bullyxtreme Chapter 138 Warm-up match with Changcheng (Part )
Chapter 138 Warm-up match with Changcheng (Part )
Captain Kuwata's goal boosted Changcheng's morale. They continued to work hard and played steadily, leading Xiangbei all the way. Until the last five minutes of the first half, Changcheng led by 6 points, but coach Chang Cheng could no longer sit still. He knew that Xiangbei was still a remnant team, so he took the lead in making their final arrangements. Tang Chuan, who had not played well after scoring a three-pointer at the beginning of the game, used the cover of his teammates and seemed to have suddenly come to his senses. He shot frequently from the outside and scored three three-pointers in a row. Although Xiangbei tried to catch up, it still ended the first half with an 11-point deficit.
"Shohoku is a tough team!" Although they were leading by 11 points, Kuwata was not careless at all.
"Kuwata is right. We can't let our guard down just because we're ahead by 11 points. Shohoku's real trump card has yet to appear. We need to keep up the form. If Shohoku still has this lineup, we'll continue to leave it behind."
"Okay!" Changcheng's team members agreed in unison
"Oh, everyone played very well in the first half. In the second half, Mitsui, Akagi, Fukuda, and Yuuki-san will come on the field to replace Horita, Kusao Takeshi, Katsumi, and Kogure-san." Coach Anzai also adjusted the lineup.
After a short break, players from both teams came on the field.
"Oh? Shohoku's four players are up and four players are down? Senior Anzai is really courageous." Miyazaki noticed the changes in the Shohoku players
"What a tall center! Is No. 7 the ace of Shohoku, Mitsui Hisashi? We must be careful. Why is Murasakibara leaving the court?" Kuwata looked at the Shohoku players who came on the court. "Although Shohoku has changed players, we must not take it lightly. Their ace and main center is on the court," Kuwata reminded his players.
At the beginning of the second half, Akagi used his height advantage to fight for the ball. After getting the ball, he accelerated and tried to launch a fast break, but was intercepted by Kuwata. Kuwata scored on the fast break and Changcheng led by 13 points.
"Che Yue, don't be nervous. Keep steady." Mu Mu reminded Che Yue loudly from the sidelines.
"Understood, Senior Mu Mu" Yueyue nodded
Xiangbei attacked again. This time, Yueyue did not rush forward and steadily moved the ball to the front court and passed it to Mitsui on the outside.
"Be careful of Mitsui's three-pointer," Miyazaki reminded loudly. Changcheng also knew in advance that Mitsui was good at three-pointers, so he did not dare to be careless. Ishihara Akiaki stuck closely to Mitsui and did not give him any space to shoot.
"Akagi" Mitsui was not in a hurry to attack, but passed the ball to Akagi in the inside. Akagi got the ball and directly back-played.
"What a strong force!" Chang Zuo Youxi suddenly felt a strong force coming and could not help but take two steps back. Akagi felt the force behind him disappear, took a favorable position, and jumped directly to plan a gorilla dunk.
"Bang!" The basket was buzzing.
"What a terrifying slam dunk!" The Changcheng players in the audience were stunned.
Changcheng attacks, Mikoshiba breaks through Fukuda's defense, goes to the basket, and makes a jump shot
"Don't underestimate me!" Akagi rushed over and stretched out his huge palm
"What a terrible pressure!" Mikoshiba was horrified. In order to avoid Akagi's block, he raised his shooting point a little. "Rebound" Mikoshiba shot, but felt that it was difficult to make the shot. He immediately shouted a reminder. Chang Zuo Youxi took advantage of the gap left by Akagi's jump and beat Fukuda to grab the offensive rebound, but when he got up again
"Bang!" A big block. Akagi, who was returning to defense, swung the ball directly out of bounds!
"What a powerful center!" Changcheng's players were stunned. Affected by Akagi, Changcheng's attack failed this time and was blocked by Xiangbei for a 24-second violation.
Xiangbei attacked. Although Akagi missed this time, he grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on the second attack.
Changcheng's captain Kuwata Shuichi broke through and passed the ball to Chang Zuo Youxi before Akagi could make up for the defense, and scored under the basket
Hasegawa passed the ball to Yueyue from the baseline. After Yueyue got the ball, he was surprised to find that Kuwata Shuichi was pressing him in the backcourt! This sudden pressure caught Yueyue off guard. While he was stunned, Kuwata had already reached out and stole the ball from Yueyue's hand, and scored a layup. As expected of the captain of Changcheng, he directly restricted Xiangbei's on-court engine. Xiangbei had no chance to launch an attack.
"Very good, Kuwata, that's how you play" Miyazaki applauded from the audience
"It's okay, Yueyue." Mitsui came over to comfort Yueyue. In this attack, Mitsui returned to the backcourt to support Yueyue. Kuwata saw that the pressing was ineffective. He retreated to half court. Mitsui dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, and "Akagi" passed the ball to Akagi in the inside. As soon as Akagi got the ball, Mikoshiba and Nagasa Yusei immediately double-teamed Akagi. Akagi did not choose to force the attack. Instead, he handed the ball to Fukuda on the side. Fukuda shot at Ishihara who came to assist in defense, but missed. Mikoshiba grabbed the rebound. Pushed the counterattack, and Mikoshiba finally scored.
"Everyone, pass the ball more and don't rush to attack," Mu Mu reminded his teammates off the court
This time, the attack was still centered on Akagi in the interior. After Fukuda got the ball again, he passed it to Yueyue, who passed it to Mitsui who was unguarded before the opponent helped defend. "Don't even think about shooting." Kuwata Shuichi had already noticed the defense against Mitsui, and without any delay, he rushed over to block him. However, Mitsui was not in a hurry and passed the ball to Hasegawa who was unguarded. With such a large space, Hasegawa shot directly from the outside and made a hit! All five players of Xiangbei participated in this attack!
"Very good" Coach Anxi stood up and applauded
"Shohoku is really a good team," Kuwata Shuichi wiped his sweat. Shohoku played such a wonderful match, and Changcheng's captain was unwilling to be overshadowed by Shohoku's players in his home court. Kuwata used two changes of direction to directly break through Yueyue's defense. Then he made a fake pass to deceive Akagi's defense and scored a layup.
"Damn it!" Frustrated by repeated setbacks in front of Captain Chang Cheng, Yueyue threw the ball to the ground.
"Don't worry, Yueyue. Playing against him is a rare growth experience for you. Just be yourself." Mitsui came over and patted Yueyue on the shoulder.
As the ace of Xiangbei, how could he just sit there and watch his junior being defeated? Mitsui used fake moves to shake off his opponent and rushed to the basket. He scored a layup directly. He also caused the assisting defense Mikoshiba to foul, boosting the morale of his team.
On the defensive end, although Kuwata broke through Yueyue again, this time Mitsui's help defense successfully interfered with Kuwata's layup. Akagi grabbed the rebound and made a long pass. Yueyue, who understood the intention, got the ball and scored a layup directly. Xiangbei gradually closed the gap.
Although Xiangbei had the advantage in the second half, Changcheng was not a team that could be defeated easily. They used their own tactical system and played a series of beautiful attacks. Although Akagi and Mitsui were able to beat their opponents, Fukuda and Yuyue were still unable to defend against Mikoshiba and Kuwata. Moreover, these two could pass the ball to their teammates while attracting Xiangbei's defense. The three-pointer Yusen had an excellent touch and made consecutive three-pointers. In the end, Xiangbei lost the first game 70:73 by three points.
Although Changcheng won the game, Changcheng's coach and players did not dare to underestimate Xiangbei, an unknown team from Kanagawa. They all understood that this was not the strongest Xiangbei, and their main players had such a hard time winning.
In the practice match on the second day, Coach Anzai continued with the routine of the first day, and after a night of research, Changcheng's team had targeted deployment against Xiangbei's playing style. Under the leadership of Mikoshiba and captain Kuwata, they defeated Xiangbei with an 8-point lead in the second game.
The next night, Coach Anzai called all the Xiangbei players to his room.
"Coach, are we going to play like this for the last game?" Kusao Takeshi asked. Although he knew it was a warm-up match and didn't use his full strength, it was fine if he lost two games in a row and was not as strong as the opponent. No one wanted to experience the feeling of losing when there was a hope of winning.
"Coach, I don't think we can go on like this. It's important to test and run in the lineup, but since we're playing, we should decide the winner. Playing with all our strength is also a respect for our opponents. Besides, everyone has improved a lot in these two games, and it's time to show our strength," Murasakibara thought for a moment and said to Coach Anzai.
"Oh, I understand how you feel. So, for the last game, the starting lineup is..." Coach Anxi said with a smile.