NBA: This flower path is a bit strong.

This was the first time that Takenori Akagi ended his life with a strong sense of reluctance.

He sat heavily on the bench, covering his head with a towel.

The opportunity to challenge the king of Hainan, which I had dreamed of for three years, was "ruined" just like that!

Akagi was very unwilling to leave the court after being "forced" to commit two fouls just over two minutes into the game.

Hanagata, who is also one of the three centers of Kanagawa, can understand Akagi's feelings at this time. He said to Fujima beside him:

"So this is what you mean by getting rid of this situation!"

Fujima looked calmly at Akagi on the bench and said seriously:

"Yes, that's it! There are all kinds of teams in the national competition. If Akagi or Xiangbei can't adapt to these tricks in advance, they will suffer a great loss! Do you still remember Touou High School? Their methods are even more cruel than this!"

"Sianghoku has defeated our Shoyo team and is participating in the joint finals. We may even be able to enter the national competition. So it's time for us to understand these things."

"But from what we can see so far, Coach Anxi has not taken the initiative to teach them these little intrigues on the court."

Facing the unwilling Akagi, Coach Anxi, who had arranged the substitution, did not sit back in his chair with the cup in his arms. Instead, he came to Akagi and said calmly:

"Akagi-san, don't give up so easily! Sometimes, you can try to trust your teammates!"

"Coach Anxi?"

Akatsuki looked up at him.

Coach Anxi smiled and said:

"This game won't end so easily. Just sit here and observe the situation on the field. Believe in the strength of your teammates!"

"Yes!" Akagi looked up and said.

I don't know why, but Coach Anzai's words were so calm and peaceful, even soothing. With just two simple sentences, Akagi regained his confidence from his secret self-blame. Back then it was Mitsui, and now it's Akagi again.

Mugure Mitsunobu, who was substituted in, came into the field with the latest instructions from Coach Anzai. He patted Hanamichi on the shoulder and said:

"Coach Anxi asked you to replace Akagi. The tactics will remain the same. You will initiate the attack in the paint! Remember this? You are the little bully under the basket!"

Mugure was also worried that everyone's spirit would be hit and their morale would be shaken after Akagi left the court. And because of Akagi's departure, the pressure on both the offense and defense of Xiangbei's interior would increase, especially Hanamichi, who was the most affected.

So when Coach Anzai asked him to tell Hanamichi this, he was worried that Hanamichi would not be able to adapt and might even feel stressed.

Unexpectedly, Hanamichi was slightly stunned after hearing this. He didn't expect his father to bring such instructions, but he looked at Kazuma Takasago, who was about the same height as him, and then clenched his fist, the most confident gesture, and said loudly:

"Of course, the area under the basket is my world!"

Rukawa, Mitsui, and Miyagi all looked at Hanamichi.

"Hehe, this kid is really confident." ~ Mitsui

"He is a fearless person!" ~Miyagi

"Oh~"~Rukawa Kaede.

……

The game resumed and Hainan launched the attack.

However, a very magical thing happened at the scene. It was nothing for the 178cm Mugure to defend the 184cm Muto Masaru. But when Hanamichi and Takasago Kazuma were wrestling in the paint, the Shohoku bench discovered:

"Has Hanamichi grown taller again? I just compared him and found that he is much taller than Rukawa!"

"Idiot, he is 3cm taller than Rukawa."

"But, it seems that he is a little taller than Hainan's center, and don't you think he has become stronger too?"

"Hmm~ Now that you mention it, it seems to be true!"

Caizi murmured upon hearing this:

"Hainan team's center Kazuma Takasago is 191cm tall. It looks like Hanamichi should be a little taller than him. It seems that he has grown taller in recent times. In any case, at least Hanamichi has a better advantage in the inside competition!"

Coach Anxi took over the conversation and said:

"If Hainan wants to use double-team tactics against Hanamichi by driving Akagi away, it's a big mistake! His rebounding and inside skills have grown to the top level in the country after the match against Shoyo, plus his body is developing at a high speed. There is no doubt that Hanamichi is the best choice for the top power forward in the inside!"

Ayako, Akagi and the entire Xiangbei substitute team were surprised after hearing this. They didn't expect that Coach Anzai, a former Japanese national player who has been engaged in basketball for decades and has seen countless people, would give such a high evaluation to (Sakuragi) Hanamichi!

"That guy!" Akagi recalled every bit of his offense and defense with Hanamichi in the team, and finally felt relieved. He sincerely advised:

"I'm counting on you, (Sakuragi) Hanamichi!"

On the court, the Xiangbei team still used traditional man-to-man defense. Maki Shinichi observed carefully for a long time and finally decided to do it himself.

After all, the biggest difference between the enemy and me is in the position of the point guard!

Miyagi Ryouta looked at Maki Shinichi, whose aura suddenly changed, and his heart rose to his throat again. At least from the beginning, this guy Maki Shinichi had not yet exerted his full strength.

"The number one player in Kanagawa high school basketball might just start showing off his power now!"

At this moment, Maki Shinichi suddenly accelerated his dribbling and broke through Miyagi from the left side. Unlike the previous change of direction in front of his body, this time, the strong Maki Shinichi didn't even have any fake moves, but simply relied on his speed to break through Miyagi.

Of course, this does not mean that Miyagi is definitely slower than Amu. It’s just that because Amu is on the side with the ball, when he breaks through on the offensive end, he can break through Miyagi’s defense and get enough space with his quick first step and strong body.

The space was so large that after Hanamichi got rid of Takasago's blocking, he had no time to completely block Amu from the penalty area. He could only watch Maki Shinichi's shot from the free throw line go steadily into the pocket!

After landing heavily on the ground, Makishen clenched his right fist and yelled madly at Hanamichi: "Ola (good)!"

Then he turned around and returned to defense.

"That Amu actually challenged Hanamichi!"

Hanamichi looked at the figure of No. 4 going back to defense, his burning eyes seemed to be emitting flames of excitement:

"Interesting, is this a declaration of war?"

In fact, if Hanamichi, who had just gotten rid of Takasago, tried his best, he could have tried to block Shinichi Maki.

However, with the previous experience of Akagi, and knowing that Amu had this history, he did not try to block the shot completely. He just did some standard interfering defensive moves. Unexpectedly, he was provoked by Amu!

"I want it back!"

Not fighting back after being provoked is not the style of flower arrangement.

Like Akagi, Hanamichi's strength, speed, height and even weight are all above Takasago, but there is one decisive difference between Hanamichi and Akagi. That is, as a power forward, Hanamichi's footwork and lateral speed under the basket are definitely higher than those of an average center.

Especially since arriving in this era, Hanamichi has positioned himself as a power forward and has been practicing his footwork under the basket on a daily basis.

Facing Takasago who could easily draw fouls by faking a fall, although Hanamichi was excited after accepting the challenge from Maki Shinichi, he was not impulsive, and he did not intend to use his 97 points of strength to suppress Takasago and win.

After receiving the pass in the paint with his back to the basket, Hanamichi used his left foot as the axis and faked a move with his left hand, making a sign of a left-hand breakthrough.

As Hainan's starting center, Takasago had some reaction to this, so his center of gravity shifted to the left.

At this moment, Hanamichi quickly turned right and created a half-body-length space between him and Takasago.

At this time, Hanamichi was already facing the basket and had distanced himself from Takasago. He then took a big step forward with his right foot and landed behind Takasago. He then used his strong body to cover Takasago behind him. Then he used his speed to jump directly in three steps. It was not a layup, but a powerful dunk.

With Hanamichi's 91-point dunk value plus 97-point strength, when he exerted his full strength, the result was that Hainan's basket made a "squeaking" sound.

Hanamichi responded to Maki Shinichi's challenge by using the opponent's ravaged basketball hoop: "I will definitely win this game."