What Yuuto truly wanted to correct was the entire concept of "off-ball screens."
Throughout the long history of basketball, this tactic has passed through the hands of countless world-class coaches, spawning numerous variations.
Coaches, working with what they had, figured out many tactical schemes based on their lineups, but they all reached the same goal.
The tactical objective of off-ball screens has always been to create shooting opportunities for the shooter.
Yuuto's entire brain was spinning at high speed right now.
So-called Basketball IQ can actually be understood as the thinking speed of an academic genius.
Some problems that are incredibly difficult for poor students, requiring repeated deduction and calculation to solve, are sometimes just a matter of a fleeting thought for a genius.
Basketball is the same.
You can treat tactics as a problem, and execution or breaking them as the answer.
Yuuto was a poor student academically, but years of watching basketball made him an "academic genius" on the court.
The corrections from the simulation couldn't feed back into his body directly because he hadn't fully mastered the talent yet; his body needed to re-adapt.
But those memories of the matches wouldn't disappear.
Spain Pick & Roll, Down Screen, Back Screen, Cross Screen, and so on...
Every tactic Shutoku had used in the simulation echoed in Yuuto's brain and was rapidly analyzed by him.
This process was arduous. Placed before him was a problem far beyond his age.
He felt like he was playing a game of cops and robbers.
The thief moved one step ahead of him, and what he had to do now was make the arrest.
But this thief was cunning; Shutoku's tactics were the means by which the thief evaded capture.
However, this wasn't a real cops and robbers chase; this game had a cheat code.
What Yuuto had to do was ignore the tedious processes, find the straight path to the finish line, and tear through the layers of blockades before Midorima could shoot.
Beep~
The first quarter ended. The score was 29:21, Seiho holding an 8-point lead.
Midorima went 6-for-6 from three-point range in a single quarter, blasting out 18 points, setting a new high for the tournament.
The highest scorer was Yuuto, who went 9-for-9, 2-for-2 from three, scoring a game-high 20 points.
Both of them put up an astonishing 100% shooting percentage.
"Is it troublesome?"
"Yeah, really troublesome. They've formed a continuous chain."
Yuuto took a towel to wipe his sweat.
Shutoku's tactical execution was the strongest they had encountered so far.
They were extremely proficient in how to play around Midorima.
Seirin's run-and-gun looked as immature as an infant in front of them; Seirin won most of their games relying on talent to solve problems.
"Can you solve it?"
"Yes."
Then there was no problem. After asking Yuuto, Yamashita Shio took the tactical board to explain tactics to the others.
"Go double-team Shutoku's other first-year. Don't let him pass the ball comfortably to Midorima."
Yamashita chose the same deployment as in the simulation.
This was a means to effectively contain Shutoku's system.
Although it would eventually evolve into Miyaji and others feeding ammunition to Midorima.
Nakatani had guarded against this move long ago.
Yuuto had encountered all of this during the simulation.
But what had to be done still had to be done.
Takao's Hawk Eye could thread the needle. The quality of passes from him versus others was markedly different.
"This is fine."
Yuuto continued his analysis and correction.
To correct the entire concept of "off-ball screens" so that he would no longer be affected by them was a massive undertaking.
This was his first attempt.
An attempt to use the Weakness Revision ability in a grander way.
Just like Kise's first "Perfect Copy" in the original work, there was too much preparation needed.
But it was necessary. Once he completed it, he would no longer fear this type of offense in the future.
He had the chance to become the best off-ball defender.
There are many off-ball masters in NBA history.
Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, and Jordan were all off-ball masters.
But the most astonishing performance he had seen came from Klay Thompson.
On December 6, 2016, in a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Pacers (text says Kings, but historically it was Pacers), Klay Thompson scored an astonishing 60 points.
But the freakish part wasn't that he scored 60 points; it was the premise under which he scored them. He touched the ball only 52 times in the entire game, dribbled 11 times, and possessed the ball for an incredible 90 seconds.
A player scored 60 points in a game, yet only held the ball for 90 seconds!
This meant that throughout the game, his opponents couldn't do anything about his off-ball movement; they couldn't guard him no matter what.
And Midorima?
Putting aside that opening challenge against Yuuto, his subsequent possession times never exceeded 2 seconds.
Catch and shoot. Shoot and score.
If he wasn't stopped, he might score over 60 points in this game!
On the other side, Masaaki Nakatani was also making urgent deployments.
So far, they had actually deviated from the game rhythm most favorable to them.
That Seiho Number 10 was using unreasonable individual ability to constantly pressure them.
Under this immense pressure, Shutoku was forced to act early.
Nakatani could only hope the team could hold on a bit longer, because their tactics weren't infinite.
They couldn't evolve infinitely like Seiho's monster.
This was Finite vs. Infinite. From the start, they were at a disadvantage.
"Takao, they might implement a double-team on you in the second quarter. Don't hesitate, be decisive in passing."
"Whoever receives the ball must pay attention to Midorima's position at all times. If an opportunity arises, shoot it yourself, score yourself!"
He said a lot, spilling words freely, and finally added a sentence.
"Remember this, all of you! We are Shutoku! We are Kings!"
"Now, go beat those rich boys from the North for me!"
Seiho was a proper aristocratic school; Shutoku fans always liked to use "rich boys" to mock Seiho for not knowing how to play ball.
The second quarter began.
Seiho's possession.
Right off the bat, Yuuto killed his way under Shutoku's basket. Under the double-team of Midorima and Otsubo, he twisted his body like a pretzel. When squeezed by opponents leaving almost no space, he stubbornly sent the ball into the net.
"Yuuto! His 22nd point of the game!"
"Incredible!"
"He's practically challenging the limits of human flexibility!"
The Tokyo crowd had goosebumps, including the TV commentators.
A performance maximizing individual heroism.
Shattering Shutoku's layered defense time and time again.
This was the most astonishing individual performance in the Nationals so far.
"But playing like this, won't he get tired?"
"Of course he'll get tired. But Yuuto won't play like this forever. He must be preparing something."
Yuuto's stamina was among the best Kuroko had seen.
Just focusing on offense or defense wasn't much pressure for him.
But full offense and full defense—even Yuuto couldn't afford that consumption.
Usually by this time, Yuuto would have over 5 assists, but today he had none.
Kuroko didn't know what Yuuto was preparing, but he was certain Yuuto wouldn't keep playing like this.
...
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