Chapter 92 Each's Advantages

"Whoosh!"

The ball swished through the net and went in!

53:50!

An open three-pointer, with a few seconds to adjust, is a piece of cake for Mitsui.

Less than a minute into the game, Shohoku took the lead with two quick attacks!

Coach Taoka suddenly sprang to his feet and roared at the players on the court, "Sendoh! Don't let Shohoku lead you by the nose! Keep your composure!"

He knew that if Shohoku broke through the 2-3 zone defense at this moment, it would be a fatal blow to Ryonan!

Not only will it severely shake the team members' confidence, but it may also allow other competitors to seize the opportunity to find a way to break through, thus rendering their long-term careful planning and training futile!

Coach Taoka's heart raced, and fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

Hanon caught a glimpse of Coach Taoka looking over and nodded at him with a smile.

Coach Taoka is indeed a good coach. He is diligent, selfless, and cares for every player like his own child.

But he was never able to become a top-notch coach because he was too rigid and stubborn.

His rigidity prevented him from being flexible and adaptable on the field.

He can devise great tactics, but they are all planned before the game. If anything unexpected happens on the field, he is prone to making mistakes.

If this continues, it will only drag Ryonan down.

Hanon thought to herself that if Coach Taoka could be more energetic and innovative, Ryonan might reach a higher level.

Uozumi serves, and the ball flies towards the top of the pool.

Under Miyagi's close marking, Ikegami decisively passed the ball to Sendoh. Ryonan's two passing combinations completely left Miyagi behind.

Sendoh steadily dribbled the ball past half-court, but Miyagi kept his eyes fixed on Ikegami.

Does Miyagi intend to abandon his defense?

A hint of doubt arose in Sendoh's heart, but he did not relax at all. He continued to advance while searching for the location of his teammates with his eyes.

Seeing an opportunity, Afu dodged Mitsui's defense and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Just as Afu received the ball and was about to make a move, suddenly, a red figure shot out from the side!

With a crisp "smack!", the ball was hit hard and sent flying!

"Miyagi Ryota?!"

The Ryonan team members exclaimed in surprise; they had never expected Miyagi to suddenly appear out of nowhere!

Miyagi picked up the ball and launched a counterattack on the spot.

Afu seemed to wake from a dream, only realizing what had happened after the ball was intercepted—

It turns out that Miyagi's abandonment of defense was just a ruse; he deliberately disappeared from Ryonan's sight to lull the Ryonan players into a false sense of security.

In this way, Ryonan wouldn't notice him at all during the attack, thus creating an excellent opportunity for Miyagi to steal the ball.

Imagine, who would pay attention to a defensive player who has been left behind so early on?

"Too cunning!!" Afu couldn't help but shout, and with a sudden burst of power, he gave chase with all his might.

After Miyagi received the ball, he sprinted forward, with a whooshing sound of wind rushing behind him.

Without any hesitation, Miyagi decisively passed the ball to Mitsui, who had already rushed forward.

Mitsui received the ball and crossed Ryonan's half of the court, catching a glimpse of Sendoh approaching out of the corner of his eye. His heart tightened, but he didn't panic.

Sendoh pursued him at an extremely fast speed, closely following behind.

Mitsui accelerates its sprint—

Everyone's hearts were in their throats. "Will it be enough time?"

It's certain that when Mitsui drives into Ryonan's paint, Sendoh will definitely deliver a crushing blow to Mitsui!

As he approached Ryonan's three-point line, Mitsui suddenly slammed on the ball, braked sharply, and then took a side step, cleverly widening the distance between himself and Sendoh.

Without hesitation, he took the shot!

All of this was done in a second, so fast that the Ryonan team members were caught off guard!

The ball traced a beautiful arc in the air and swished cleanly into the net!

56:50!

"It's in?!" the audience exclaimed in surprise, unable to believe their eyes.

Sendoh stared blankly as the basketball fell through the net.

"How is this possible?!" the Ryonan team members exclaimed in a low voice.

They couldn't catch up and could only watch helplessly as Mitsui scored a fast break three-pointer, a sense of powerlessness welling up inside them.

Even Miyagi, who wanted to assist Mitsui in the attack, was somewhat stunned at this moment. Even as a teammate, Miyagi had never imagined Mitsui would play like this…

That's incredibly reckless!

Steal, dribble, three-pointer – Mitsui's movements were fluid and seamless. He proved to the entire arena why Mitsui Hisashi was the MVP back then!

"Yes!" Mitsui exclaimed cheerfully, his smile as bright as the sun.

"See that? This is the power of Mitsui Hisashi! Hahaha!"

Hearing Mitsui's somewhat arrogant celebration, Akagi covered his head, smiled, and shook his head.

It's unclear when it started, but everyone knows that Rukawa is Shohoku's strongest scorer, but who remembers that Mitsui was the absolute core of Takeishi Middle School!

Kogure adjusted his glasses and said gently, "Mitsui's scoring ability has never been inferior to anyone's!"

Lingnan launched an attack.

With the ball in his hands, Ikegami was unable to break through Mitsui's defense. In desperation, he passed the ball to Afu.

After receiving the ball, Afu launched a strong attack on Sakuragi, but no matter how he broke through or jumped, Sakuragi defended him tightly. What was even more infuriating was that Sakuragi kept spewing trash talk.

Finally, Afu had no choice but to pass the ball to Sendoh, who was cutting inside.

After receiving the ball, Sendoh quickly drove into the basket.

Akagi was firmly blocked by Uozumi and could not move forward to block him. He could only watch helplessly as Sendoh leaped up, raised the ball high, and then slammed it towards the basket.

"Get down here!" A loud shout, like a thunderclap, suddenly reverberated in Xian Dao's ears.

"Smack!"

Immediately following was a loud thud!

Sakuragi suddenly appeared from the side and blocked Sendoh's shot with a super big block!

Wow! Sakuragi's blocking ability is amazing!

Why did he suddenly appear there?!

The crowd erupted in cheers as Sakuragi once again appeared under the basket, blocking shots and delivering a flurry of blocks, sending everyone into a frenzy of excitement!

Sendoh landed and turned to look at Sakuragi in astonishment—this kid's rate of improvement was simply unbelievable!

Coach Taoka broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed he needed to reassess this former novice.

The ball landed squarely in Rukawa's hands on the left, and he sprinted forward at lightning speed—

"Bang!"

A cool dunk!

58:50!

Just two minutes into the second half, Shohoku took a commanding 10-0 lead, scoring 10 points in just two minutes – an absolutely incredible scoring efficiency!

"pause!"

Ryonan seized the opportunity when the ball was dead and promptly called a timeout.

Coach Taoka couldn't hold back any longer. He really didn't expect that the five members of Shohoku would bring out their respective strengths and unite together like a rope, making the Shohoku team so terrifying!

The Ryonan players returned to the bench one by one, dejected and clearly demoralized.

...Of course, this does not include the freakish Immortal Path.

"Don't be discouraged, everyone! The second half has just begun, we still have a chance!"

Coach Taoka greeted his players as they walked back, clapping enthusiastically in encouragement.

He tried to appear confident in order to ease the tension among his teammates.

Coach Taoka squatted down and quickly gestured on the tactics board, "We'll be playing man-to-man defense later. On offense, you guys do this..."

On Xiangbei's side, Hanon also made corresponding arrangements: "If the opponent doesn't change their formation, we'll continue with the same tactics as before. If they change their formation, then we'll play a run-and-gun offense."

Run-and-gun tactics are not a complex set of tactics.

It signifies speed and positioning, shooting and driving. Miyagi controls the speed, while Rukawa and Mitsui dominate the shooting.

While run-and-gun offense encourages players to shoot quickly, accuracy and timing are crucial. This requires players to have excellent off-ball movement and screen-and-roll abilities.

Although it doesn't require as much skill as the triangle attack, it demands even more speed and frequency.

The Shohoku players have speed and stamina, making their run-and-gun tactics a nemesis for the less mobile Ryonan team.

"Once we're forced into positional play, we'll pass the ball to Xiaofeng."

"Xiaofeng, I need you to show more aggression. Remember, don't get entangled with Sendoh on the perimeter. Shoot quickly and decisively. Whether you make the shot or not, get back on defense as soon as you shoot. Go all out on fast breaks and get Shohoku back into rhythm!"

Rukawa Kaede nodded, "Mm!"

Coach Taoka carefully looked at Kanon across from him; she was calmly talking to the Shohoku players beside her.

Coach Taoka was surprised to see the Shohoku players treat Hanon with the utmost reverence.

The game has restarted.

"Everyone calm down, let's play it safe and take one hit first!"

With an 8-point deficit, Sendoh, as Ryonan's ace, must step up and help the team stabilize the situation.

The entire Ryonan team sprang into action, running, setting screens, and passing – everything was operating at high speed.

Yuzuri seized the opportunity and passed the ball to Ikegami, who was in an open position.

The moment Ikegami received the ball, Mitsui was in position defensively. Instead of driving hard, he passed the ball to Sendoh, who had been screened out by his teammate.

Without hesitation, Sendoh took a three-pointer before his body had even come to a complete stop.

This time, the move seems more decisive and faster than ever before!

"brush!"

The basketball swished through the net with perfect accuracy, sending the ball flying.

Cheers erupted from the benches at Lingnan Stadium.

This was Ryonan's first goal, just two minutes into the game.

Coach Taoka felt like he had finally "gotten his first win"!

Seeing Sendoh score the first point as expected, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had been so frustrated by Shohoku's earlier defeat, but now he could finally get his revenge.

With this first goal, how far away can the second and third be?

"Pass the ball quickly!"

The Ryonan team had just breathed a sigh of relief when this shout made them tense up again, their hearts racing once more.

The moment Sendoh scored, Miyagi was already sprinting towards Ryonan's half of the field.

"Defense! Defense!" Coach Taoka and the Ryonan bench players shouted.

Sakuragi reacted quickly, catching the ball as it went through the net and throwing it sharply towards Miyagi—

Miyagi receives the ball and sprints at full speed!

Rukawa had just reached the three-point line when he received a pass from Miyagi. Without a word, he swiftly slashed down the three-point line.

"Whoosh!"

The moment Rukawa landed, without even looking to see if the ball had gone in, he called his teammates, who had just run across half the court, to start their defense.

"Whoosh!"

Goal!

61:52!

The Shohoku bench cheered, "Yay! That's awesome, Rukawa!"

The results of the training camp were perfectly demonstrated in the competition. Hanon noticed that the team members' steps were lighter and their stamina was more endurance.

[Rukawa Kaede! Rukawa Kaede! LOVE Rukawa Kaede!]

Wow, this level of skill! It's comparable to an NBA star!

[Such a confident shot! So cool!]

The scene suddenly became extremely frenzied, with the packed stands erupting in a huge uproar and applause.

At the start of the game, the five Shohoku players quickly followed Hanon's tactical instructions and scored two points before Ryonan could establish a firm foothold.

The Ryonan players, who had just been excitedly screaming on the bench, suddenly fell silent, into an awkward silence.

"How could that be? How dare he?"

Coach Taoka's face was grave, his heart churning with shock. In all his years, he had never seen a high school student so daring to throw!

Before 1996, coaches in the basketball world all believed in the supremacy of two-point shots.

Therefore, Coach Taoka considered Rukawa's attempt to take an open three-pointer to be utter nonsense!

But this seemingly nonsensical three-pointer actually went in!

[This attack was incredibly fast! The spectacle was absolutely spectacular!]

Shohoku's run-and-gun offense made its debut in Kanagawa.

[Sakuragi and Miyagi's offensive speed is simply incredible! This must have been meticulously planned. Although Ryonan's defense wasn't bad either, they ultimately couldn't stop Shohoku's offensive onslaught!]

The layman sees the spectacle, the expert sees the details. Unlike the audience, Maki is more focused on another person—Sakuragi Hanamichi. Sakuragi's defense under the basket is the guarantee of Shohoku's fast break.

Especially that play, Sakuragi first blocked Ikegami at the top of the court, then quickly retreated to the inside to stop Fuku, and finally jumped repeatedly to grab the rebound and launch a fast break. He was even able to participate in the fast break afterwards. His athletic talent is truly amazing!

Coach Taoka and Sendoh also noticed this, but noticing it doesn't mean they can solve it.

The audience was still discussing it, and Ryonan's morale was somewhat shaken.

Sendoh's gaze swept over his teammates, and he gently reassured them, "Alright, let's score another goal!"

His words were like a reassuring pill, calming the hearts of the Ryonan team members.

Sendoh, with the ball in his hand, made a gesture, directing his teammates to start making runs.

Then he looked at Rukawa Kaede, and a plan flashed through his mind.

Having come up with an idea, he began to take action.