When Shohoku High School started to organize the offense, Coach Anzai called a timeout at the referee's bench, then returned to his seat, called Sakuragi Hanamichi, and whispered in Sakuragi's ear:
"Sakuragi, you will come on stage in a moment. Do you see clearly what you are going to do?!"
Coach Anzai's sudden question made Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had been off the court for nearly thirty minutes, suddenly excited. He immediately walked to Coach Anzai and asked:
"Dad, you mean, you're going to let me play in the game?!"
Sakuragi's focus was not on Coach Anzai's problem, but he was keenly aware that he might have a chance to play, and immediately asked excitedly.
Coach Anxi nodded, then shook his head, and said softly: "Before you go on the field to play, do you know what you need to do?!"
Coach Anzai asked again, and this time, Sakuragi Hanamichi finally calmed down and touched his chin with his right hand, showing a thoughtful look.
At this moment, the Shohoku players on the court had all entered the frontcourt. Rukawa Kaede immediately passed the ball to Hisashi Mitsui who came to catch the ball after entering the frontcourt.
Then he quickly bypassed Mitsui Hisashi and cut towards the mid-range. He moved very fast. Kenji Fujima, who was guarding Rukawa Kaede, also followed closely behind Rukawa Kaede, not wanting to give Rukawa Kaede a chance to catch the ball in the mid-range. .
It's just that there is a difference in height between Fujima Kenji and Rukawa Kaede. Mitsui Hisashi, who was holding the ball from the outside, immediately hoisted the basketball out when he saw Rukawa Kaede entering the middle distance on the right.
When the basketball flew over Fujima and Rukawa Kaede, it was directly caught in the hands of Rukawa Kaede, who was leaping high. Although Fujima, who was guarding him, tried hard to take off and get the ball in his hands, he did not jump as fast as Rukawa Kaede. high.
Rukawa Kaede, who landed the ball, directly shot a fadeaway jumper on the spot, shooting directly in front of Fujima without any scruples.
However, although Kenji Fujima can't guard against Rukawa Kaede's mid-range shooting, Fujima is not the only one in Lingnan High School.
Hanagata Toru's attention had already been attracted by Rukawa Kaede when Rukawa Kaede was cutting in. At this time, when Rukawa Kaede was shooting, Hanagata Toru quickly came to Rukawa Kaede and reached out to block Rukawa Kaede's sight.
The sudden appearance of the flower shape had some impact on Rukawa Kaede's shooting. Normally, if Rukawa Kaede just made a jump shot on the spot, even if his line of sight was blocked, he could rely on muscle memory to score the ball.
But he couldn't rely on muscle memory to score the fadeaway jumper without looking at the basket. If he shot ten such shots, he might only be able to score three.
But this time, the goddess of luck was obviously not standing next to Rukawa Kaede, and the basketball crashed out of the basket.
"Dang~~"
After a crisp sound, the basketball flew out, and the rebound was directly held in the hands of Jun Uozumi, who was in a better position.
"Okay! Fight back!"
Uozumi, who took off the rebound, roared loudly and quickly passed the ball towards Sendō who was coming, and then quickly headed towards the Shohoku frontcourt.
Sakuragi Hanamichi off the field saw Shohoku High School's attack throughout. After lightly spitting, he mocked: "You deserve it, you stinky fox!"
"Is this kind of skill worthy of being the main attacker?!"
"Dad, I know what I'm going to do!"
"This genius will use my gorgeous football skills to help Xianghoku High School recover from its disadvantage!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi stood up, looking confident, but seeing Sakuragi like this, Coach Anzai just silently grabbed Sakuragi's wrist and pulled Sakuragi Hanamichi back to his seat.
"No. Look again."
On the court, offense and defense alternate.
The players of Lingnan High School quickly entered the frontcourt under the leadership of Fujima.
After a pick-and-roll by Shinomiya Tanano, Kenji Fujima found a defensive loophole in Shohoku and quickly broke through with the ball. Jinguji Budo, who was defending Shinomiya Tano, did not switch defenses with Rukawa Kaede and still followed Shinomiya Tōno.
Rukawa Kaede's attention was also attracted by Shinomiya when he saw Shinomiya's pick-and-roll, and his reaction was a beat slower when chasing Fujima Kenji.
After gaining some distance from Jinguji Budo, Fujima paused, and then shot directly from the three-point line.
"Three-pointer!" All the Lingnan players on the sidelines cheered. At the moment Fujima took the shot, it seemed that he could already see Fujima scoring a goal.
But the next second, Jinguji Budo, who was still more than one meter away from Fujima, suddenly rushed to Fujima's side with a step, and then raised his hand directly to seal the basketball.
Fujima's shooting speed is not as fast as Hisashi Mitsui. His body has an obvious pause and adjustment before shooting, which also gives Jinguji Budo a chance to react.
Although the distance between the two was relatively far, Jinguji Budo relied on his terrifying physical fitness to still touch the basketball with his fingertips.
"Da~~"
There was an inaudible sound, and the trajectory of the basketball obviously changed.
"Touched! Rebound!"
As a pitcher, Fujima Kenji immediately realized that Jinguji Budo had touched the basketball, and immediately shouted loudly, reminding the Lingnan players under the basket to get ready.
And long before he opened his mouth to prompt, Jinguji Budo had already turned around quickly after landing and chased the basketball.
At this time, Jun Uozumi, Toru Hanagata and others under the basket all raised their heads and looked at the basketball in mid-air after hearing Fujima's words. They did not notice the rapid cut towards the inside. Jinguji Martial Arts.
"Dang~" The basketball hit the edge of the basket and flew outward.
Fujima's shot this time was very short. The basketball hit the front of the basket and flew straight towards the direction of Jinguji Martial Arts, and was caught by Jinguji Martial Arts.
After taking possession of the basketball, Jinguji Budo quickly dropped the ball and advanced, crossing the three-point line in the blink of an eye and rushing towards the Lingnan half.
However, when Budo attacked with the ball, Lingnan had already been given time to react. Shinomiya Tano and Fujima Kenji both double-teamed towards Jinguji Budo. He simply didn’t want to give Jinguji’s martial arts a chance to attack quickly.
Under the double-team of the two, Jinguji Budo passed the ball with a backhand, directly to Rukawa Kaede who was coordinating a fast break from the side. Rukawa Kaede, who got the basketball, quickly crossed the center line and headed towards the Lingnan basket.
When Shinomiya saw Rukawa Kaede get the basketball and single-handedly attack Lingnan's basket, he did not speed up the pursuit. He just followed Jinguji Budo, not wanting to give Budo a chance to attack. And Sendao did not speed up the pursuit. Like Shinomiya Tōno, he guarded Mitsui Shou and guarded his own people.
Even if Rukawa Kaede's attack is successful, it will only be two points, but if Rukawa Kaede has the opportunity to pass back to Jinguji Budo or Mitsui Hisashi, it will not be two points if it is successful.
In front of these two super scorers in Xiangbei, Lingnan and Lingnan made a decision easily.
"Bang!!!" As Rukawa Kaede dunked the ball into the basket with one hand, the scoreboard on the sidelines finally jumped. The score of the two teams reached 79:78, and the point difference was reduced to one point.
On the side of the court, Sakuragi Hanamichi saw that Jinguji Budo actually assisted Rukawa Kaede for a slam dunk, and immediately stamped his feet angrily:
"Damn it! I actually let that stinky fox score a slam dunk!"
"What is Brother Martial Arts doing?! Why don't you hit such a ball yourself! Pass the ball to the stinky fox!"
"Damn it!!!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi was a little angry when he saw Rukawa Kaede being in the limelight, and his face turned red.
"Sakura, do you understand what you are going to do?!"
Coach Anzai put his arm around Sakuragi Hanamichi's shoulders and asked.
"Of course!"
"Follow martial arts brother."
As soon as Sakuragi Hanamichi said this, he saw Coach Anzai turn his head to look at him, and those deep eyes fell on him, making Sakuragi Hanamichi swallow the next words subconsciously.
After thinking for a while, Sakuragi nodded heavily and said: "Rebound!"
"Up to this point in the game, whether it's our Xiangbei or their Lingnan High School, the offensive efficiency of the players has dropped significantly!"
"The most important thing for our Shohoku High School right now is controlling rebounds!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi is no longer a rookie playing basketball. He has been playing basketball for more than a year. For a player as talented as him, more than a year has already allowed Sakuragi to grow into an outstanding player.
Even in Shohoku High School, which is full of talents, Sakuragi Hanamichi's talents have been demonstrated to audiences across the country through a limited number of games.
If placed among other teams, players like Hanamichi Sakuragi would undoubtedly be the focus.
Today, Sakuragi already has his own understanding of basketball, and his ability to read the game and read the situation is no longer what it used to be.
When he got serious, he immediately discovered what was the most important thing on the field at the moment.
Coach Anzai finally heard the answer he wanted to hear from Sakuragi Hanamichi, and a slight smile suddenly appeared on his face.
In the stadium, after Xiangbei High School scored, the game did not enter the timeout.
Between the alternation of offense and defense, Lingnan High School has launched a new round of offense.
Kenji Fujima, who was in control of the ball, saw that the score difference was only one point, so he gave up the idea of a three-pointer. After dribbling the ball steadily into the frontcourt, he made a pick-and-roll towards Toru Hanagata inside. Gesture, but the flower shape has not yet reached the predetermined pick-and-roll position.
Sendō on the side had already quickly passed Mitsui Hisashi and cut into the middle distance. At the same time, Sendō's movement was also very tricky. He used the flower-shaped position to successfully throw Mitsui Hisashi away.
Seeing that Sendō had an opening, Fujima quickly made a fake pass and gave the ball to Sendō's hands.
"Uh-huh!!"
The latter took the ball and shot a mid-range jumper, and the basketball hit the net.
After Xiandao scored, the referee's whistle sounded and the game entered a timeout.
After a one-minute pause, the players quickly returned to the rest area.
After the players returned to the rest area, Coach Anzai did not emphasize too much on tactics. He just patted Rukawa Kaede on the shoulder, and the meaning was self-evident.
Then he replaced Nango Koichiro, who had played mediocrely for ten minutes, and Sakuragi Hanamichi came back on the court.
Although Nango Koichiro, who was replaced by Sakuragi, looked aggrieved, he had no objections to coach Anzai's decision.
Sakuragi came on the court and played some time in the first half of the game, and his performance was indeed brighter than Nango.
No matter how reluctant Nango Koichiro is to admit this, the facts are here and there is nothing to say.
While the Xiangbei side was making substitution adjustments, Lingnan coach Tian Gang quickly arranged defensive tactics:
"Several of the starters in Xiangbei played from the first half to the second half. With less than ten minutes left, the physical condition of these players must face a major test."
"We can already see the signs from the game just now. Xiangbei's offensive efficiency has begun to decline."
"This is the same for us in Lingnan."
"So, from now on, we in Lingnan must shrink our defense as much as possible and control the rebounds."
"When attacking, get as close to the basket as possible. Only in this way can we increase our success rate."
"Tian Tian, you play more offensive games with the ball. Your physical fitness is the best in the country. At this time, you have to rush into Xiangbei's inside line and cause damage."
"Don't worry about not being able to score, just let go! I see that you are not playing as freely as before in this game. What's wrong? Does the defense of Jinguji Martial Arts have an impact on you?"
Coach Tagoka said, looking up at Shinomiya Tanano.
When Shinomiya Tano heard this, he just smiled and shook his head, saying: "It doesn't matter, I know what to do."
After receiving Shinomiya's affirmative answer, Coach Taoka put his arms around the waists of Sendō and Fujima and shouted loudly:
"Okay! Then let's concentrate the ball in Tian Tian's hands!"
"In this game, our Lingnan High School——"
"Must win!!!"
Lingnan's shouts came from their rest area. Some of the surrounding spectators were infected by the confidence and enthusiasm of Lingnan players and excitedly tapped the plastic bottles in their hands to make loud noises.
The one-minute pause passed quickly.
After the two teams rearranged their tactics, the players walked towards the field.
"Ohh! Red hair from Shohoku!"
"Is that first grade playing?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who entered the court with his teammates, caught the attention of the audience. Some spectators who were deeply impressed by Sakuragi immediately pointed at Sakuragi on the court and shouted loudly.
Sakuragi also enjoyed the feeling of being noticed and waved happily to the audience in the stands.
After both teams returned to the court, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.
Shohoku High School served from the backcourt and the basketball was given to Rukawa Kaede. Rukawa Kaede dribbled the ball into the frontcourt and quickly passed it to Jinguji Budo.
Taking the ball, Budo pinched the ball with one hand and made a pick-and-roll gesture towards Sakuragi, who had just come on the court.
"Huh?!" After getting the signal from Martial Arts, Sakuragi made a big circle and ran quickly towards Martial Arts, pressing against Shinomiya's side. When Martial Arts quickly dropped the ball to break through, Martial Arts He reminded Sakuragi:
"Follow up!"
After receiving the signal, Sakuragi Hanamichi ran directly back and cut inside. However, the breakthrough martial arts did not go directly to the basket, but moved towards the top of the arc.
Sakuragi's running speed is quite fast, even better than Hanagata's.
Seeing Sakuragi quickly approaching the basket, Jinguji Budo grabbed the ball with one hand and threw it towards the basket, sending a wonderful pass.
"empty link!"
"Hanagata, stop him!"
Shinomiya shouted loudly to remind his teammates, but at this time, Sakuragi Hanamichi had already entered the basket, looked at the basketball above and jumped up, grabbed the basketball in the air, and dunked hard towards the basket. Go down.
"Bang!"
An astonishing loud noise sounded in the stadium, and Sakuragi Hanamichi directly connected the dunk point.
Sakuragi who landed on the ground beat his chest excitedly and roared.
In the stands, cheers like a tsunami poured into the stadium.
(End of chapter)
