Chapter 88 - Pack-Line Defence (1/2)

Aone's standing vertical reach was higher and more explosive than Fushimi's Center, so he reached the ball in the air far before Fushimi's Center.

The ball went to Kaitani, who waited on the spot for Shun to come to him to get the ball, the rest of the team and Fushimi ran to Fushimi's side for the first play.

Shun got to Kaitani and received the ball from him. Shun held the ball and whispered to Kaitani.

Shun: ”Get ready to relay a pass to Mibuchi-san. I will signal the sign for him to get free, so pass the ball the moment he's away from his mark.”

Kaitani nodded and ran ahead, Shun followed at a sedated pace.

Shun raised his hand and signaled Mibuchi to run free.

Mibuchi, who saw the sign started to move around, trying to make space between him and his defender.

Yuki also saw the sign, so he decided to help Mibuchi lose his mark by screening his defender.

Mibuchi saw that and moved so that his defender would get caught in the screen.

Mibuchi's defender didn't see the screen coming and stopped before he would collide with Yuki.

Fushimi's PF: ”Shit!”

Kaitani received the ball and relayed it to Mibuchi, who jumped for a long-range two.

Coach Koetsuji, who was on the sideline, clapped at the excellent teamwork displayed by the team.

Coach: ”Nicely done.”

The ball went into the basket without any problems, and Tokiwadai scored the first points of the game.

Mibuchi turned to Yuki and praised him for the screen.

Mibuchi: ”That was excellent timing and decision on the screen, Yuki-chan. Keep it up.”

The ball was now with Fushimi. Fushimi's shooting guard inbounded the ball to the point guard.

Fushimi's point guard raised his hand with his index finger up.

Fushimi's PG: ”Don't mind it; it was only one play. Let's score back.”

Fushimi's coach saw Tokiwadai's defense and commented grimly.

Fushimi's Coach: ”Ah, this is bad. Tokiwadai's defense is bad for us.”

The players who sat on the bench looked at their coach. One of them asked.

Bench Player: ”What do you mean, coach?”

Fushimi's coach sighed and explained.

Fushimi's Coach: ”Middle School basketball don't play full-court defense. A full-court defense is too tiring for Middle School players.

All of the teams deployed a version of half-court defense or even further below.”

He pointed at Tokiwadai's defense and explained.

Fushimi's Coach: ”Look at Tokiwadai's players, four of them are inside the three-point arc, and the last player stays outside.”

He picked up a small basketball-court board and explained it through it.

Fushimi's Coach: ”Tokiwadai's defense is what you call a pack-line defense.

It was essentially, four players creating a perimeter of the radius 5 meters (~16 feet) from the basket, one player would be outside.”

He put four player-markers in a semi-circle and put one player-marker outside the line of defense.

Fushimi's Coach: ”Just like a man-to-man defense, each player is assigned a mark to guard, but in pack-line defense, they don't stick to the mark and stay inside the area they have created.”

He pointed at the one player outside the defensive area.