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

Chapter 174 Meeting an opponent in chess!

Being able to control the ball and carry Lin Dong through most of the court, being able to take the initiative to attack in the face of Lin Dong's defense, being able to have the vision behind him in such a situation, being able to see opportunities for Hisashi Mitsui to run out...

Coach Anxi was so excited that he squatted on the ground and clenched his right hand into a fist.

Rukawa-san has truly transformed this time. There may still be a gap, and perhaps such a good state cannot be maintained forever, but at this moment, he has really touched the realm of Lin Dong-san!

"What a goal!" The Xiangbei substitutes on the sidelines got excited and waved their towels excitedly.

"Rukawa! Rukawa! Rukawa!"

"Wow, yeah, the mistress is showing off her power!"

"Xiangbei must win! Xiangbei must win!"

The Xiangbei fans in the stands finally became completely excited. Just chasing points before was not enough to explain anything. Lin Dong still felt like a copper wall blocking everyone.

But at this time, the successive smooth attacks, facing Lin Dongshi's confrontation and competition, were able to attack smoothly, which made everyone suddenly feel... Even Lin Dong was not really Invincible!

At this time, whether it was the audience's shouting object or the two commentators' passionate voices, all the spotlight and focus were focused on Rukawa Kaede, as if he was the star of hope for the future of Japanese basketball!

"Wow wow wow, I feel like Hanamichi is going to go crazy!"

"Hahaha, I heard everyone cheering for Kaede Rukawa, Hanamichi must be very uncomfortable!"

"The anger level has reached its peak. I feel that Hanamichi is shaking with anger!" Takamiya watched the excitement in the stands and blew the trumpet without taking it too seriously: "Hanamichi! Hanamichi! Calm down!"

Akagi Haruko was extremely excited just now. She surpassed Xiangyang and won the championship in Xiangbei. That was her brother's dream. She finally saw a little hope!

But what these guys said was too exaggerated. Akagi Haruko said in a dumbfounded voice: "Don't say that, Sakuragi is not so narrow-minded."

"Oh oh oh! Haruko, you don't know much about ikebana! Look!"

"Clenched fist!"

Haruko looked in the direction of Sakuragi, and saw Hanamichi Sakuragi lowering his head slightly, tightening his fists, and his arms seemed to be shaking slightly, as if he was trying to control his emotions.

"Ah..." Akagi Haruko was startled, but still shook her head firmly: "Sakura can't fight!"

next second...

Snapped!

But he saw Sakuragi Hanamichi slap his own face hard with two palms.

In the noisy scene, the spotlight was all on Rukawa Kaede, and no one paid attention to Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was slapping himself in the corner. The only ones were the Sakuragi Legion and Akagi Haruko.

Gao Gongwang was shocked: "You actually hurt yourself! You can't hold it in any longer!"

"I understand. Slap yourself first to see how it feels. The next one will definitely be Rukawa Kaede!" Yuji Ohkusu said with certainty.

"It's over, it's over! This game can be declared over in advance! Everyone, please leave the field quickly to avoid being affected..."

But before he finished speaking, he saw Hanamichi Sakuragi doing nothing. He actually retreated towards his defensive position in the backcourt of Shohoku without saying a word.

At this time, his cheeks were red and the prints of his palms were clearly visible, but his eyes had become extremely cold, as if there was no trace of color in them.

Xiangyang's possession of the ball.

Lin Dong continued to play singles. Facing the defense coming from Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede, he still chose to beat Rukawa Kaede from the side.

You have to fight against the strongest, this is Lin Dong's consistent style!

Sakuragi Hanamichi felt his eyes flicker, and the two of them had shaken him off again.

He clearly has high hopes from his father, he clearly has helped him so much, he clearly wants to keep up with Takato's brother, and he clearly talks about carrying Xiangbei to win the game.

But now he is showing such incompetence, and he just keeps thinking about being in the limelight... Not to mention Brother Takato, even Rukawa Kaede is far above him!

Damn it!

At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi felt a little dark, but immediately after, there was a thump in his head...

At this moment, Sakuragi's eyes seemed a little bloodshot, and a voice resounded in his head: Brother Takato is mine!

As Sakura Hanamichi thought, the two people who had already rushed over there were already in full offensive and defensive battle, entangled like quantum entanglements.

Kaede Rukawa couldn't stop Lin Dong's progress, but Lin Dong couldn't completely get rid of his clingy defense, and he defended diagonally from the three-point line to around a 60-degree angle in the penalty area.

The rapid consumption of physical strength made Lin Dong finally feel a little sweaty, but he felt very contented.

This kind of offense and defense, compared to its technical level, is indeed inferior to the duel between himself and Stephen, but the sense of oppression and urgency is definitely worse. The fighting spirit and wolfishness exuded by Rukawa Kaede is hilarious. Stephen is absolutely incomparable.

Such an opponent is so enjoyable!

At this time, Lin Dong suddenly stopped, turned around, and pulled out again.

Although Rukawa Kaede still managed to keep up with the jump block without losing his position, Lin Dong's backwardness made him feel a little desperate after all, but the next second...

A big hand stretched out diagonally and covered it from a higher angle.

Lin Dong's pupils shrank slightly.

Sakuragi?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Although his mind was distracted by other things just now, so that he actually started a step slower than the two of them, but at this time, he actually caught up with Lin Dong at the moment when he took action.

The crazy burst of adrenaline made him jump high and fast, and the timing of blocking the shot with his big hand was just right. Even Lin Dong had no time to change his move and could only barely suppress his arm.

Snapped!

Thanks to this pressure, the big hand that was originally aiming for the ball suddenly deflected a little, and slapped Lin Dong's arm hard, knocking Lin Dong's body to the side, and the basketball came out of his hand, and fell to the ground. After staggering a few steps, he barely managed to stand still.

Shhh!

The referee's whistle sounded: "No. 10, Xiangbei, the thug fouled!"

Wow!

There was an uproar.

Although it was a foul, Lin Dong's shot was forcibly stopped!

From Kaede Rukawa's defense without losing position before to intercepting Lin Dong's offense, all of these are things that no Japanese high school team has ever done before.

And at this moment, the iron wall that Lin Dong had built in front of the Japanese basketball world since the summer league seemed to finally have a trace of cracking!

"For your level, it's not easy." Rukawa Kaede said as he turned around.

Sakuragi Hanamichi was immersed in the feeling that overshadowed Lin Dong. He was a little lost in thought, but when he heard Rukawa Kaede's voice, he suddenly became a little angry: "Who wants you to praise me? Do your best. Come on, really... Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by my level?! Wow, stop right here and speak clearly!"

"These two guys..." Takenori Akagi looked dumbfounded.

"The famous specialty of northern Hunan is here again!" Miyagi Ryota pouted.

Mitsui Hisunori chuckled, his eyes sparkling.

That's it for Akagi and Miyagi, but I have also been to the Lloyd training base, so I can't lose to these two guys!

"Oh oh oh oh! Hanamichi is resurrected again!" Sakuragi Legion laughed.

"Sakura! Don't quarrel!" Haruko Akagi reminded loudly.

No, no, no! Coach Anxi on the sidelines watched nervously.

Sakuragi-san was finally affected by the duel between Rukawa-san and Lin Dong-san, and finally got rid of all his psychological shackles and entered that state of selflessness.

But it's not enough!

Release it to your heart’s content and show it off!

Lock down classmate Lin Dong, success or failure depends on this!

As Lin Dong made two steady free throws, the score was back to double digits again.

21: 11.

But at this moment, everyone can feel that Xiangbei's momentum is completely different from before.

Rukawa Kaede held the ball and beat Lin Dong hard. Although he was firmly pushed outside the three-point line and had no room to take action, he made a wonderful pass to Miyagi, and Miyagi Ryota quickly passed to Mitsui Hisashi.

While Mitsui Hisashi attracted double-teams from Takano Shoichi and Hasegawa, he once again distributed the ball to Sakuragi Hanamichi at a 45-degree angle in the penalty area.

Sakuragi jumped high without hesitation and scored a steady mid-range shot.

It felt like the entire team was obviously mobilized. In comparison, Xiangyang, who only relied on Lin Dong to attack alone, seemed very monotonous in attack.

21: 13.

Xiangyang counterattacked, but this time, Lin Dong felt different from before.

The defenses of Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede seemed to be suddenly synchronized, one on the left and the other on the right.

Sakuragi's defensive awareness was extremely clear at this time, and his movement speed and defensive pressure were significantly improved compared to before.

Lin Dongqiang jumped high after hitting the basket. The two blocked shots at the same time, one in front and the other diagonally behind, making Lin Dong unable to even lean back.

Actually... there is no chance to take action?

A flash of admiration flashed in Lin Dong's eyes. This time, the two of them really blocked the ball.

The fight just now was a bit too easy... he couldn't help but think teasingly.

This time was obviously no longer suitable for strong play. Lin Dong caught a glimpse of Toru Hanagata near the free throw line, bowed slightly in the air, and the basketball slipped out from under the armpits of the two defenders.

The ball reached Hanagata Toru's hand. Hanagata Toru bent her legs slightly when catching the ball. Takenori Akagi jumped up high one step away, and then saw a flash of light passing by Hanagata Toru's lenses.

Akagi was shocked and was fired up!

Swish!

A steady shot from mid-range.

The score was pulled back again, 23:13.

Shohoku's possession of the ball, with the help of Hisashi Mitsui's pick-and-roll, Rukawa Kaede opened a distance between himself and Lin Dong, jumped high and shot a 3-point long shot, and then scored!

23: 16.

Xiangyang turned around and Lin Dongqiang made a pass from the back, assisting Fujima from outside the 3-point line to score a 3-pointer.

At the end of the first quarter, 26:16, the score difference was only 10 points.

Both sides were in good condition at this time, and the audience and fans in the stadium were also in excitement. The two sides took a short break and immediately started the second quarter of the game.

In this quarter, both sides immediately continued the feel and state of the first quarter. They fought back and forth for two rounds. Lin Dong transformed from 'Single East' to 'Full East'. Xiangyang's offensive continued. However, Xiangbei was not to be outdone, and the scores increased alternately.

31: 20.

Coach Anxi began to gesture frequently on the sidelines and constantly made tactical adjustments.

He knew very well that version 2.0 of Xiangyang was coming, but this was not the limit yet...

Lin Dong, who is playing in singles with all his strength, is not the most terrifying, it is just his own whim. Lin Dong, who starts to stretch the space and start passing the ball, is the more difficult point to deal with!

Mitsui Hisashi began to cooperate with Miyagi to defend Fujima.

On Xiangyang's side, Kitano also gave tactical instructions at the same time.

The successive breakthroughs and improvements of Rukawa Kaede and Sakuragi on the Shohoku side also somewhat disrupted his imagination. It seemed that it was a bit impossible to quickly determine the outcome in the first half.

The extraordinary performance of Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede has limited Lin Dong's scoring ability to a certain extent, but Kitano knows very well that this level is actually beyond the abilities of those two people... This state cannot last forever. In terms of strength, Lin Dong is still the insurmountable peak in northern Hunan.

But the opponent was gaining momentum, and Xiangyang, who had been trained by him, was not a decoration, so there was no need to let Lin Dong solve the problem on his own.

"Lin Dong! Flower shape!" He gestured towards the two of them.

Shhh!

Xiangyang substitution! Takano Akira, Ito Takuta!

Xiangyang's Princeton system, high-position dealing tactics!

In the previous winter games, Xiangyang had used this style of play two or three times, but they were all used in training without Lin Dong. Although the tactics had distinct characteristics, their power was actually limited.

But now that Lin Dong has integrated into the system, the feeling is completely different.

Xiangyang version 3.0!

Although all members of Xiangbei were in excellent condition at this time, they were still a little helpless in the face of this high-level card dealing tactic.

Hanagata Toru pulled to the top of the three-point arc, forcing Takenori Akagi to leave the basket. Otherwise, Hanagata Toru had the ability to shoot three-pointers. With his height advantage, anyone hitting him would be out of position. He might be able to hit him directly by himself. Throw Xiangbei to death.

But as soon as Akagi left the basket, Lin Dong pulled Sakuragi and Rukawa Kaede to the side. Mitsui Hisashi had to help defend Fujima on the outside, and Shohoku's inside line was freed up.

Ito Taku's awkward "pee layup" passed Miyagi three times in a row like he was shaking his crotch, and his shooting percentage was almost 100%.

When Sakuragi turned around to help defend the inside line, Rukawa Kaede was unable to stop Lin Dong's attack alone, and was knocked out by Lin Dong on the outside.

Coupled with the dazzling movement of the Xiangyang team, Xiangbei felt as if he was being misplaced and faced with pick-and-rolls all the time.

Xiangyang's overall offense has been fully developed, sweeping away Lin Dong's singles scene in the first quarter, and it was so smooth that it was dizzying.

Looking back at Shohoku's offense, although the explosive Rukawa Kaede and Mitsui Hisashi are still sharp, their hit rate is not as high as Shoyang's.

Ito Taku is faster than Takano and can barely restrain Miyagi, thus dislocating Fujima to defend Mitsui Hisashi.

Although he couldn't be targeted, it brought down Mitsui Hisashi's previous hit rate of almost 5 shots. He made 3 of shots in the first eight minutes of the second quarter.

Coupled with Lin Dong's one-on-one defense restriction on Rukawa Kaede, if it weren't for Sakuragi Hanamichi's explosive offensive rebounds, the score would have been widened again.

Reluctantly, until the end of the first half, 52:40, the two sides were only 12 points apart!

(End of this chapter)