Wu Dao has practiced the half-turn hook shot countless times in this year. Although he did not intend to develop into a center, his height was too great an advantage in junior high school.
Relying on his height far exceeding that of ordinary players, the hook shot at close range under the basket became Budao's strongest offensive means. Rukawa Kaede, who was more than ten centimeters shorter than Budao, could not block Budao's hook shot at this position.
The basketball fell from the net and landed on the floor with a slight sound.
After scoring the goal, Wu Dao smiled at Rukawa Kaede, then turned around and started to defend. Although Wu Dao's smiling face was sunny and handsome, it made Rukawa Kaede feel uncomfortable. Glancing at Wu Dao's back, Rukawa Kaede picked up the basketball expressionlessly, walked to the baseline, passed it to the brown-haired boy, and ran to the front court.
He did not ask his teammates for the ball. His teammates in the practice match were all freshmen from the same grade, and they didn't even know Rukawa. He seemed a little shy now. Although he had outstanding strength, he preferred to show his strength and then let his teammates pass the ball to him, rather than just asking for the ball for the sake of asking for the ball.
The senior team retreated very quickly. It was originally the rhythm of Wudao's single-man breakthrough. The only teammate who cooperated with Wudao's fast break was Mitsui Hisashi. The other players did not even cross the half court.
When the brown-haired boy entered the frontcourt with the ball, the senior players had already completed their defensive positions. The second and third grade team was configured with two big players and three small players, with Jinguji Budou and Chiba Daishi standing inside, and the rest of the players all strolled outside.
Mitsui did not take position with the other players. After Rukawa entered the frontcourt, Mitsui came in front of Rukawa again, looking at him while watching the position of the basketball with his peripheral vision.
Because of the missed shot, the brown-haired boy was much more cautious in this attack. He carried the ball outside the three-point line and did not actively seek a breakthrough opportunity. Seeing that his teammate was slow to pass the ball, Rukawa Kaede immediately moved towards the opponent.
Mitsui saw Rukawa's move, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he chased after him. Rukawa went around the three-point line and quickly came to the side of the brown-haired boy. After Rukawa arrived, the brown-haired boy passed the ball to Rukawa, and then twisted his body to directly cover for Rukawa.
Although it was the first time for the two to play basketball, they had a good understanding of each other.
Mitsui Shou obviously did not expect the opponent to suddenly cover, and was directly blocked by the brown-haired boy. The second-year player who was defending the brown-haired boy before did not react either, and still stared at the brown-haired boy without moving.
"Senior, this road is blocked!"
After blocking Mitsui Shou, the brown-haired boy did not forget to make a joke and turned his head to look at Rukawa Kaede. Seeing that Mitsui Shou and others were focusing on Rukawa Kaede, he curled his lips and quickly sank to the bottom line. There were no senior defensive players there at all, and it was unusually empty!
After receiving the ball, Rukawa broke through to the inside along the direction of the pick-and-roll screen. His speed was very fast. In an instant, he crossed the defense line and broke into the mid-range.
Wu Dao, who was standing inside, saw this scene and was attracted by Rukawa's breakthrough. He took a few steps forward to intercept. Rukawa quickly came in front of Wu Dao with the ball, and Mitsui Shou and others also began to double-team Rukawa at this time.
Just when the encirclement was about to be formed, Rukawa, who was holding the ball, suddenly pushed the ball behind him with his left hand, and the basketball flew directly to the bottom corner.
"Pass the ball?!"
"How did this kid pass the ball?!"
Jinguji Budou was preparing for a long-awaited contest with Rukawa Kaede, but he didn't expect the other party to pass the ball. Budou looked in the direction where the basketball flew and saw a brown-haired boy standing in the bottom corner, with a large empty space in front of him.
The brown-haired boy had already raised his hands in front of his chest, waiting for the pass. When the basketball came in his hand, he raised the ball over his head and threw it out along the edge of the three-point line. The boy's shooting posture was quite standard, and the movement of raising his arm and pressing his wrist was also very smooth. Except that the shooting point was a little low, there was no other fault.
This time, he had plenty of time to adjust, the basketball's trajectory was straight, and the shooting power was moderate. The basketball fell steadily into the net with a slight sound.
When Rukawa saw the basketball go into the net, his cold face finally softened a little, although he still looked expressionless... ..
The beautiful three-pointer made the first-year players cheer, both on and off the court. After the game started, the first-year players spontaneously formed a small group. In this game, all the first-year players were in the same camp.
The brown-haired boy who scored the goal smiled and greeted the cheering substitutes while retreating, looking quite active. Rukawa glanced at Budo calmly without showing too much emotion.
Anzai Zhengyi, who was watching the game at the stadium, looked at Rukawa Kaede and the brown-haired boy, then flipped through the application form in his hand. Takeishi's application form was quite formal. In addition to the student's name and age, there was also class information and basic height and weight information. In the upper right corner of the form, there was also a one-inch photo of the team members.
Anzai Zhengyi quickly flipped to Rukawa Kaede's information sheet, and after comparing his appearance, he silently took out this sheet. Then he flipped to the information sheet of the brown-haired boy, and after taking a quick glance at it, he also took it out.
"Katsumi Ichiro... a rare last name. He has only been playing for two years but has such a good shooting hand shape. His talent is quite good."
Anxi Zhengyi looked at the brown-haired boy who was retreating and secretly admired him in his heart.
On the court, Mitsui Shou was receiving the serve from his teammates, and then quietly moved forward with the ball. While moving forward, he silently glanced at Rukawa Kaede and Katsumi Ichiro who had already retreated to their defensive positions, feeling somewhat happy.
Mitsui was very surprised by Rukawa's wonderful pass and Katsuragi Ichiro's tactical move of switching from defense to pick-and-roll. These two had just entered junior high school, and to be able to perform at such a level was already beyond Mitsui's expectations.
But it’s not to say that he is shocked. In Mitsui’s eyes, this level is just “okay”.
The performances of Rukawa Kaede and Katsume Ichiro were unexpectedly... ..ok... .
But at this moment, Wudao was surprised by Rukawa's wonderful pass. He didn't expect that Rukawa could actually play such a ball at this stage, which made Wudao feel that it was a bit inconsistent with Rukawa's personality.
Wudao silently clicked on Rukawa Kaede's system information and looked at his related information.
"Ryukawa Kaede, height 177cm, weight 66kg, strength: junior high school C+ level, agility: junior high school A+ level, body coordination: A level."
"Destiny: A rare genius, indomitable, competitive, and a lone beast!"
His height and weight had both increased compared to before, his strength and agility had both reached junior high school levels, and his coordination and destiny had not changed.
Wudao looked at the entry "Lone Beast" in Destiny and couldn't help but feel puzzled. This entry seemed to have nothing to do with whether Rukawa passed the ball or not.
"It's a bit strange that Rukawa Kaede can make such a wonderful pass."
Wu Dao thought so in his heart, and quietly sank to the baseline and came to the basket.
Rukawa Kaede doesn't pass the ball. This is the inherent impression of Rukawa Kaede in martial arts.
But this is a prejudice against the character of Rukawa Kaede.
Is Rukawa a loner? Quite a loner, but he doesn't completely stop passing the ball.
Rukawa is a player who has a good grasp of the timing of passing the ball. In the county competition of SD Xiangbei, he also made a wonderful pass to Akagi and assisted with a slam dunk. In terms of passing talent, Rukawa not only has it, but is also very good. As for why he doesn't like to pass the ball, it is probably more of a bad habit formed from playing games since childhood.
At this time, there is no technique or tactics at all in the country's primary and secondary school basketball. The main players are just the coaches' techniques and tactics.
Rukawa, who is the sole leader in Tomigaoka, simply brought this habit to Shohoku. After realizing that Akagi, Mitsui and others are reliable, he will also have brilliant passing operations. Of course, Rukawa trusts himself more than others, so he has more singles and fewer passes, but this does not mean that Rukawa does not pass the ball.
Now that Rukawa has joined Takeishi Junior High School, he does not have the deep-rooted lone wolf style of play. When facing someone like Jinguji Budou, Rukawa will also use passing the ball as one of his weapons.
Wu Dao obviously would not have thought of this. Now, he was still quite surprised at Rukawa Kaede's wonderful pass.
But this does not affect his offense.
How could Mitsui Shou let it go when the juniors played such a beautiful combination? After Mitsui entered the frontcourt with the ball, he started to play tricks outside the three-point line. Facing the defense, Mitsui Shou dribbled the ball in front of him at a high frequency, and after successfully pulling the opponent's center of gravity, he quickly broke through.
Katsume Ichiro's lateral movement speed could not keep up with Mitsui's, and he could only watch Mitsui run towards the inside.
He successfully crossed the three-point line and entered the mid-range, attracting a freshman inside player to help defend. There are now two freshman inside players, in addition to Rukawa Kaede, there is another freshman player, both of them are standing in the three-second zone, doing a small range of inside defense.
Mitsui's breakthrough attracted another freshman inside player, but did not attract Rukawa.
With Mitsui's strength, he could have shot before the help defense came up, but Mitsui didn't do that. He waited until the opponent's inside line was about to arrive, and then he made a ground pass, passing the ball from under the opponent's crotch into the hands of Budo who was standing in the inside line at that time.
Wu Dao, who received the ball, held up Rukawa's body with one hand as he tried to force the ball, and casually hooked the ball into the goal. He then looked helplessly at Mitsui Hisashi who was teasing the first-year defensive player, and ran towards the outside line.
"Well done, Budou!" Mitsui Shou high-fived Budou who was returning to defense and praised him with a smile.
However, Wu Dao glanced at the other party and said helplessly: "It's just a practice match for the first graders. Why are you still so competitive?"
Mitsui's action just now was obviously a competition with Rukawa who had just made a wonderful pass. He had to pass the ball even if he had the opportunity to attack. This action was very similar to Kobe who was angry with the team at that time.
"What are you fighting about? I just seized the opportunity to pass the ball. It was a beautiful pass!"
"You're a center who likes to eat cakes. Eat cakes well and I'll pass the ball to you."
Mitsui Shou seemed to have found out his weakness in martial arts and retorted loudly.
"Yes, yes, it was a beautiful pass, definitely not a fight." Wudao looked at Mitsui Shou who was throwing a tantrum like a child, and responded in a coaxing way. Mitsui Shou glanced at Wudao, quickened his pace to return to defense, and ran away.
"This guy, he's like a kid on the court."
"Three years old?"
Wudao was speechless as he watched Mitsui Shou leaving. This guy Mitsui Shou was actually angry with him.
"Damn it, I have no chance of guarding him in the paint."
“The disadvantage is too obvious.”
"We have to create distance and run up to have a chance to block Wu Dao's shot."
"But his shooting speed is very fast. If you rely on a run-up, you need to judge his shooting timing in advance, which is very difficult."
At this time, Rukawa was running towards the frontcourt, looking at Wudao who had entered the inside defensive position, secretly thinking about how to defend.
The competitive Rukawa doesn't care what position Wudao plays or how much of an advantage his height has. These are not what Rukawa thinks about. He just wants to beat Wudao on this field and win the game.
For Rukawa Kaede, nothing is more important than winning, and no opponent is invincible. Even if the opponent he faces is his good friend, he will still win.
Just when Rukawa Kaede was determined to get back at Wudao, the door of the gym was suddenly opened. Three figures walked into the basketball court in the afternoon sun.
At this time, everyone in Takeishi Middle School focused their attention on the court and did not notice the three people who entered the stadium.
“Ooo ...
"As expected of the champion of last year's county competition, you've already started training on the first day of school."
"Senior Anxi is really strict with the players!"
The speaker was a middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing a well-fitting suit. He was the head coach of Yokota Junior High School, Yincheng Shinmura. After entering the gym, he saw the Takeishi team playing a practice match and said happily.
Behind the middle-aged man, there was a tall boy wearing a white and green team uniform. On the back of the uniform, the two Chinese characters "Yokota" were written.
Beside these two people, the leader of Takeishi Junior High School looked at the people who were training with a little pride and said with a smile:
"The players' diligence is the key to the team's success."
"Coach Anzai Zhengyi is more focused on guiding the players to grow."
Shinmura Yincheng touched his chin without comment, watched the game for a while, fixed his eyes on Jinguji Budo and Mitsui Shou on the court, and then said seriously:
"You can't play basketball well just by hard work."
"Talent is the decisive factor!" After saying this, the serious expression on Xincun Yincheng's face immediately disappeared, and he smiled and said:
"Of course, rigorous training is also necessary. Look, the school has just started, and I'm busy coming to your Takeishi Middle School to arrange a practice match."
"I hope Coach Anxi won't refuse!"
The leader of Takeishi Junior High School did not seem to notice the change in Shinmura Yincheng's attitude, and agreed with a smile: "How could that be? The training match is also very important to our Takeishi Junior High School. I think Coach Anzai Zhengyi should accept it."
"Of course, you should discuss the specific matters with Coach Anxi in person. He's over there. Let's go over there."
From beginning to end, the tall young man following behind Shinmura Yincheng did not speak a word. He kept watching the two sides fighting on the court, and his eyes never left Jinguji Budou.
"Jinguji Martial Arts... Takeshi Junior High School..."
"This time, I want to learn a lesson from you!"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .