On one possession, Dicky Anthony's three-pointer bounced off the rim.
Dicky Anthony was instantly furious.
"Oh, shit!"
He knew that once he missed that shot, his showdown with Shintaro Midorima was over.
He had lost.
Atsushi Murasakibara easily grabbed the rebound, ignored Taisuke Otsubo, and jumped straight up on the spot to slam the ball into the hoop.
There was no helping it. In this game, Atsushi Murasakibara was the absolute ruler of the paint.
Shuzo Nijimura patted Dicky Anthony on the shoulder, comforting his good friend.
"Don't be sad. You were never going to outshoot Midorima anyway."
Dicky Anthony replied in English,
"Oh, Nijimura, you really know how to comfort people!"
"Beep! Kirisaki Daiichi requests a timeout."
Seeing that Dicky Anthony and Shintaro Midorima's duel had come to an end, Satsuki Momoi called the first timeout of the game.
They were about to change tactics.
Both teams slowly headed back to the bench.
After everyone came over, Satsuki Momoi gave a short instruction.
"Nijimura-senpai and Haizaki-kun, go double-team Midorima-kun."
"Anthony, go guard Miyaji for a bit."
Dicky Anthony rubbed his nose and asked awkwardly,
"Satsuki, who's Miyaji?"
Satsuki Momoi thought about it for a moment, then answered with certainty,
"The one over there with the yellow hair."
Dicky Anthony glanced over and immediately understood.
"Oh, so it's that blond guy."
The reason Satsuki Momoi had Haizaki and Nijimura double-team Midorima
was because the two of them had better coordination and were also a little faster.
And more speed meant a better chance to steal the ball.
Dicky Anthony had the height, but his stealing ability and speed could not compare to those two.
So Satsuki Momoi handed the task of double-teaming Shintaro Midorima to Shuzo Nijimura and Shogo Haizaki.
As for Miyamoto Tokima...
He was still observing.
He was planning to make his move in the second quarter or the third.
After all, he had to give his teammates some real game experience.
If he handled everything by himself, then how the hell were his teammates supposed to improve?
Back in America, Miyamoto Tokima had done exactly that, and it had massively increased the Black Dragon Team's real combat experience.
Even if they were about to lose, Miyamoto Tokima would still be there to cover for them.
On Shūtoku's side.
After the players came down, Masaaki Nakatani started thinking.
He understood very clearly what this timeout meant.
What he had to do now was figure out how to break the situation open.
He kept thinking, but in the end realized that aside from using screens, there was no other way to break through.
After all, Kirisaki Daiichi was not Rakuzan.
Kirisaki Daiichi's players were all too terrifying, including the bench.
In the end, he sighed and explained the screen tactic to everyone.
"Beep! Break time is over. Both teams, back on the court!"
The break ended quickly, and both sides returned to the floor.
Possession naturally belonged to Shūtoku.
The other three players from Kirisaki Daiichi stood in their own backcourt on defense.
Meanwhile, Shuzo Nijimura and Shogo Haizaki were already double-teaming Shintaro Midorima in the frontcourt.
Shintaro Midorima froze for a moment, his expression shifting slightly.
"So... it's actually the two of you double-teaming me?"
Shuzo Nijimura gave him a mysterious grin.
"Heh, who else would it be? With your shooting now, one person just can't stop it."
Shogo Haizaki curled his lip and said nothing.
Taisuke Otsubo, who was inbounding the ball, paused as well. With things like this, a full-court three was almost impossible.
If Shintaro Midorima wanted to shoot a full-court three, he had to get open within eight seconds.
Otherwise, there was no way.
Even with screens, eight seconds might still be too rushed.
A full-court three needed time to set up.
So they could only bring it into the frontcourt and play for a half-court shot.
But if they played that way in the frontcourt, Miyamoto Tokima was waiting there.
Who knew where he might come from and stuff Shintaro Midorima's shot?
But they had no choice. They had to play it.
So Taisuke Otsubo passed the ball to Kazunari Takao.
Kazunari Takao glanced at the tightly trapped Shintaro Midorima, then sighed and dribbled the ball across half court.
The trap from Shuzo Nijimura and Shogo Haizaki was on a completely different level from Rakuzan's two.
Since Kazunari Takao had already crossed midcourt, Shintaro Midorima obviously could not stay in the backcourt waiting for the pass.
There was still the backcourt violation rule, after all.
So he also had no choice but to struggle his way toward the frontcourt.
Kazunari Takao stood just one step beyond the half-court line, not daring to advance.
Because the pressure from Miyamoto Tokima was simply too strong.
After crossing half court, Shintaro Midorima started moving nonstop, trying to shake off Shuzo Nijimura and Shogo Haizaki.
But it was hard.
Far too hard.
Trying to shake those two off by himself was practically impossible.
So Taisuke Otsubo and Shinsuke Kimura hurried over, ready to set a double screen.
But just as they got into position.
A wolf's howl made them freeze.
"Awooo!!!"
Shogo Haizaki activated his Animal Instinct, and the image of a lone wolf appeared behind him.
He slipped past the screen at once and continued hounding Shintaro Midorima.
Shuzo Nijimura did the same.
He smiled faintly.
A ferocious shark appeared behind him.
His defensive movements changed too.
He began jumping constantly, nimbly slipping past the screen and continuing to stick to Shintaro Midorima.
At that moment, Kazunari Takao and the others' expressions changed.
They turned ugly.
At courtside, Satsuki Momoi smiled faintly.
Her tactic had worked.
The reason she had so confidently sent those two to double-team him actually came down to two things.
The first was that Miyamoto Tokima was on the court.
The second...
was her analysis of Shūtoku.
According to her research and deductions, if Shūtoku faced Kirisaki Daiichi...
their chances of scoring two-pointers would become infinitely low.
Especially in a game that opened with both sides trading threes.
Once the game started with both teams firing threes at each other, Shūtoku High School's probability of going for twos would drop close to zero.
After all, with a divine shooter like Shintaro Midorima on their team, if they could get one more point, why would they not go for it?
Another reason was that Kirisaki Daiichi had too many three-point shooters.
The moment Shūtoku chose to go for twos,
Kirisaki Daiichi would completely pull away with threes.
Shutoku High understands gradual point accumulation better than anyone.
After all, they did that kind of thing all the time.
So in the current situation, even if Shinsuke Kimura was completely wide open under the basket, the ball probably still would not go to him.
On the court.
Kazunari Takao's mind raced as he tried to think of a way out.
At that moment, Shinsuke Kimura gritted his teeth and ran straight toward the baseline while shouting,
"Takao!"
Kazunari Takao saw it and immediately whipped the ball over.
To make sure the pass got there fast and clean, he did not throw it especially high.
But even so, it was still not a height an ordinary person could reach.
Yet right then, something shocking happened.
Dicky Anthony suddenly leaped up and got a fingertip on the ball!
Kazunari Takao and Shinsuke Kimura were both dumbfounded.
"How is that possible!!!"
...