Chapter 142 - Support & Defence (1/2)

The two players that Shun was impressed the most were Lin Ming and Rafael Garcia.

One was efficient to the limit, he could take the information, and brilliantly make use of it.

Passing the ball and moving around the court in a way that would make his teammates' work easier.

The second player was a player that moved around the court with the sole intention of defense, a player so focused on defense that he would make players lose their cool and make them panic when he approached them.

He did everything, screens, ground defense, rebounds, blocks, and would chase the players from one side of the court to another if required.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun looked at Ming moving around the court and moving the ball around.

Shun had seen his roommate play on the court in a way that he, as a point guard, didn't play.

From watching Ming play, Shun had learned a few important lessons about the role of the point guard.

The lessons that Shun learned had made him feel like his mindset about the playmaker position were to shallow.

Shun: 'Point Guard is the playmaker of the team. He is the one in control of the way the team would attack.

I thought that the point guard's job ended with him passing the ball to the next player, but oh boy, wasn't I was wrong.'

Seeing Ming play, had shown Shun that a point guard's role extended far beyond the first pass.

When Ming passed the ball, he didn't stop and moved to either screen a player, or moved to a place on the court where he would cause trouble for the defense.

He would also be ready to relay the ball once again if the player with the ball got stuck.

The position point guard also had the word guard in it and making sure that the attacking player on his team has an easier time at scoring.

After looking at Ming, Shun concluded this.

Shun: ”A point guards work doesn't finish until the ball is in the basket or the possession of the other team.”

But, that wasn't that made Ming a good player, it was his aptitude as a playmaker with his natural ability of Hawk-Eyes that provided him with a full-court vision.

With those things, he made his teammates as comfortable as possible. Ming had excellent communication skills and made sure that there was no communication gap between them.

And, Shun made sure to learn from his fellow Point Guard and copied him to obtain all his quirks and skills.

-*-*-*-

Shun dribbled the ball to the just before the three-point arc and passed the ball to a free Rafael.

Ming, who was in the opposite team, was keeping track of the players with his Hawk-Eyes stopped in his tracks when he saw Shun moving around the court.

He chuckled and spoke.

Ming: ”It's already my turn, huh. Well, he is a point guard, so he should know how to play as one.”

Shun moved to the side of the court, where the traffic was heavy and made the defenders more occupied.

Shun was stunned for a second but then smiled.

Shun: ”No one said this was going to be easy.”

He kept an eye on the ball and ran towards the ball and caught it, and immediately threw the ball at the basket.

Shun: ”A point guard's work doesn't finish after one pass.”

And, the high jumper rose to the occasion and grabbed the ball mid-air and dunked it in an alley-oop.

Gilbert swung from the rim and then landed on his feet with a thump.

He turned to Shun and showed him a thumbs-up.

Gilbert: ”That was a nice pass, Shrimpy!”

-*-*-*-

Shun breathed in and out, Ming's copy wasn't physically taxing, and Shun could keep it up longer if he wanted.

The problem with Ming's copy was that it required to process a lot of information in a short period.

The common thing in players like Shun, Ming, Hanamiya, and Akashi was that all of them took in a lot of information and detail of what was happening on the court.

Shun had his perfect profiling, and he used it to power his steal play in the second half.

Akashi had the Emperor-Eyes that gave him the information about the body of the player, which he had to interpret to see the future.

Hanamiya could remember the game after seeing it once, and then he had his spider's web to work on.

And, same as them, Ming took in the positions of the players on the court to choose where he moved, who he passed, when he passed, who he screened, and other decisions.

The problem that Shun faced with Ming's copy was that he wasn't used to working with things that Ming took note of.

It was like maths, when you learn a new branch of maths, at the start, you're slow to solve the numerical and problems, and even if you have learned something with the same difficulty before, you still require practice to become fast and quick with the new formulas and calculation.

This was what Shun was going through with Ming, even though he had all the information with the help of the perfect profile, he was still not comfortable enough to apply them.

But, Shun was optimistic.