"This isn't good if it continues."
Katsunori Harasawa looked at the composed Yuuto and initially realized the terror of the Lion King.
He didn't have such a deep understanding when watching the games.
Only by truly facing him would one understand how suffocating that ability to constantly evolve was.
Thinking of this, he gave Imayoshi Shoichi a signal.
The Tōō captain indicated he knew what to do.
Holding the ball past half-court, just when everyone thought he would pass the ball to Aomine...
He faked a pass and drove, deceiving Ryuhei Kasuga, then retreated back to the three-point line and returned a three-pointer to Seiho.
This sudden scene caught everyone off guard.
"Tōō made a move."
"A very wise choice. Continuing to let Aomine fight Yuuto like this—leaving aside the score deficit—the blow to morale wouldn't be small. Timely interrupting this duel, Tōō's coach is very rational."
Akashi nodded but said, "But whether Aomine will agree is another question."
In fact.
Aomine was indeed very dissatisfied with Imayoshi's unilateral action.
People who didn't know better would think he was afraid of Yuuto. But Imayoshi scored, so he had no reason to complain.
"What a cunning guy."
Ryuhei Kasuga gritted his teeth, dissatisfied with Imayoshi, but even more dissatisfied with himself.
He actually lost focus in such an important match, naively thinking Tōō would continue the one-on-one.
"Isn't this better? If we let them duel forever, we'd just be running back and forth with them." This time it was Iwamura's turn to comfort Kasuga.
"True. I won't make the same mistake again." Kasuga pulled himself together.
They were Kings; they had their own pride and beliefs.
If they relied solely on Yuuto for the entire process, even if they achieved revenge, the result wouldn't be perfect.
Back on the other end.
Ryuhei Kasuga made the same choice: fake pass, real drive.
"Tit for tat?" Imayoshi smiled.
This master of psychology completely saw through Kasuga.
"So what if you see through it!"
Kasuga changed his habitual same-side arm/leg running style (pace running/Nanba Aruki?) and switched to swinging his limbs normally.
He tore through the opponent's defense through this rhythmic change, broke into Tōō's restricted area, and assisted Iwamura for a dunk.
"So troublesome." Imayoshi put his hands on his hips.
They were more or less overly reliant on Aomine and Momoi.
Used to playing with a huge intelligence advantage, suddenly encountering an opponent with equal intelligence made them somewhat unaccustomed.
Especially Seiho's rhythmic changes; it was easy to disrupt the defender's judgment.
"Momoi, based on your judgment, how long will it take for them to adapt?"
Harasawa referred to the time required for the players to adapt without the intelligence advantage.
"Based on the seniors' abilities, one quarter is enough." Momoi gave this answer after thinking for a moment.
Tōō's players were all national-level; their abilities needed no questioning.
"In other words, the latter half of the second quarter at the earliest?"
No problem; Harasawa could accept that.
If they couldn't utilize their lineup advantage, wouldn't their money be wasted?
Yamashita Shio was also thinking about this problem.
Compared to Harasawa's optimism, he was calmer inside.
Perhaps Tōō could adapt extremely quickly, but don't forget, Yuuto would also constantly correct himself during this time.
When Tōō's people were ready, waiting for them would be another problem even harder to solve.
During the conversation.
Tōō completed another attack.
Both sides tacitly stopped actively looking for their aces.
The one-on-one duel between Yuuto and Aomine suddenly stopped just like that.
What was strange was...
Aomine didn't actively call for the ball.
He didn't have Akashi's eyes, but his instincts made him feel a potential danger.
His condition today was exceptionally excellent; since his talent awakened, this match was his peak state.
However.
Yuuto remained unaffected by him from beginning to end, his overall rhythm steady and stable.
He hadn't exploded, nor had he declined.
Aomine couldn't figure out how this was done, but he instinctively stopped, accumulating "power" to be ready.
Such a perfect rhythm.
Naturally brought by the Bible of the Star.
Red Eye Mode and Demon Mode couldn't increase the Stamina attribute.
But the Bible of the Star could.
Yuuto even believed this talent wouldn't be inferior to Red-level talents.
Of course.
He currently only possessed one Red-level talent and didn't know what kind of monstrous abilities Red talents actually were.
If every one of them was at the level of Weakness Revision, then he'd probably have to reach the level of Echizen Ryoga's "Devouring" talent to meet the conditions.
Beep~
The first quarter ended.
Both sides scored very high in this match.
Both broke 30+.
Seiho led Tōō by a narrow margin of 2 points, 33:31.
Yuuto had 12 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound in a single quarter. His defensive contributions were few; he couldn't stop Aomine's utterly chaotic offense.
Aomine scored more, 16 points and 2 rebounds in the quarter. His defensive stats were also blank; he also couldn't stop Yuuto's scoring.
Statistically, the two were evenly matched in the first quarter.
But anyone who watched the game knew clearly that Tōō actively terminated the duel between Yuuto and Aomine.
Judging from another angle, Yuuto actually had the advantage.
"Our defense in the first quarter wasn't good enough. We weren't in our own rhythm." Yamashita Shio wasn't satisfied with the team's first-quarter performance.
In a 10-minute quarter, they let Tōō score over 30 points.
That was enough proof that their defense failed.
Even Tōō being a super-offensive team couldn't be their excuse.
Iwamura, Kasuga, and the other players didn't refute.
They just didn't do a good job on defense, Yuuto included.
"In the second quarter, we won't play zone. They like to rely on individual ability to solve problems, so we'll move. Switches must be decisive, speed must be fast, ensure the ball handler faces our defensive pressure at all times."
Yamashita spoke quickly, drawing on the tactical board.
Seiho's lineup was carefully tuned by him.
Average height was 1.85m, the overall difference wasn't large; almost every player could defend switches.
As for the offensive end.
"Our offense in the first quarter was good; we scored 33 points. Keep it up."
"If you encounter trouble you can't solve, don't hesitate. Give the ball to Yuuto to handle."
Mm.
Still the old tactic: give the damn ball to the strongest person!
...
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