“Wow!”
"A pull-up shot like this can lead to a goal!"
"This kid's ball is really unreasonable!"
As Jinguji Takeshi's three-pointer went into the net, Coach Otani on the sidelines couldn't help but exclaimed in amazement.
A terrifying offensive range with no blind spots in the half court, a small forward with a height of over two meters who is good at holding the ball. This is the first time Coach Otani has seen such a player in all the years he has coached in this country.
On the court, Sawakita Eiji, who failed in defense, turned his head to look at the basketball that had just fallen from the basket. When he turned around, Jinguji Budou had already retreated and started to defend.
Noticing Zebei's gaze, Jinguji Budo smiled slightly, hooked his finger at Zebei Rongzhi, and said:
"Zebei, you don't have to be so polite with me."
"It doesn't matter if the moves are a little bit bigger, just defend against them."
"And... no matter if it's one person, two people, or three people, I hope you can make me feel some defensive pressure!"
"Otherwise, it would be too boring."
While Wudao was speaking, his eyes were also looking at Rukawa Kaede, Mike Okita and others. After he finished speaking, Wudao turned around and accelerated back to the field.
"This guy is really arrogant!"
"But technically, this bastard is unquestionable."
"He's right, Zebei. To deal with a player like this, we must strengthen our defense. Let me switch defense with you. I'll confront his breakthrough head-on, and you'll cover my gap."
Mike Okita walked to Zebei Rongzhi's side, looked at Jinguji Budo's back as he left, and said in a deep voice. Zebei Rongzhi did not refuse, but nodded instead.
During his time with the youth team, he had played against Mike Okita and was quite impressed with the strength of this blond-haired, blue-eyed mixed-race player.
Although the opponent's ball-holding offensive ability is not as good as mine, his physical fitness is stronger than mine, and his level of one-on-one defense is also stronger than mine.
Facing a player like Jinguji Budou, you can't be inexplicably proud, otherwise you will never be able to beat the opponent. Zebei Rongzhi is very clear about this.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mike."
"I'll do my best to fill in for you, just go for it."
"We are now, at least on the offensive end, able to tear through Shohoku's defense. We not only have to stop Jinguji Budo's attack, but also win this game!"
Zebei said as he took a step and ran quickly towards the front court. Mike Okita nodded when he heard this. There were still many similarities between him and Zebei Rongji. At least in terms of the desire to win, both of them were the same.
Sakuragi Hanamichi served the ball in the backcourt, and Rukawa quickly ran towards the frontcourt after receiving the pass from his teammate. As Rukawa entered the frontcourt, Sakuragi Hanamichi also quickly cut in. Oda Ryumasa chased Sakuragi Hanamichi from the bottom corner on the left side of the court to the bottom corner on the right side of the court.
This time, Oda Ryumasa finally trapped Sakuragi and left him no chance to catch the ball.
After moving to the right corner, Sakuragi Hanamichi did not stop, but quickly moved up and rushed towards Rukawa.
Sakuragi's actions immediately attracted the attention of the Xiangbei players. Wudao noticed Sakuragi Hanamichi's movements and looked at Rukawa Kaede. At this time, Zebei started to move, running alternately with Sakuragi Hanamichi and running to the bottom corner on the right.
Wudao's defense left its original position as Zebei moved, and Sakuragi, who moved up, also made a high-post pick-and-roll for Rukawa.
With the help of Sakuragi Hanamichi's pick-and-roll, Rukawa Kaede quickly broke through with the ball and directly passed Kiyota Nobunaga's defense.
"Oda, switch defense."
"Stop Rukawa Kaede, I will defend against that red-haired monkey!"
Kiyota Nobunaga saw his opponent's movement and shouted immediately. At the same time, Oda Ryumasa also blocked in front of Rukawa Kaede, successfully slowing him down.
Just when everyone thought that the youth team's offense had failed and needed to be reorganized, Mike Okita's figure suddenly ran past Sakuragi from the side, directly came to the three-point line behind Rukawa, and raised his hand to catch the ball.
Mike Okita, who was chasing, was blocked by Sakuragi Hanamichi at this moment and couldn't catch up directly. After being blocked, Sakuragi was not idle either. While everyone in Xiangbei was focusing on Mike Okita, he quickly cut in from the middle.
Although Rukawa was facing the basket with the ball, he had a very accurate grasp of the movements of his teammates on the court. He hooked the ball behind him with his right hand and sent it directly into the hands of Mike Okita.
Mike Okita, who had the ball, had no intention of shooting. He threw the ball towards the basket with both hands, with a smile on his face.
"What?!"
Kiyota Nobunaga saw the opponent's action and realized that the opponent was passing the ball. He couldn't help but let out a low cry and looked up at the basketball. On the outside, Oda Ryumasa and Katsumi Ichiro and others also looked towards the basket.
I happened to see Sakuragi Hanamichi moving quickly towards the basket, while looking up at the direction of the basketball.
"Good pass! Mike!" The basketball began to fall. Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at the basketball above his head, shouted loudly, and then jumped up. He caught the basketball in mid-air, grabbed the basketball with his right hand, and dunked the ball into the basket.
Koichiro Nango, who was defending under the basket, wanted to make a final effort, but when he jumped up to defend, he was directly knocked away by Hanamichi Sakuragi's body. At this time, Masashi Kawata had already retreated outside the paint area, completely giving up the stage for the performance.
"Bang!
”
With a loud bang, the basketball was poured into the basket. Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed the basket with both hands, looking down at Nanxiang who had been knocked into the air by him and had fallen back to the ground, with a smile on his face.
After letting go, Sakuragi actually shook his finger at Nango Koichirō, and then quickly returned to defense.
“But… Damn it!
!
”
"How dare that red-haired monkey... How dare he mock me?!"
Nan Xiang looked at Sakuragi who was leaving, and suddenly felt furious, gritting his teeth and said angrily.
At this moment, Jinguji Budou turned his head and glanced at Coach Otani on the sidelines, feeling very surprised.
In such a short period of time, Coach Otani not only mastered the correct "method of using" Sakuragi Hanamichi, but also successfully integrated the team and choreographed such offensive tactics for the players.
All the players of the youth training team, except Sakuragi, have strong ability to play one-on-one with the ball, whether it is Masashi Kawata in the inside, or Rukawa, Zebei and Mike Okita on the outside.
However, they did not rely on any one person's individual ability when attacking, but played team basketball, which was somewhat unexpected.
If this team has been working together for more than two years, Wu Dao would not be surprised at all to have such tactical coordination, but this youth training team is obviously newly formed, and the players are quite skilled in tactical positioning.
In the attack just now, there were actually many people who could serve as the team's offensive points, including Mike Okita who received the ball in an open position, Sakuragi Hanamichi who cut into the court, and even Rukawa Kaede who just passed the ball actually used Mike Okita to create an open position.
In other words, Mike Okita actually has several offensive options when he receives the ball on the outside.
And Xiangbei's defense just now obviously failed to defend against anyone.
"As expected of Coach Otani, he has integrated the youth training players into a real team in such a short period of time."
"My ability to teach is not as good as his."
Coach Anxi looked at the players in the youth training field and couldn't help but admire them. He directly admitted that he was not as good as the other team. After hearing what Coach Anxi said, Caizi and others also looked at Coach Anxi in surprise.
However, this feeling of surprise soon dissipated. Even though Coach Anzai was once a national player and a famous university coach, after all, Coach Otani must have been the best of the best to be able to coach youth training. It is not difficult to accept that his coaching ability surpasses Coach Anzai.
"Coach Anxi, don't say that."
"Although the players in the youth training team are very strong, we at Xiangbei will not lose either."
"Until now, no one has ever been able to stop Jinguji Budo. As long as he is here, we Shohoku will never lose!"
Seeing that Coach Anzai seemed to be in a bad mood and the morale of the players around him was also affected by Coach Anzai's words, Ayako immediately comforted him.
Hearing this, Coach Anxi nodded and said with a smile: "Wow, I am not as good as Otani, but I didn't say that we, Xiangbei, will lose!"
"Basketball is actually a very cruel sport, even though everyone knows that it is a five-on-five sport."
"But in reality, there are always some geniuses who can raise the ceiling of the team through their personal abilities."
"Martial Arts, that's the kind of genius you have!"
While Coach Anzai was talking to the players on the sidelines, Kiyota Nobunaga had already entered the frontcourt with the basketball and passed the ball to Jinguji Takeshi.
This time, Jinguji Budo's opponent changed. It was no longer Sawakita Eiji, but Mike Okita.
Mike Okita's defense is much tougher than Zebei's. He did not give himself the so-called defensive gap and directly stuck to Jinguji Budou. When Budou got the ball, Mike Okita kept interfering with Budou with his hands.
“Nice defensive move.”
"I haven't seen you for a while, Mike. You have made great progress!"
"Are you planning to test your defensive abilities here with me?!"
Wudao felt a little uncomfortable being pushed by the opponent. Mike's defense was not trained in a place like Asia. It was very American style, with large range of movements, which had the flavor of the iron-blooded basketball of this era.
The intensity of the confrontation made Budo feel like he was back in the days when he played basketball in the United States.
With a quick dribble behind his back, Wudao took a small step back, then stretched out his arms, and after a fake dribble, he quickly rushed forward with the ball, his body directly hitting Mike Okita. The two bodies collided with a dull "bang" sound. Facing Mike Okita, Wudao also fought in a very "American style".
Wudao's attack was very resolute, and Mike Okita's sliding steps were finally unable to keep up with Wudao's pace, and he was directly left behind by Wudao for some distance.
Zebei on the side wanted to steal the ball.
However, Jinguji Budou quickly broke into the basket and grabbed the ball with one hand and avoided it.
After two steps, Wudao jumped directly, and his body collided with Kawata Masashi who came to defend. However, Wudao, who was tall and had long arms, still maintained his balance in such a confrontation, and hooked the ball with one hand and sent it towards the basket.
Wu Dao's attack gave people the feeling of a simple one-handed layup. Kawata Masashi seemed to have defended him, but in fact, it did not affect Wu Dao's layup at all. The whole series of actions was still quite smooth.
“Bang!”
“Swish!”
The basketball hit the backboard and went into the net, making a slight sound.
At the same time, the players of Shohoku on the sidelines also burst into cheers, cheering for Jinguji Budou on the court.
"Beautiful! Jinguji-senpai!"
"Captain, well done!"
The cheers of the players on the sidelines reached the stadium. Kiyota Nobunaga, who made the assist, felt very proud and said to Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede, "The youth training team is only this good."
"You can't stop the attack from the martial arts master either."
"It was easy to score! So easy!"
Kiyota Nobunaga said this and started to return to defense. As he did so, he imagined himself using the same one-handed layup move that Budo had just made, and gestured with his hands.
"Tsk..."
"It's just that we are clinging to Brother Budo's thigh, but the wild monkey dares to mock us!"
"Hey, you stinky fox, teach him a lesson, don't let this bastard go on like this!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi shouted at Rukawa Kaede, his tone full of dissatisfaction.
However, Rukawa Kaede did not pay attention to Kiyota Nobunaga's intention at this time, but looked at Jinguji Budo. All the people on the field of their youth training team looked at Jinguji Budo who was leaving with a solemn expression.
After all, Kiyota Nobunaga is not a terrifying opponent. Shohoku’s trump card is the truly insurmountable mountain.
"Speed, strength, height, wingspan, ball skills, and technique."
"He is absolutely a top-notch monster!"
"We can't let him have too much space to hold the ball. From the beginning, we need two people to chase him."
"Only in this way can we defend him."
"But... if we need two or three people to defend one person, the game becomes a gamble of luck."
"We can only bet that the other players of Xiangbei don't have the basics of mid-range shooting!"
Coach Otani looked at Jinguji Budo on the field and thought about the defensive strategy in his mind.
"That weak-looking kid is called Katsumi Ichiro, right? I heard he's a shooter. We can't let him go."
"We should be able to let that power forward go for a bit. As long as Kawada works hard, covering the inside shouldn't be a problem."
"Looking at the way Xiangbei played before, the open space should also be based on breakthrough play."
"In that case... let Sakuragi defend the shooter, and the others will attack Jinguji Budo."
“I hope this kind of defense can play some role.”
While Coach Otani was thinking in his mind off the court, their youth training team had already completed this round of offense in less than ten seconds. Rukawa Kaede played against Kiyota Nobunaga alone, but missed the high-post shot.
However, the rebound was caught by Masashi Kawata. Kawata, who controlled the rebound, faked a shot and passed the ball to assist Sakuragi Hanamichi in scoring a dunk, successfully completing the attack.
As the ball was changing hands in the middle of the court, Coach Ohtani, who had a plan, did not call a timeout. He just came to the sidelines and shouted to the players who were returning to defense:
"Let go of Xiangbei's power forward and guard. Sakuragi, go guard the shooter!"
"Mike Okita, Zebei Rongzhi, and Rukawa Kaede, the three of you, go stop Jinguji Budo!"
"Three against one! I don't believe he can still score a goal!"
Coach Otani had no intention of hiding anything from anyone when he was arranging the defensive tactics. Wu Dao also heard this and couldn't help but smile:
"Three against one... Yeah! Not bad, the advantage is on me!"
... ... ... ... ... ...