Chapter 161 - Ryuo vs. Tokiwadai, Part-One (2/2)
He frowned and thought.
Hayama: 'Shit, he cornered me.'
He looked around to see his options when Shun suddenly closed in, causing Hayama to stop his dribble and hold the ball in both his hands away from Shun's reach.
Hayama: 'Crap, I can't dribble anymore!'
Shun grinned and said.
Shun: ”Got you.”
Hayama saw his shooting guard running towards him, he had Kaitani behind him, but he decided to pass the ball to him, so he could a pass-back.
He threw the ball to his teammate, but mid-pass, Narumiya appeared and stole the ball.
Shun's eyes brightened, and he yelled.
Shun: ”Nice steal.”
Narumiya ran to the basket with the Ryuo's point guard on his tail, but even then, he was able to lay the ball in the basket, and even if he missed, Kaitani had switched from defense to offense for backup.
Shun looked at Narumiya.
Shun: ”Hmmm....”
He thought of something but decided to wait before implementing it.
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Outside of the three-point arc, Shun and Hayama faced off against each other.
Shun was in control of the ball while Hayama was on the defense.
Shun dribbled the ball between his hands in front of Hayama, shifting on his feet to make sure Hayama wasn't able to lock on him.
Hayama decided to close in for a steal attempt, Shun's reflexes reacted as he leaned back and did a back-change, and then cut past from the right.
Hayama was off-stance as he went in for a steal, so he wasn't able to follow after Shun in time.
Shun reached basket and was about to jump for a layup when Ryuo's center jumped for a block.
Ryou's C: ”Got you now!”
Shun's reflexes warned him, and Shun was confident that he could score, but he decided to pass as,
Shun: 'If the center is here, that means he is free.'
Within a split-second, he confirmed the position of his teammate and passed the ball to the left.
Ryuo's center was startled when he saw the pass, and when he saw the receiver jumping for the basket all he could say was,
Ryuo's C: ”Crap!”
The receiver was Hyakuzawa, and he jumped for a dunk. Hyakuawa ascended to the basket, as Ryou's center was losing height.
Hyakuzawa jammed the ball into the basket, and when he got down, he and Shun c.h.e.s.t-bumped each other.
Shun and Hyakuzawa: ”Yeah!”
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Current Tokiwadai's outside game was at it's weakest. Mibuchi was retired, and neither Sora nor Narumiya had developed their skills for them to be reliable in a game.
But, Tokiwadai still had Shun.
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Shun had passed the ball to the inside and was now moving around the three-point arc.
He was ready for a pass to shoot the ball. At the same time, he was ready to defend in case of turnover.
Around the perimeter, Kaitani shot the ball, but it missed, but Yuki rebounded the ball and looked around for someone to pass, and saw Shun near the three-point arc, so he threw the ball to him.
Hayama and Ryuo's power forward immediately moved towards Shun to guard him.
Shun caught the ball with his defenders near him, but he didn't think of dribbling to create some space and entered shooting motion.
Looking at Shun, Hayama, and Ryou's Power Forward thought they would reach, but when Hayama jumped for the block, he found that.
Hayama: ”I can't reach.”
Shun was already at his release point and shot the ball from his apex reach.
The ball flew to the basket, made contact with the inside of the rim, and dropped into the basket.
Shun experimenting with Ivan's quick-draw and found that trying to shoot the fast as he can till his accuracy got back to normal wasn't the right approach, and almost all of his shots missed, which wasn't optimal.
So, he switched to increasing little and then maintain that speed till he was used to it.
The result was that Shun was just a tad bit faster than before, and combine that with his high release point did the rest.
It became very difficult to stop Shun from shooting if he had ample space.
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The first quarter of the game was over, and at the Tokiwadai bench.
Shun stood in front of his team and gave them some instructions.
Shun: ”Okay, listen. We are doing good, but this isn't the best we can do.
So, this is what I am thinking.
Ryuo is an offensive team, and they pride themselves on their offensive abilities.
So, for the second quarter, we are going to play defensively.
We are going to oppress their offense and make them panic.”
He looked at Hyakuzawa and said.
Shun: ”Hyakuzawa, ignore everyone else and solely concentrate on their center.
If he wants to score in the post, loom over him.
If he wants to rebound, box him out.
Make as much contact as you can so that he doesn't have a sense of freedom in the post.”
He turned to Yuki and instructed.
Shun: ”Yuki, I want you to make sure that when the Power Forward gets the ball, you either make the shot clock run out on him or force him to pass.
I don't want him to score, even if it is a poor attempt.
By the end of this quarter, or the third, I want Ryuo's members to think that their Power Forward is not an option to pass.”
Shun arrived at Kaitani.
Shun: ”Kaitani, it is fine if the shooting guard gets the ball, but don't give him space.
I don't mind if he dribbles past you, just don't give him space to shoot.
If he comes to close to the basket, I will be on him.”
Shun finished with Narumiya.
Shun: ”Leave the point guard free, he is an inside scorer.
Between Yuki, Hyakuzawa, and me, whoever is closest to him, will block him.
What I want from you is to move around the court. Be there to steal a hasty pass.”
Shun looked at his team and declared.
Shun: ”I want Ryuo's offensive ability broken, that is our sole goal today.
I don't care about pilling up points, as long we break their offense.
I don't want this turning into a score-out.
I want to defeat Ryuo by eliminating their strength.”
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[
A/N - 1: I will not be showing both the games.
They have come so far, so it is expected that they would want more than one game. I just wanted to put that out.
And, we won't be needing two games to do what Shun wants to achieve. I will finish them in one game.
]