When the Way Above Was Blocked, They Went Below

Shohoku was being beaten so badly they had no way to fight back.

Beeep—!

Coach Anzai remained as steady as ever.

But the situation on the court was already making the Shohoku players struggle to breathe.

"How are we supposed to play this?"

Ryota Miyagi wiped the sweat from his face and looked at the green giants surrounding him, a sense of helplessness rising within him.

"Whether passing or shooting, we have to account for the height difference."

"Even on defense, lifting our hands even a little is a foul, but if we don't raise them, they shoot right over us."

"So this is Shoyo?"

"The horror of having an entire team over 190 centimeters tall..."

At courtside, Ryonan's Taoka Moichi watched the scene, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Just as I expected."

"Shoyo has the greatest height in the prefecture. That's a physical gap that can't be overcome."

"That pass Kaede Rukawa made earlier would have been an excellent pass against an ordinary team."

"But against Shoyo, a pass at that height is practically giving them points."

Taoka Moichi turned to his players behind him and said gravely:

"Remember this: passing over their heads against Shoyo simply won't work."

"When they raise their hands, it's like a net cast over the heavens."

"With such an absolute disadvantage in height, if Shohoku doesn't change its tactics, it'll be flattened before the first half is over."

"However..."

Akira Sendoh narrowed his eyes, his gaze traveling across the court.

It landed on the figure at Shohoku's bench who was still yawning.

"Isn't that guy going in yet?"

At that moment, on Shohoku's bench.

Lin Bei leaned lazily against his chair.

Holding a half-empty bottle of water, he watched the situation on the court with unfocused eyes.

"Ah... so noisy."

Lin Bei dug at his ear, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Hey, can that long-haired freak in green stop shooting with such a flashy pose?"

"And Miyagi, are you a mole?"

"If you can't get through from above, why don't you just dig a tunnel?"

Lin Bei's voice was not loud, but it sounded especially abrupt on the tense bench.

A white gleam flashed across Coach Anzai's glasses.

"Lin Bei, do you have any thoughts?"

Lin Bei shrugged and pointed at the court.

"If it were me, I'd slam the ball into the floor and bounce it through."

"After all, they're so tall. Bending down has to be harder for them than for us, right?"

"And besides..."

Lin Bei yawned.

His gaze swept over Shoyo's towering players, and a playful smile curled across his lips.

"The taller someone is, the less stable their center of gravity."

"As long as we make them run and turn, these bamboo poles will trip themselves easily enough."

On the court.

The game continued.

Shohoku's offense remained completely constipated.

Takenori Akagi was double-teamed inside by Toru Hanagata and Shoichi Takano, unable to receive the ball at all.

Hanamichi Sakuragi hopped anxiously outside.

"Give me the ball!"

"This genius is going to dunk!"

Hanamichi shouted at Miyagi.

With no other choice, Miyagi could only risk passing to Hanamichi.

It was a bounce pass.

Just as Lin Bei had said, the bounce pass did indeed avoid Shoyo's high-altitude interception.

Hanamichi caught the ball and faced Shoichi Takano's defense.

"Hmph! Watch this genius!"

Hanamichi made no feint whatsoever and charged straight at the basket with the ball in his arms.

"Too naive!"

Takano sneered and raised both arms, blocking Hanamichi like a wall.

Hanamichi jumped.

Takano jumped as well.

The two collided in midair.

Bang!

Hanamichi's leaping ability was astounding.

But in this contest without a running start or any room, his disadvantage in height was laid bare.

Takano's arms completely blocked his view. He could not see the basket at all.

"Get in there!"

Relying on brute strength, Hanamichi forcefully threw the ball out.

Smack!

A large hand reached out from the side.

It was Toru Hanagata!

Rotating over to help, he swatted Hanamichi's shot away like he was slapping a fly.

"A monster block!"

Shoyo's stands erupted once again.

"Hahaha! What's that red-haired monkey doing?"

"Trying to score in Shoyo's paint? Keep dreaming!"

The basketball rolled out of bounds.

Hanamichi landed, his face bright red with fury as two streams of hot air seemed to blast from his nostrils.

"You damn glasses guy!"

"You dare reject this genius's shot!"

Hanamichi clenched his fists and was about to charge over to argue when Miyagi rushed over and wrapped him up.

"Calm down, Hanamichi!"

"Do you want to get ejected again?"

"Let go of me, Ryota! I'm going to teach that four-eyed bastard a lesson!"

The scene descended into chaos for a moment.

"Ugh..."

Lin Bei sighed from the sidelines and shook his head helplessly.

"Are these guys' heads filled with nothing but muscles?"

"They're so much faster than the other side, yet they insist on competing with them in height and strength."

"Isn't that using their own weakness to challenge someone else's strength?"

The score had now become 6:0.

Only two minutes had passed since tip-off, and Shohoku had already been caught completely off guard.

They had not even managed a decent shot attempt.

An emotion known as despair began spreading through the Shohoku players' hearts.

Akagi looked at the scoreboard, his breathing growing rapid.

If they didn't do something...

If they didn't break this deadlock...

"Miyagi!"

Just then, a lazy voice suddenly pierced through the noisy cheers and reached Miyagi's ears.

Miyagi turned toward the bench.

Lin Bei held an empty bottle in his hand and made a strange gesture at him.

That was...

"Bowling?"

Miyagi froze for a moment.

Lin Bei pointed at the floor, then pointed at Kaede Rukawa.

Then he made an extremely exaggerated rolling motion close to the ground.

The gesture looked ridiculous, but Miyagi's eyes suddenly lit up.

"You mean..."

Miyagi glanced at the towering Taku Ito in front of him.

Ito's arms were still raised high, guarding against Miyagi's aerial passes.

But beneath him...

There was a massive gap between those enormous basketball shoes!

"So that's it!"

A grin returned to Miyagi's lips, carrying a cocky confidence.

"If we can't go through the sky..."

"Then we'll go underground!"

At that moment, Shoyo failed to score again, and Akagi fought hard to secure the rebound.

The ball went to Miyagi.

Taku Ito pressed in again like a tower.

"It's useless, shorty. You can't get past me."

"Is that so?"

Miyagi sneered.

This time, he did not attempt a crossover drive, nor did he try a high lob pass.

His wrist suddenly flicked.

Bang!

The basketball slammed heavily into the floor.

Spinning fiercely like a cannonball skimming the ground, it shot straight through Taku Ito's legs!

"What?!"

Ito's expression changed drastically. He instinctively tried to close his legs, but it was already too late.

The ball passed through his legs and bounced precisely into the hands of Kaede Rukawa, who had already taken off.

"Nice pass!"

The instant Rukawa caught the ball, the court opened up before him.

Before Hasegawa could rotate over, Rukawa had already torn through Shoyo's defense like a bolt of black lightning.

"Don't even think about it!"

Toru Hanagata strode over to help defend.

Rukawa did not force the shot. Instead, he double-clutched in midair.

He passed the ball from beneath his arm to the figure trailing on the other side.

Takenori Akagi caught the ball. There was no one in front of him.

"Get in there!!"

Akagi leaped high, gripping the ball with both hands and using all his strength to smash it viciously into the basket.

Boom!

A thunderous crash rang out.

The basket shook violently.

Akagi hung from the rim, looking down at Toru Hanagata below him.

"This is Shohoku's counterattack!"

6:2.

Shohoku had finally broken its scoring drought.

The entire arena fell silent, then erupted in astonished cries.

That pass just now...

That through-the-legs pass had sliced through Shoyo's defense with the precision of a scalpel.

Taoka Moichi abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes locked tightly onto Shohoku's bench.

Just before Miyagi passed the ball, he had clearly looked over there.

"That lazy kid..."

Taoka watched Lin Bei, who was yawning, and his expression turned incomparably grave.

"Just by watching from the sidelines, he could instantly find a way to break the deadlock?"

"Lin Bei... what kind of monster are you?"