both hands, Mitsui Shou looked excited, glanced at the timer on the sidelines, and quickly dribbled the ball to the front court.
19 seconds.
As soon as Mitsui dropped the ball, Sendoh's figure quickly blocked Mitsui's sight with one hand. Just when Mitsui was about to attack Sendoh alone, a figure quickly jumped out from behind Mitsui and slapped the basketball with one hand.
Successfully intercepted the ball.
Sendoh got the ball, accelerated immediately and broke through Mitsui Hisashi. Mitsui Hisashi intended to chase him, but was blocked by Fujima Kenji.
Sendoh Akira dribbled the ball quickly into the basket, jumped up in front of Akagi Takenori, grabbed the ball with one hand and dunked it directly into the basket.
16 seconds.
The score was 102:103, Ryonan High School successfully overtook and led Shohoku by one point.
As Ryonan completed the reversal, the audience in the stands burst into amazing cheers.
The Xiangbei players in the stadium looked at each other, and seemed a little panicked for a moment.
"Akagi, serve!"
Some of the Xiangbei team members were confused, but some were unusually clear-headed at this time.
Jinguji Takeshi's heart was beating wildly, but at this moment, a bright smile appeared on his face.
Hearing Takenori Akagi's call, he hurried to the outside line and prepared to serve. Shinomiya Tano immediately stuck to Jinguji Takenori, and this time, Takenori ran directly to the baseline where Akagi was, intending to receive the ball at the near side.
Akagi watched Budo running towards him and quickly struck the ground.
After getting the basketball, Jinguji Takeshi turned his back to Shinomiya Tano, dropped the ball with his left hand, and turned his body quickly, completing the pass between him and the ball in an instant, and Shinomiya Tano was left behind.
Amid the anxious shouts of the Ryonan people, Jinguji Budo quickly rushed to the front court and passed many Ryonan players in the blink of an eye.
At 13 seconds, Jinguji Budo crossed the center line.
Shinomiya Tano, who was following behind, realized that he might not be able to stop Jinguji Takeshi, so he grabbed Takeshi's arm and pulled him off balance.
At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded.
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