The Road to Stardom: Start as a Slam Dunk Master.

Chapter 127 The Winter Final Four is coming

The qualifying schedule is in full swing, but the local ratings in Kanagawa are only average, always staying at around 12%.

There is no way, what everyone wants to watch is Xiangyang, the semi-finals, and the previous preliminaries are indeed too low.

When thinking about the semi-finals, many Kanagawa people felt sad. Makoto Shinichi's abandonment made them quite disappointed.

In fact, all Kanagawa people are looking forward to seeing the Kanagawa duo meet up again for the final at their doorstep. Just thinking about that scene makes Kanagawa people feel excited.

It's a pity...such an idea is destined to be in vain.

11 month 28 number.

In the last eight county preliminaries that just ended in the afternoon, Hainan in District D, without the key leader Mu Shenyi, lost to Xiangbei with a huge score of 117:85. It had just entered the top five in the country in the summer league. Kamizou Ichiro scored 32 points, but from the beginning to the end there was no hope of winning. It was a complete defeat.

Hainan, the king, missed the prefectural semi-finals for the first time in 17 years. Many Kanagawa people who still have some expectations for Hainan are cursing that "Kamiso Ichiro" is a parallel import second team. Without Mu Shenyi, he is nothing. Shohoku, who had been ranked last in Kanagawa for ten thousand years, actually got a huge advantage. At the same time, he also felt sorry for Mu Shenyi who left.

The king has come to an end, and the sky in Kanagawa has finally changed.

Hainan is gone, Lingnan cannot be counted on without Uozumi, let alone Buri.

As for the young Xiangbei who bullied Hainan, who was short of troops, even if he defeated Lingnan, who was also in a weak formation, and went to the national competition, he would probably only be able to advance to the second round in one round, depending on luck.

Fortunately, we still have Xiangyang!
  As long as Shoyo is here, Kanagawa will still be the king!
  Compared with the local popularity in Kanagawa Prefecture, the new Sanno, which was vigorously promoted by the Asahi Shimbun, has become very popular across Japan.

Center Morishigehiro, power forward Masahiro Nobe, small forward Tsuchiya Jun, shooting guard Moroboshi Dai, point guard Fukatsu Kazunari.

The extremely gorgeous starting five, except for Tsuchiya Jun's evaluation is slightly lower than that of the previous Sawehita Eiji, Sanno can be said to have strengthened in an all-round way.

What's even more daunting is Sanno's terrifying bench depth, with substitute center Mikio Kawada, substitute forward Minoru Matsumoto, substitute point guard Satoshi Ichinokura, etc...

This bench lineup alone is enough to form a top four team in the country. It is no exaggeration to call it the strongest mountain king in history.

The media did not hesitate to praise, and even the Japan Basketball Association came out to endorse Sanno. The momentum was unprecedented. NHK has decided to broadcast the first semi-finals of this winter selection to the Akita Prefecture qualifiers, where Sanno Industries will face off. Kurimoto Kogyo's game, not Summer League champion Shoyo.

………………

After losing to Shohoku in the summer vacation, Coach Kitano taught Xiangyang a lot of new things, a set of offensive system tactics called Princeton, which was also jokingly called the high-position dealing tactic by Coach Kitano.

Pull the 198-centimeter center Toru Hanagata to the free throw line to open up space in the court, and use Toru Hanagata as the starting point of the offense. Through off-the-ball running, quick conduction, and mismatches, local air cuts and open three-pointers can be formed. , in order to maximize the role of Hanakato Toru in the team.

At the same time, Ito Taku, Fujima, Hanagata Toru and even Hasegawa are all working hard on three-pointers. Unfortunately, except for Ito Taku and Fujima's three-pointers, which have greatly improved, Hanagata Toru can only be said to be able to shoot, while Hasegawa's three-pointers The shooting percentage is really terrible... He doesn't have that kind of talent, but at least he has been able to practice a little mid-range.

This is specifically designed to restrain Sanno Industrial's offensive tactics when focusing on Lin Dong alone in the summer league, and also to deal with Xiangyang's inability to open up the offensive end against Shohoku when Lin Dong was missing.

It is necessary to connect all the other players in Xiangyang on the offensive end. Although the training time of just two or three months has left Xiangyang with some inaccuracies in using this tactic, as long as Lin Dong is added to it, it will be perfect. The only words are four big characters: Invincible in the world!

Since becoming familiar with this tactic, Xiangyang's starting lineup has also undergone slight changes.

Takano Shoichi, who was originally one of the inside gatekeepers, became a substitute, and Taku Ito, who was originally a substitute, came up and took up the shooting guard position.

Takano Shoichi has no complaints about this transfer. It is not based on coach Kitano's words, but depends on his strength and fit with the team.

After a whole summer vacation, Ito Taku is the one who trains hardest in the team. Not only has his physical fitness, speed and other aspects improved significantly, but more importantly, he has also developed two unique skills.

One is the Princeton offensive system taught by Coach Kitano, which involves a lot of movement without the ball. Takano Shoichi cannot run as fast as Ito Taku, nor is he as thorough as he understands without the ball. If he wants to be on the court, Princeton must It directly became a mess.

Based on this alone, Takano Shoichi has nothing to say if he is to be moved to the bench.

Moreover, Ito Taku also has another skill, which is the 'squirming shot' that Lin Dong originally taught.

Hanagata Toru tried to practice this move, but gave up after a while. His body was too stiff and he couldn't twist it. The rhythm was like a seven-injury punch to Hanagata Toru. Before he could hit the enemy, he had to hurt himself first. …

But Ito Zhuo got better and better the more he used it. This guy is the typical type whose body speed is half a beat slower, but his brain reaction is one beat faster than others.

Seeing him squirming around like a worm under the basket, you feel that he has turned eight hundred turns, but he just didn't move. He has excellent rhythm control and is quite good at attacking the basket. , belongs to the type that once the brain starts to spin, even Fujima and Hanagata are a little unable to guard against it.

After all, it is Kitano Shoichi who is the best at attacking. Princeton needs the ability to finish in every position... so it is logical for Ito Taku to be put into the starting lineup.

5:30 pm, Xiangyang Arena.

Xiangyang had already completed the quarter-finals in the morning. A team that was in the top 16 of last year's county competition, it wasn't even a warm-up. Lin Dong only played for about ten minutes before being dismissed as usual. Xiangyang easily won 145:62.

Due to time issues, the Final Four will not have to wait two months like the summer league, but will start directly tomorrow.

According to the schedule, Xiangyang’s first opponent is Lingnan, the second match is Xiangbei the day after tomorrow, and the third match is Buri.

Lingnan, who is missing Jun Uozumi and Ryoji Ikegami, is obviously not as good as before. Although he is led by Sendō, he did not play so easily and casually against Miuradai in the quarterfinals. The score of 98:75, if placed in the summer league, would have been unimaginable given Lingnan's level at the time. The main reason was the gap inside. The center Sugahira who replaced Uozumi was not the bald opponent of Miuradai at all, and he had let him in the summer league. The eye-catching small forward Yoshiaki Fukuda was also forcibly suspended by the school because of a fight. Both offense and defense were almost supported by Sendō.

In the first half, they were leading by more than [-] points, but after being exhausted in the second half, even Sendō could no longer withstand Miuradai's counterattack, and was beaten back by more than ten points, which made some Kanagawa football commentators express emotion. , I always said that Akagi from Shobei was a one-man team, but now it seems that Xiandao from Lingnan is the loneliest warrior.

The article was somewhat sensational and made Lingnan fans burst into tears, but that was all. Against Xiangyang, who had already become the biggest boss in Japan, no one thought that Lingnan had even a chance. All predictions were just that. Just predicting how many points Lingnan will lose.

"Tomorrow is the first game of the semi-finals of the Winter League." Kitano Akira stood in front of everyone with his hands behind his back and said with a smile: "I have already handed over the starting list and will announce it."

"No. 4 Kenji Fujima, No. 5 Toru Hanagata, No. 6 Kazushi Hasegawa, No. 9 Taku Ito, and No. 13 Lin Dong."

The list was already expected by everyone, but no one was excited.

"When I was coaching other teams, I would inevitably say some motivating words before the war to cheer everyone up." Kitano Shoichi said with a smile: "But for you, I don't think it is necessary to say this."

Everyone laughed, the atmosphere was relaxed, and many people couldn't help but subconsciously turn their heads to look at Lin Dong standing next to them.

It seems that just seeing him is like taking a reassurance that no matter what kind of opponent he faces, Xiangyang has no chance of losing!
  "Remember," Kitano Shoichi said slowly: "You are the champions!"

........................

At 6:10 in the evening, Mito bathing hot spring.

Lin Dong was lying on the massage bed waiting for Uncle Mito to arrive, while the small color TV in the room was playing NHK sports news.

"...Sanno Industrial went to the United States for training this time and played against Iguodala, who has the Illinois Mr. Basketball, and Lanphier High School, the AAU champion player, several times. Although they lost several times, they also lost in the past few months. We have made great progress in training, and in the final battle, we forced the powerful Lanphier High School to try our best!"

"The strength is in line with international standards, and the results are obvious to all! There is no doubt that the comprehensive basketball youth training cooperation with the United States will greatly improve the level of youth basketball in our country. We firmly believe that this mountain king will become the champion of the winter selection of colleges and universities. We also firmly believe that the mountain king's The training model in the United States will surely become the beginning of the rise of Japanese basketball..."

Lin Dong glanced at the screen, and the person speaking was actually someone he knew, Basketball Association Chairman Ozaki Masatoshi.

He had already heard about this from Kitano Shoichi. It seemed that Sanno Industries was able to pry away all domestic star players such as Shigehiro Mori, Jun Tsuchiya, and Dai Morohoshi in a short period of time. It was most likely because of the provision provided by the Basketball Association. This quota to go to the United States for training is simply an irresistible temptation for Jun Tsuchiya and others.

However, Lamphere’s Iguodala?
  ...Couldn’t he be the guy who stole Curry’s Finals MVP?

A 3D player on the team at that time stole the Finals MVP honor from the star player. Although this was mainly related to some capital behind the United States, the name Iguodala is destined to be incomparable in NBA history. Dazzling, after all, they did play an MVP-level performance in that game.

When Iguodala was young, he was even more famous for his talent. When he was first drafted into the Philadelphia 76ers, he won the honor of the Rookie of the Year, which gave the 76ers' senior management the confidence to recruit Allen Iverson in the second year. Trading away the historic guard and focusing on cultivating Iguodala is a testament to his talent when he was young.

And facing Lamphere High School, which had Iguodala and the AAU champion player that year, the Mountain King actually forced the opponent to use his full strength?
  Lin Dong smiled.

Whether you give your best or not, God knows...

"Hi, Brother Takato."

Just as he was thinking about it, Mito Yohei walked in with a bottle of essential oil and said with a smile: "My dad is busy over there, how about I come today?"

"Thank you for your hard work." Lin Dong lay down.

Everyone is familiar with it. Mito Yohei's skills are not bad. He is a little less experienced and experienced than his father, but he is better than his father.

"Didn't go to class today? Are you back so early?"

"It's the flower arrangement competition. I skipped class to watch it." Mito Yohei chatted while massaging: "That guy is still clamoring to defeat you all day long, but I see that as the competition is approaching, the guy is getting more and more nervous. This No, in the morning we defeated Hainan and entered the semi-finals. Everyone wanted to celebrate him, but he ran back to the gym to practice more."

"With Shohoku's strength, you don't need to be nervous to fight against Buri."

"Don't we have to fight you the day after tomorrow? This may be what Hanamichi cares about the most." Mito Yohei said: "By the way, Brother Takato, I want to ask something, I heard Hanamichi talking about Lloyd training Is the base short of masseuses?”

"Yes." Lin Dong smiled and said, "I've only been there for three months, and the school has changed two masseurs. What, you want to go? Don't you want to study?"

"You know your own grades." Mito Yohei said: "I can barely pass all subjects. It's not that I can't go to university, but I definitely have no hope of going to a better university. It's better to start working early."

"Oh," Lin Dong thought for a while: "The massage at Lloyd's training base is mainly to stimulate the body's potential, and it may not be the same as the relaxation method at your home."

"I heard what Sakuragi said." Mito Yohei said with a smile: "You can learn it. I heard that it was taught by the founder of their training base. At least I also have some massage basics. I should be able to get started quickly, and there is no need to introduce me specially. , just give me a phone number, that guy Sakuragi couldn’t remember the number and said he wanted to ask Coach Anzai, I thought you should also know, so I didn’t let him bother."

"Old Earl has been recruiting masseurs, but in addition to being generous to black people, he is also very stingy with his Japanese employees. The two masseurs he replaced seemed to have left because of salary reasons... Your store is also very stingy. It’s pretty good, the income should be much higher than what you get from Old Earl, so there’s no need to travel so far, right?”

"It doesn't matter, I just want to study." Mito Yohei said with a smile: "After watching Hanamichi play for half a year, I also became a little interested in basketball, but I am a little short in height. Coach Anzai said that Hanamichi might become a professional in the future. On the way to basketball, I thought that if I engaged in some related work, I might be able to help Hanamichi in the future. As long as I study, the salary doesn’t matter.”

Lin Dong turned to look at him, then stood up with a smile and took out the phone from the jacket he took off: "I'd rather call it for you."

　There will be one update at 12 noon and another update in the evening. I will write the chapter after I get up in the evening. It does not necessarily depend on when it will be updated. It will be updated at most before 10 pm. I will try to finish all the three chapters that will be updated the next day tomorrow morning and publish them on time. Rest and things should be back to normal later on.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)