Shigong Tianye's slam dunk pushed the atmosphere of the venue to a climax. The overwhelming cheers sent Shigong Tianye back to his rest area.
His powerful dunk even stunned the referees who were preparing for the game. It was not until Shinomiya Tianye returned to his team that the referees looked at each other and exclaimed:
"I've refereed so many junior high school games, but I've only seen a few junior high school students who can dunk."
"This is the first time I've seen a dunk like this!"
The referee who was speaking was transferred from another county and had never seen a game of Dongda Affiliated No. 1 Middle School before.
"I think the scale of this game can be appropriately magnified. With players like this, fierce confrontation is inevitable."
“Let these junior high school students play to their best and not have any regrets in the national competition.”
A middle-aged man sitting in the referee's seat waved to the other referees, looked at the players of Takeishi Junior High School with a slightly sympathetic expression, and said.
Although he didn't know the level of the other players of Dongda No. 1 Middle School, his long career as a referee had given the referee a very keen eye.
Even an experienced referee like him was secretly shocked by the No. 9 dunk by Tokyo University just now. Those little guys from Kanagawa Prefecture must have been scared.
The referees looked at the Takeishi players in tacit understanding. They felt sorry for Takeishi Middle School. They ran into such a monster in the first game of the national competition. This game would probably leave an indelible shadow on them. The only effort the referees could make for them was to relax the penalty standards. Otherwise, Takeishi's players might have been sent off before they even finished the game.
When facing players whose physical fitness far exceeds one's own, aggressive defensive actions are inevitable.
...
"How can we possibly defeat a monster like that?!"
As expected, the unstable first-year students in the Takeishi Junior High School team cried out in pain. The main purpose of Shigong Tianye's dunk was not to boost the morale of the players of the First Middle School affiliated to the University of Tokyo, but to undermine the confidence of the Takeishi players.
Obviously, the opponent's goal was achieved. The morale of Wu Shi's troops was in turmoil. Before the game even started, everyone started to fear fighting.
"Hey! What did you say?"
"Why can't we win?!"
"As long as a genius like me is here, there is no enemy that cannot be defeated!"
"Even if you're a substitute, you better keep your spirits up!"
The first-year student's words obviously caused strong dissatisfaction in Mitsui Shou. Although he was also shocked by the opponent's strength, the fighting spirit in Mitsui Shou's heart did not diminish at all. In Mitsui Shou's cognition, there was no one he could not defeat.
At this time, Jinguji Takeshi also took a big sip of wolfberry ginseng tea with a serious face, then silently covered the cup, put it aside, stood up, and began to stretch seriously.
He sensed a strong sense of crisis. The pressure from the No. 9 who had just dunked was much stronger than that from Sendoh. At the very least, Sendoh would never be able to complete a dunk like that person at this stage.
The opponent is probably a top ace in the third grade of junior high school. Judging from the difficulty of the slam dunk alone, the opponent's jumping ability is probably comparable to Rukawa and Sakuragi who just entered high school in the original work.
Wu Dao, who was stretching silently at the side, obviously did not attract the attention of the team members. They were now surrounding Mitsui Shou, listening to his proud words and soothing his shaky confidence.
Only Anzai Zhengyi noticed the silent Wudao, and a smile finally appeared on his gloomy face.
"It's not that there aren't opportunities, it just depends on how you seize them!"
"No matter how powerful the opponent is, he is just a junior high school student!"
Anxi Zhengyi said to himself silently in his heart, then clapped his hands to attract the attention of the team members.
"Everyone start warming up. Fujii, lead the players into the arena to warm up."
"Don't think too much now. You will know your strength when you get on the court."
"If you already think you've lost in your heart, then there's no chance of winning!"
"Go warm up!"
Anxi Zhengyi said some words of comfort, although it was unknown which words were really useful, but the starters finally walked onto the court to start warming up. Wudao followed at the end of the team, his expression relaxed, without the previous solemnity, it seemed that he had adjusted his mentality.
Mitsui Shou still looked like he was the best in the world, full of confidence. During the warm-up exercises, he made three-pointers one after another, and all of them went into the net. It seemed that Mitsui Shou had a pretty good touch today.
On the other side of the court, several players from Dongda Affiliated No. 1 Middle School also entered the court to warm up. It was during the warm-up phase that the audience in the stands finally calmed down a bit, making much less noise. In such a relatively quiet environment, the warm-up time passed by minute by minute.
Soon, the warm-up was over, and the referee walked to the center circle and blew the whistle. The players of both teams also returned to the rest area to listen to the coach's arrangements for the last time before the start of the game.
"Mitsui, this game revolves around you."
"If the No. 9 on the other side is playing as a striker, you should focus on shooting and try to get into the paint less."
"If the opponent pulls outside to defend you, find an opportunity to pass the ball to Budo and let him score."
"Only one of the opponents has a good height condition, so the advantage of martial arts is still great."
"On offense, the other players mainly help with pick-and-rolls and fight for rebounds."
"As for defense, it's simple. Get everyone inside and don't let that person get a chance to get into the restricted area."
"Budao, go guard No. 9. Even though we don't know how good he is at shooting, don't let him shoot too casually."
Anzai Zhengyi put his left hand around Mitsui Shou's shoulders and his right hand around Wudao's shoulders, bent over and gave instructions to everyone.
"Takeishi!"
“We will win!”
Amid the players' chants, the Takeishi Junior High School team entered the court. At the same time, the Todai Affiliated First Junior High School team also entered the court, and the No. 9 player, Shinomiya Tano, who was being watched by everyone, walked directly into the center circle.
"Center?" Anxi Zhengyi's expression froze and he murmured.
As the opponent entered the center circle, Wu Dao heard a "ding" sound in his mind. The system prompt sound, which had been silent for who knows how long, rang again today.
"Shinomiya Tano, height 184cm, weight 77kg, strength: junior high school S-level, agility: junior high school A+ level, body coordination: A++ level."
"Destiny: A genius born from heaven, invincible."
The system interface appeared in front of Wu Dao's eyes, with the relevant information of No. 9 on it. Seeing this name, Wu Dao's eyes suddenly shrank, and then his eyes fell on the column of destiny. There were only two entries in the column of Shigong Tianye's destiny, but these two entries were colorful that Wu Dao had never seen before, and there was a colorful mist around the entries.
Seeing this, Wudao silently put away the entry panel, walked to the center circle, and pulled the corner of Fujii Masao's clothes who was about to jump ball.
He knew the name Shinomiya Tano, and there was something he needed to confirm.
"Budo? What are you doing?" Fujii Masao felt the tug on the edge of his clothes, turned his head and saw Shibudo, and asked in confusion.
"Captain, let me jump the ball. I want to try." Wu Dao said to Fujii Masao, and then walked into the center circle without saying anything. The man opposite, Shigong Tianye, looked at this scene with interest, with a faint smile on his face.
"you?"
“... ..”
"All right."
Although Fujii Masao didn't know why Wu Dao did this, he still gave up the jump ball position. Wu Dao's height was similar to his, and his jumping ability was better than his. Fujii Masao had no objection to giving up the jump ball.
Wu Dao came to the front of Shigong Tianye, staring at the handsome face in front of him. He was silent for a long time, and suddenly said in Chinese:
"The king of heaven covers the tiger of earth."
The expected standard answer did not appear. The other party bent his knees slightly and looked at Wu Dao with a puzzled look.
"What are you looking at?" Wu Dao scratched his head, thinking that his way of opening the door was wrong, and continued to ask in Chinese. The other party frowned even more tightly, and finally spoke:
"I don't know what you're talking about. If you think you can disrupt my winning the jump ball in this way, you're wrong."
"You replaced that guy to jump ball with me, just to play a trick like this?"
Shinomiya Tianye showed disdain on his face, raised his chin slightly and said.
Wu Dao couldn't help but feel disappointed when he saw this scene.
"Turns out he's a native." Wu Dao rubbed his cheek and calmed his mind. At this moment, the referee who had been watching the show for a long time finally came to the side of the center of the two people, blew the whistle, and threw the ball high into the air.
"snort!"
The opposing player, Shigong Tianye, snorted and suddenly jumped up. His explosive power made him jump to the maximum speed, and his palm pressed on the basketball instantly. Just as Shigong Tianye was about to slap the ball towards his own player, a palm pressed on the other side of the basketball almost at the same time.
"Huh?" Sigong Tianye let out a surprised exclamation, and then exerted force suddenly, instantly slapping the basketball away. Even though there was martial arts exerting force on the other side of the ball, the basketball still flew steadily towards No. 5 of No. 1 Middle School.
The player from No. 1 Middle School took a step forward, successfully took the basketball in his hands, and then held it tightly in his arms without attacking.
After Wudao landed, he did not worry about the loss of the jump ball, nor did he rush back to defend. Instead, he followed Shinomiya Tano.
"Are you the one defending me?"
"You better work harder, or I'll be very bored."
Just as Wudao was following Shigong Tianye, Shigong Tianye's voice suddenly came into Wudao's ears. As soon as the words fell, the person who was originally in front of Wudao quickly crouched down and went directly past Wudao's side.
Wudao wanted to stop him, but when he got closer to the opponent, a terrifying force came from the side. Wudao, who wanted to rush forward to stop him, was bounced back by this force.
On the other hand, the opponent continued to charge forward and soon returned to their half, creating a fairly wide space.
When the No. 1 Middle School player saw this, he immediately passed the ball to Shimonoseki, and after passing the ball, he advanced towards Takeishi Middle School's half.
After getting the basketball, Shinomiya Tano patted the ball and slowly moved forward.
"Guard? Guard going for the jump ball?"
"Or... it's a one-man team..."
Off the field, Anxi Zhengyi saw this scene with a puzzled look on his face. After thinking for a long time, he came up with a possibility. The No. 9 who was controlling the ball on the field might be the opponent's trump card, an all-around trump card.
One-man teams are not uncommon in junior high schools, but Anzai Zhengyi shook his head as soon as he had this thought, because according to his data, the player's average points per game were not very high.
Just as Anxi Zhengyi was thinking, the players from No. 1 Middle School and Takeishi on the field had all arrived at Takeishi's half.
Shimono Shimotsuna slowly carried the ball into the frontcourt, and his eyes scanned the field, revealing a strong intention to pass the ball.
Takeshi Jinguji stood in front of Shinomiya Tano, not looking at him. His eyes were fixed on the basketball and Shinomiya Tano's hands, his peripheral vision was paying attention to his feet, he kept calm and did not dare to slack off for a moment.
Although he confirmed that the other party was a native, Wudao's vigilance did not decrease at all. The two colorful entries in the system panel were too eye-catching. The "invincible posture" made Wudao even more guarded against the man in front of him.
Moreover, he had just tasted the opponent's S-level power martial arts, and the terrifying power coming from his body was enough to make the martial arts master go all out.
"You've lowered your center of gravity so low, do you think I can't shoot a three-pointer?"
Shimono Shimono approached the three-point line with the ball and said suddenly. Wu Dao subconsciously looked up when he heard it, and saw the boy in front of him directly put the ball with both hands and shot a three-pointer.
Under Wu Dao's surprised gaze, the basketball flew towards the basket. Wu Dao could see that the direction of the shot was very straight.
"Dang~" However, unexpectedly, the basketball hit the edge of the frame and flew out of the frame.
"... ... " Shigong Tianye still maintained the shooting action, but his originally confident expression froze there. He himself did not expect that the three-pointer in a small open position would not go in... ..
"Turns out he's just an idiot." Wu Dao thought to himself, watching the scramble under the basket and getting ready.
"Snap!" A light sound rang out in the court. No. 4 from No. 1 Middle School successfully grabbed the frontcourt rebound. After landing, he protected the ball in his arms and found a chance to pass it to No. 5 on the outside.
"Tian Ye, you bastard, be steady and stop shooting those weak three-pointers!"
Number Five, who received the ball, yelled as he lobbed the ball high to Shinomiya Tano, and the basketball's parabola was very high.
"Don't pass the ball like that, idiot. This guy is not like the scumbags we met before."
When Shigong Tianye saw his teammate lob the ball to him, he was not happy but cursed. At the same time, he pressed his body directly against Wudao's back, hoping to use his own strength to affect Wudao's jump.
However, Wudao was also very smart. The moment he felt the power coming from behind, he immediately took a step forward and broke away from the opponent. At the same time, he quickly jumped up and intercepted the ball.
Although Jinguji Budou's jumping ability is not as good as Shinomiya Tano's, it is still quite good. This kind of pass may not be intercepted by junior high school students who are around 170cm tall, but it is not a problem for Budou.
Wu Dao caught the ball and quickly dropped it, rushing straight to the front court. However, just after taking two steps, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him and slapped the basketball with one hand.
"What a quick reaction!" Wudao was surprised, and at the same time, he pushed the ball to his side with his palm and passed the basketball to the side while moving.
On the other side, Mitsui Shou just ran out from the three-point line, successfully received the basketball and rushed to the front court. Shigong Tianye, who failed to intercept, raised his eyebrows when he saw this scene, turned around and chased after Mitsui Shou, ignoring Wudao.
Shinomiya Tano was very fast and had very long strides. When Mitsui was approaching the opponent's three-point line, he successfully chased down Mitsui.
It was precisely because of the presence of Shinomiya Tanaka that Mitsui Hisashi's attack paused and was forced to stop the ball, but at this moment, a figure passed by the two of them. Shinomiya Tanaka noticed this out of the corner of his eye, and adjusted his position slightly, ready to switch defense at any time.
Mitsui Shou also turned his head to look at the figure rushing into the inside, and with a flick of his wrist, the basketball hit the ground and passed out.
"Good pass!" Jinguji Takeshi received the ball smoothly, quickly passed the ball, and jumped high towards the basket with two big steps.
"Ma Da Ma!" However, at this moment, a figure suddenly jumped out from Wu Dao's side, shouting and stretching out his arms to block all routes for Wu Dao's layup.
Wu Dao was not surprised but happy to see this scene. He changed his layup action in the air and passed the basketball directly to Mitsui Shou behind him.
After receiving the ball, Mitsui Shou adjusted his posture and shot directly without any obstacles. He was near the free throw line at this time, and a mid-range shot from such a distance was too easy for Mitsui Shou.
“Swish!”
The basketball fell directly into the net, and Takeishi Junior High School got its first two points in the national competition.
"I'm really glad you were able to catch me from that position, but basketball is not a game played by one person."
Takeshi Jinguji said with a smile that this wave of coordinated goals boosted morale greatly, and Takeshi's mood couldn't help but feel a lot more relaxed. There was some fear and some sarcasm in his words.
Fortunately, he was careful and didn't make a foolish layup, otherwise he would have been hit by a huge hot pot.
Shinomiya Tano did not disappoint him. While defending Mitsui Hisashi near the free throw line, he was able to chase into the inside. Even a martial artist could not help but be impressed by such terrifying athletic ability.
After saying this, Wudao and Mitsui Shou high-fived each other, and then the two began to return to the field.
Under the basket, Shinomiya Tano squatted down and picked up the basketball with one hand. Looking at the backs of Wudao and Mitsui Shou as they left, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"It's interesting. Finally, it's not just some rotten fish and shrimp."
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