Chapter 46 - Mini-Game (2/2)

Ni and Shi came to guard Shun with a double team. Shun looked at the other players and found Ichi guarding Yuki and San guarding Kaitani.

Shun returned his line of sight to his defenders. Shi was standing a little behind and to the right to Ni, and Ni was trying to pressure Shun to go right towards Shi.

Shun dribbled towards Ni, slowed in front of Ni, and did a sidestep to evade and make space between Ni and himself.

Shun then dribbled forward till he met Shi, Shun came to a complete stop in front of Shi, hopped, and threw the ball over Shi's head to Kaitani in an overhead pass, who had managed to create some space between him and San.

Kaitani caught the ball and began a drive straight to the basket. San caught up and was right beside Kaitani.

Kaitani slowed down his speed in the last two steps and stopped near the basket, but San was not able to decrease his speed, and that created a little space between them.

Shun, who saw that thought.

Shun: 'He has good control over his movement, he was able to come to a complete stop within two steps, and created space for an easy layup.'

Kaitani looked at Shun and said.

Kaitani: ”That was a nice assist.”

Shun replied with a compliment of his own.

Shun: ”That stop at the end was perfectly timed.”

-*-*-*-

The ball was in the hands of Ichi, who was in the post position in the low post area, making contact with him was Yuki.

Yuki was trapping Ichi in a tight defense, not allowing him to move freely.

Kaitani slowly moved towards Ichi while keeping an eye on his mark. Shun was in the middle of two players, making them feel pressured, by looking for an opportunity for a pass-steal.

Kaitani suddenly increased his speed and tipped the ball out of Ichi's hand.

Yuki was chased by Ichi and San appeared from the front, Yuki passed the ball to Shun when the two got closer to hum.

As soon as Shun got the ball, Ichi, San, and Shi converged upon Shun's position but Shun, relayed the ball back to Yuki when the three got near him.

Yuki scored the ball with defenders nowhere close to him.

As the game went on, Kaitani and Yuki piled up points while Shun supported them with assists and defense.

Shun was in the post position with San at his back.

Shun warped his leg around San's leg and pivoted till he was at San's back. San was locked in his position as Shun was blocking him with his body and wasn't able to turn immediately.

Shun moved his hands up for a shoot, and Ni jumped up to block him, but Shun turned it into a fake and passed it to Kaitani. Shun immediately set up a screen on San, so he couldn't go towards Kaitani, and Ni was already late because of his jump.

Kaitani received the ball and shot from mid-range, but he missed.

Yuki and Ichi jumped for the rebound. Yuki got the rebound, and he jumped immediately again to score the ball into the basket.

As the game went on, Kaitani and Yuki finally realized how good a point guard Shun was. Shun hadn't scored a single point in the game, and even then, they were in the lead by ten points.

Shun knew how Kaitani and Yuki played, so he followed the same pattern of getting the ball, evading his defenders, wait for Kaitani and Yuki to get free, and then pass the ball to them.

Shun selected Ni and San for his defense targets, and wouldn't let them score. He left the other two to his teammates as this was a practice game, and they needed to get good at defense.

Shun had decided that he would use most of the games as practice for his dribbling skills and his passing skills.

Shun: 'If I want to emulate Akashi's perfect positioning and Nash's teleport passes, I would need a lot of practice, and these games are perfect for that.'

The game ended with Shun's team winning by a thirteen-point lead.

The final score was 31-18.

Kaitani and Yuki had managed to score thirty-one points in a 3v4 matchup with the help of Shun.

Kaitani came to Shun and raised his hand for a high-five.

Shun grinned and raised his hand to slap his hand against Kaitani's in a high-five.

Behind them, Yuki was standing with both his hands raised, looking for high-fives of his own. Shun and Kaitiani fulfilled his d.e.s.i.r.e by giving him high-fives on one hand each.

Shun & Kaitani: ”Yeah!”

Yuki: ”Good game.”

The day ended with the three of them deciding to leave together after their extra after-club practice.