During halftime, Coach Anzai of Shohoku didn't give any tactical instructions at all. He just smiled and said, "You guys did a good job. Keep it up!"
That's it.
In stark contrast, Coach Taoka of the Ryonan team was furious!
Coach Taoka roared angrily, "What are you doing? Didn't I say we had to beat them by at least thirty points? Look at the score now! Don't you feel ashamed?"
Coach Taoka pointed to the scoreboard.
Shohoku has 42 points and Ryonan has 50 points, now the difference is only 8 points.
Moreover, towards the end of the first half, Shohoku's morale remained very high, and they were evenly matched with Ryonan.
Faced with Coach Taoka's roar, none of the Ryonan players dared to breathe loudly. Even the fierce-looking Jun Uozumi remained silent.
Coach Taoka continued to yell, "You guys were one of the top four teams last year, and you're the team that's going to win the championship this year. What is Shohoku compared to you? Shohoku is just a bottom-tier, third-rate team! Aren't you ashamed to play like this against Shohoku?"
The Ryonan team members, deeply ashamed after being reprimanded by Coach Taoka, clenched their fists and shouted, "Yes!!"
Coach Taoka glared at Jun Uozumi and roared, "Uozumi! Takenori Akagi has already scored 17 points in the first half! 17 points! You lost to him last year, are you going to be defeated by him again this year? Huh?"
Jun Uozumi, his face flushed and neck red from Coach Taoka's scolding, shouted, "No!!! I will never shoot Akagi this time! I must win!"
Coach Taoka then looked at the other players and said, "Listen up, everyone! You must play with momentum in the second half and widen the score gap! You need to beat Shohoku by at least 30 points! Got it?"
The Ryonan players shouted in unison, "Yes!!!"
Suddenly, Coach Taoka felt that something was wrong.
What about Akira Sendoh?
Where did ace player Akira Sendoh go?
Coach Taoka hurriedly looked left and right, searching for Sendoh Akira.
This sight was quite alarming; it almost made Coach Taoka fly to his death in anger!
Sendoh Akira was seen squatting behind a chair, comfortably eating the fruit platter that Aida Hikoichi had brought over.
The food was so delicious!
After sweating, eating some fresh fruit is refreshing, as it quenches thirst and replenishes vitamins.
While Sendoh Akira was comfortable, Coach Taoka went into a berserk state!
"Sendoh! You bastard, were you even listening to me just now? Huh?"
Coach Taoka pointed at Sendoh Akira's nose and started cursing!
Sendoh Akira gave an awkward laugh, seemingly realizing that what he had done was not very ethical. So he handed the fruit platter to Coach Taoka, saying, "Coach, I saved some for you. It's delicious. Try it."
Seeing this, Coach Taoka became even angrier!
How can there be a player as shameless as Akira Sendoh?
Coach Taoka snatched the fruit plate from Sendoh Akira's hand, grabbed a slice of watermelon, and took a big bite!
Mmm, it's very sweet! The texture is great!
Then Coach Taoka continued yelling, "Sendoh! You bastard! Are you even listening to me?"
Ryonan players: "..."
Sendoh Akira said seriously, "I feel that the Shohoku team is not actually that weak. It's good that everyone has fighting spirit, but we can't underestimate them."
Coach Taoka was slightly taken aback, and felt that what Sendoh Akira said seemed to make some sense.
But immediately, Coach Taoka shouted even louder, "You bastard! Who's the coach, you or me?"
Surprisingly, Sendoh Akira gave an awkward smile, neither feeling ashamed of the coach's reprimand nor angrily retorting.
Perhaps this is the mark of Sendoh Akira's high emotional intelligence: finding the right opportunity to express his views without embarrassing the coach.
Immediately afterwards, Coach Taoka began to arrange tactics, "From now on, we will adopt a tight man-to-man defense tactic. Uozumi will guard Akagi, and Sendoh will guard Rukawa. These two must be guarded tightly. As long as Akagi Takenori and Rukawa are guarded, Shohoku will have no chance to score."
Clearly, judging from Coach Taoka's tactics, he already acknowledged the strength of the Shohoku team; otherwise, there would have been no need to arrange such a tight defensive strategy.
Coach Taoka continued, "Next, we need to break through their defense. Kogure Kiminobu (No. 5), Yasuda Yasuharu (No. 6), and Shiozaki Tetsushi (No. 8) from Shohoku are not very strong. They were only motivated because of the outstanding performances of Akagi Takenori and Rukawa Kaede. If you can keep your composure, you can definitely beat them like you did at the beginning of the game."
After Coach Taoka's pre-match pep talk, Ryonan's fighting spirit was reignited!
The second half officially began with both teams' players entering the field.
What Ryonan didn't expect was that Shohoku's offensive seemed even more intense than in the first half!
As soon as the basketball was inbounded, Yasuda Yasuharu immediately passed it to Rukawa Kaede.
Sendoh Akira rushed forward to defend.
But this time, Rukawa Kaede did something that no one expected.
Standing just outside the three-point line, Rukawa Kaede suddenly jumped and shot!
Rukawa Kaede is shooting a three-pointer!
how so?
No one expected that Rukawa Kaede, who always dribbled to the basket and occasionally made mid-range shots, would actually be able to shoot three-pointers!
With a "whoosh" sound!
The basketball flew out of Rukawa Kaede's hands!
A beautiful arc!
Although Sendoh Akira jumped up in a hurry to try to interfere, he still couldn't stop the basketball!
boom!
The basketball went in!
That was the first three-pointer of the game!
Rukawa Kaede made a beautiful three-pointer to change the score to 45-50, with Shohoku only 5 points behind Ryonan.
In an instant, the entire venue erupted in cheers!
"Rukawa Kaede! Rukawa Kaede! Rukawa Kaede!"
"That's too strong! It's just too strong!"
"The first three-pointer of the game! Amazing!"
"This Rukawa Kaede is really amazing! Even Sendoh couldn't defend against him."
Rukawa Kaede's fan club practically wanted to rush onto the basketball court and shower him with kisses! That's right, these infatuated girls were already drooling!
The Ryonan players stared at Rukawa in disbelief. "This guy can actually shoot three-pointers? Is he an all-around player? That's terrifying!"
"He's only a first-year student, how can he be this strong?"
Coach Anzai smiled and pushed up his glasses, a glint of light in his eyes. "Rukawa Kaede, you're really good."
Sakuragi Hanamichi smiled broadly, thinking to himself, "Rukawa Kaede is really great! It feels so good to have a teammate like him by my side!"
Suddenly, Sakuragi Hanamichi chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I don't understand why Sakuragi Hanamichi in the anime is always targeting Rukawa Kaede. Wouldn't it be better to just get along with Rukawa Kaede sooner?"
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