NBA: This flower path is a bit strong.

The players from both sides are ready, and it is still Rukawa and Sakuragi Hanamichi who jump the ball.

"Beep!" With a whistle, the two jumped high and hit the basketball that was thrown to the highest point. This time, both sides hit the ball at the same time, but Hanamichi was more powerful and hit the ball in the direction of Oda Ryumasa.

Hanamichi knew very well that Rukawa's strength was not reduced, but his strength was gradually weakening due to physical reasons. The best evidence to prove this, besides the jump ball, was the defense after the jump ball.

After receiving the basketball passed by Hanamichi, Oda Ryumasa immediately went on a fast break. Hanamichi also ran towards the opponent's basket immediately after landing.

Rukawa did the same, and the two started running at almost the same speed. At the beginning, Hanamichi and Rukawa's speeds were comparable, and the two kept pace.

But after running two-thirds of the field, Hanamichi was half a body length ahead. Although it was only a slight difference, it was enough to explain something in the eyes of insiders.

"It seems that Rukawa Kaede's physical strength is not enough to support him to play a full game of high intensity! This is no wonder. First, he had to defend the captain of Wako Junior High School, Oda Ryumasa, throughout the first half, and had to assist in rebounding from time to time; on offense, he had to face Oda, and there was more defensive pressure from the red-haired (Sakuragi) Hanamichi.

It looks like the situation in the second half is going to change! It seems that the first thing to solve in high school is Rukawa Kaede's physical strength problem!"

While analyzing the battle situation, Coach Tanaka was still thinking about what would happen after Rukawa Kaede joined the Ryonan basketball team.

Next, as Coach Tanaoka analyzed, the situation on the court changed dramatically.

After Wako Junior High School scored the first goal in the second half, the score between the two teams widened to 4 points.

When Rukawa was dribbling the ball, everyone suddenly realized that the person guarding Rukawa was the red-haired (Sakuragi) Hanamichi.

"You are a lost dog, a lost fox. I have just found your weakness! Hey, is your physical strength running out?"

After saying that, Hanamichi moved his feet back and forth on both sides of Rukawa as if he was offering a treasure, and his outstretched arms were constantly waving, blocking Rukawa's passing vision. The frequency of his movements was so fast that it was abnormally fast.

"Oh! That red-haired one is so energetic!" The audience just felt that Hanamichi was extremely excited and full of energy.

But as a professional basketball coach and former basketball player, Coach Tanaoka knows exactly what this kind of flower arrangement means!

"The game is already halfway through, but (Sakuragi) Hanamichi's movements are just like they were at the beginning. His unfathomable physical fitness is exactly what our Ryonan team needs!" Coach Tian Gang did not forget to recruit while commenting.

"I am a genius," Hanamichi felt very happy when he heard Coach Tian Gang's loud praise. After all, it was the recognition of the famous coach in Slam Dunk!

But just when Hanamichi was enjoying himself and feeling proud of himself, he was caught off guard by Rukawa who dribbled past him from the side. Just outside the three-point line, he passed the ball and jumped, and it looked like he was going to shoot!

At this moment, Hanamichi, as if by reflex, took two steps at a time, quickly rushed back to the three-point line, ran in front of Rukawa Kaede, jumped up and slapped Rukawa Kaede's shot, blocking it very cleanly.

"what?"

"So fast!"

"The amount of exercise that Sakuragi Hanamichi does is amazing!"

This block ignited the enthusiasm of all the spectators at the scene. From the beginning of the second half, the cheers far exceeded those of the first half. The cheerleaders of Wako Junior High School and the Sakuragi Army were all grinning from ear to ear, and for a moment, the cheers for Hanamichi and Wako Junior High School resounded throughout the venue.

The cheerleading team of Fuqiu Junior High School was completely silent. As far as they could remember, this was the first time their captain's shot was blocked during a game!

The basketball players of Fuqiu Junior High School were particularly unable to accept that the strongest captain in the history of their team was blocked by a person who looked like a "bad boy".

Coach Tian Gang was also dumbfounded, because this block was not at all in the script he had calculated before the game. At this time, he was already deeply surprised by Hanamichi's amazing amount of exercise.

The form of the game began to change from Hanamichi's block.

Hua Dao on the field walked briskly, proudly shuttling back and forth in the penalty areas on both sides, appearing more excited and energetic than in the first half.

At the same time, at Wako Junior High School, because Hanamichi replaced Oda Ryumasa to defend Rukawa Kaede, Oda Ryumasa's offensive firepower was completely unleashed, so he was able to shoot at will and rush into the inside to get free throws from time to time.

On the other hand, Fuqiu Junior High School has been relying on Rukawa's personal scoring to catch up with the score. However, because Rukawa was closely guarded by Hanamichi, his true shooting percentage was still very high, but it had dropped slightly compared to the first half. And it seems that as time and physical strength pass, his shooting percentage will get lower and lower!

In the first half, Rukawa made nine out of ten shots, but five minutes into the second half, Rukawa had scored a total of 10 points including free throws, but it took him seven shots, and other players on his team scored four points.

Although the overall score of Fuqiu Junior High School has risen to 38 points, Wako Junior High School has already scored 46 points, and it seems that the gap will continue to widen.

"Something's wrong. This is so wrong. This doesn't seem like him at all!"

In Hanamichi's memory, even in a junior high school match, Rukawa Kaede shouldn't be so "weak"! That's right, at this moment, Rukawa Kaede was showing "weakness".

As the score gradually fell behind, Rukawa did not rush to catch up like he did in the first half. Instead, he "allowed" the gap to slowly widen to 8 points. "There must be a problem here."

In the eyes of others, Rukawa made 7 of 4 shots in the second half, plus two free throws, which undoubtedly showed that Rukawa had done his best. However, in Hanamichi's opinion, it was very problematic. It was obviously impossible for the offensive demon Rukawa to "lose his standard" so much.

"There must be something wrong here!" Hua Dao concentrated his attention with all his might, fearing that he might not think of or miss something.

It turned out that when Shohoku was trailing by 2 points in the last 11 minutes of the first half against Hainan, and their captain Akagi left the court, Rukawa was still able to fight back and recover 2 points in 15 minutes (scored two goals during Hainan's period), and also had 2 steals and 1 block. It can be seen that it is quite easy for Rukawa to catch up if he wants to, unless he is too tired to leave the court.

But starting from the second half, Rukawa Kaede continued to play "normally" as usual, like in the first half, and did not fight for every second like he did in the Hainan match, which was a big problem.

Some people say that when playing against the Hainan University Affiliated High School basketball team, Rukawa had already entered high school, and after a period of training, he had made great progress and was no longer comparable to his junior high school level!

What about the practice match against Ryonan? After Akagi left the court, Rukawa took over. At that time, he had just been promoted to high school for a month. In Sendō's words: he was too young, as young as a junior high school student.

But even if he is as young as he was in junior high school, he is still a young "offensive ghost". But his current performance is just like this?

Hanamichi had been feeling something was not right, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he remembered what Hikoichi Aida's sister, Basketball Weekly reporter Yayoi Aida, had said, which was that "Rukawa Kaede's basketball skills have surpassed the level of being unique"!

So, regardless of the fact that they were in a game, he shouted at Rukawa: "What the hell are you doing? This is not like you at all!"

Rukawa Kaede remained expressionless and said nothing after hearing this.

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Fuqiu Junior High School called the last long timeout. At the 15th minute of the second half, Fuqiu Junior High School had used up two long timeouts and one short timeout. The members of the Wako Junior High School basketball team were optimistic about Fuqiu Junior High School's continuous timeouts. Judging from the performance after each timeout, Fuqiu Junior High School basically could not come up with a decent countermeasure, and the score was still developing in their favor.

"Great! If we win, we can go to the finals," said teammate A.

"Stupid, we have the captain and Hanamichi here, we are going to win anyway," said team member B.

……

"A bunch of idiots," Hanamichi said angrily, and his voice even reached the rest area of ​​the Fuqiu Middle School basketball team.

"Don't be careless, he's not the kind of man who gives up easily."

At this time, Oda also felt that Hanamichi was too sensitive and cautious. In order to ease the awkward situation, he tried to smooth things over and said:

"Hanamichi, Rukawa is very strong, but there are only 5 minutes left in the game, and Fuqiu Junior High School can't come up with any good countermeasures. Besides, we are still leading by 8 points..."

Hanamichi walked towards the court without looking back, saying as he walked, "The stinky fox himself is the best countermeasure."