Chapter 28 - Tokiwadai vs. Meiho, Part 1 (1/2)
Kageyama Shun looked at Nebuya Eikichi doing the warmup drills. He understood what the coach was trying to say.
Shun: 'From the game video, I know that he is good at rebounding and screenouts, but for his other skills.'
Nebuya Eikichi's other skills were average, they weren't bad, but neither were they good.
Shun: 'He has the size to cover all his other deficiencies.'
Shun turned his head towards Mibuchi and Ishida. The game from the outside was going to be critical today.
Shun: 'Today I will score from the outside, but how should I stop Nebuya Eikichi, he is too strong for anybody on our team, stealing the ball mid-pass in the second half would plummet his ability to score, but that will not be stopping him on a personal level.'
Shun carefully thought on how to defend against Nebuya Eikichi on a personal level, and he had some basic ideas he wanted to try.
Shun looked over to the other members of Meiho's team and saw that they weren't that good.
Shun: 'Even if we are not able to stop Nebuya Eikichi, stopping the rest of them will be easy.'
Both teams finished their warmups and gathered at the center of the court, both teams gathered on the half-court line, and the referee came with the game ball in his hand.
Referee: ”The semi-finals between Tokiwadai Middle School vs. Meiho Middle School will begin now.”
Otsubo and Nebuya both touched the ball at the same time, and because of the impact, it turned into a free ball, Shun who was the closest to the ball, leaped into action.
He got the ball and immediately ran towards the basket, at the three-point line, he was met by Meiho's power forward.
Shun paused for a moment and did a crossover to his right, and the moment the defender was in motion, he pulled back and took a shot, scoring three points for his team.
---------------------------------------------------
In the stands, Teiko Middle School basketball team was watching the game; they had their game after the first semi-finals.
Nijimura: ”That was a sharp pullback, he pulled back the moment his opponent was in motion.”
Shun was the possessor of God-Speed Impulse; he could react to what he saw almost immediately, so the moment he saw his defender in a position where he would be able to put some space between them and sank a three-pointer.
Midorima: ”He also looked comfortable with his shooting form, he adjusted the ball in his hands quickly, and that reduced his shooting time.”
----------------------------------------------------
Now, Meiho had the ball, their point guard dribbled his ball to the half-court and passed it to the small forward who didn't move from his spot and passed the ball forward to Nebuya the moment he got the ball.
Otsubo got close to Nebuya to hinder him, but Nebuya just pushed Otsubo back till he arrived below the net, and put the ball in the hoop with an overhand layup.
Mibuchi, who was near Shun, spoke up.
Mibuchi: ”To be able to push Otsubo-senpai back like that, what does he eat.”
Shun: ”That brute strength of his is what makes him dominant in the post.”
------------------------------------------------------
Haizaki: ”How can he just push his way back like that; that is just unfair.”
Nijimura, who heard that couldn't help but think.
Nijimura: 'You are the one who is unfair; copying moves after seeing them once was a baffling enough, but to disrupt the rhythm so the original user would have a problem using the move, is simply outrageous.'
-------------------------------------------------------
Shun stopped and got into the shooting position, this attracted Aone's defender to move away from him, towards Shun, but the moment he left his mark, Shun jumped, but instead of shooting he threw the ball to Aone.