"Hey, you two, you can't even catch up? What a waste of your height!"
Sawakita's sarcasm came suddenly.
Sendoh was alright, but Kaede Rukawa was practically grinding his teeth to powder, yet he couldn't find a way to refute him.
Eiji Sawakita dared to be so arrogant, mocking two five-star high school students with his absolute strength.
The members of Sannoh knew that Sawakita was playing at his best. He only became talkative and started making sarcastic remarks when he faced a truly serious opponent.
It seems like it's been a very, very long time since Sawakita last acted like this.
The teammates all felt a little unfamiliar with him.
For the next five or six minutes of the second half, Ryonan successfully kept Eiji Sawakita in this form.
He went on a scoring spree during this period, racking up 15 points in a row.
Looking at Ryonan's side, Kaede Rukawa is completely shut down by Satoshi Ichinokura, and Sendoh is holding on by himself.
For a brief moment, the game became a contest between Eiji Sawakita and Akira Sendoh.
Sawakita dribbled past Sendoh's defense, folded his arm around the basket, and scored a layup, widening the gap to nineteen points. He glanced at Sendoh.
"You haven't improved much since two years ago. Time is running out for you, Sendoh."
In this clash of titans, Sendoh, just like in their one-on-one duel two years ago, gradually lost ground.
It's not that Sendoh hasn't improved; he's definitely much stronger than he was two years ago. It's just unclear whether Eiji Sawakita has also been improving, or if the Sawakita from two years ago simply wasn't using his true abilities.
In short, Sendoh admitted that he still couldn't beat him.
If Sendoh is a Tier 1 player, then Sawakita is a Tier 0 player. They seem to be only one level apart, but that one level is the biggest bottleneck for a player.
"Give me."
Ryonan serves the ball from the baseline, Kaede Rukawa reaches out to ask for the ball from the baseline.
In the past few minutes, Sendoh hadn't found an opportunity to feed the ball to Kaede Rukawa, Satoshi Ichinokura's defensive intensity was too high. Not only did Kaede Rukawa fail to receive the ball, but he also wasted a lot of energy in his entanglement with Satoshi Ichinokura.
They lost double the money, inside and out.
At this moment, Kaede Rukawa took the initiative to come to the baseline to ask for the ball. In any case, Sendoh could take this opportunity to catch his breath.
Kaede Rukawa received the ball from the baseline, but before he even crossed halfway, Satoshi Ichinokura pressed forward again.
The difficult part is passing and receiving the ball.
Kaede Rukawa was dribbling the ball, and although Satoshi Ichinokura was sticking to him like glue, he still had the ball firmly in his hands.
He stepped on the gas and sped straight to the basket, then suddenly braked and stopped, raising the ball overhead with both hands.
Satoshi Ichinokura jumped up as if on cue, almost shoving himself into Kaede Rukawa's face.
However, Kaede Rukawa's expression suddenly changed, and his shooting stance instantly collapsed. With a flick of his wrist, the ball slipped under Satoshi Ichinokura's arm.
The ball passed directly through Mikio Kawata's defensive zone and landed steadily in Uozumi's hands.
Uozumi didn't even need to adjust; this position was arguably the most comfortable he'd received the ball in the entire match.
All the anger he had been holding back throughout the game finally erupted. He pushed off the ground with both feet, jumped up, and swung his arm to slam the ball into the basket.
With a loud crash, the basketball hoop shook, Uozumi, with both hands hanging on the rim, could be heard throughout the entire arena.
"Pretty!"
Moichi Taoka clenched his fists on the sidelines, almost jumping up.
This really hit him where it hurt.
Kaede Rukawa isn't incapable of passing; he simply never even considered it. His assists in the group stage looked like lucky breaks, or perhaps just pure chance.
But this time was different. Moichi Taoka knew perfectly well that from the moment Kaede Rukawa received the ball, all he could think about was passing it.
If this transformation can be stabilized, Ryonan still has a chance.
From then on, Moichi Taoka's predictions were all correct.
Kaede Rukawa seemed like a completely different person; he suddenly got the hang of it and kept setting up his teammates.
With the pressure on Sendoh's side greatly reduced, Ryonan suddenly had two players who could both score themselves and provide assists, making their offense immediately more active.
Sendoh is also incredibly skilled at playing off the ball; the two of them weave through the defense and managed to close the gap to thirteen points.
With ten minutes left in the game, the possibility of a comeback is still alive and well.
The problem is that Masashi Kawata seems glued to the bench, showing no intention of getting up. It looks like he's not planning to play today, leaving everything on the field to his younger brother Mikio.
Taking advantage of Satoshi Ichinokura moment when Kaede Rukawa was momentarily distracted, Ichinokura Satoshi swiftly and cleanly sliced the ball away.
The moment the ball left his hand, he was launched forward like an arrow, not caring whether it was the floor or something else in front of him, and he lunged to catch the ball in his arms.
With a thud, he slammed the ball to the ground, simultaneously poking it forward.
Eiji Sawakita grabbed the ball and charged forward, but Kaede Rukawa and Sendoh flanked him from the left and right, blocking his path like two doors.
The three of them charged into the three-second zone at the same time, and took to the air almost simultaneously.
Kaede Rukawa and Sendoh were both giving it their all, their four arms blocking all shooting angles. Unless Sawakita suddenly grew wings or did a double jump in mid-air, this shot was definitely going to be a disaster.
Sawakita showed no sign of panic, remaining as calm as a seasoned veteran.
He only moved when his body started to fall and he could no longer hold on.
He didn't dodge or try to force it; instead, he slammed the ball directly into the backboard.
Bang!
To be honest, this is the only route that Sawakita can take action on.
But Kaede Rukawa and Sendoh couldn't stop him at all—because this shot wasn't even a jump shot.
The ball bounced back from the backboard, Masahiro Nobe rushed in from behind, leaping into the air behind the three players, catching the ball, and slamming it into the basket with both hands.
"You guys don't actually think I can't pass the ball, do you?"
Sawakita clapped his hands, a smile playing on his lips.
"If a scorer can't do this, what's the point of him?"
"Unfortunately, you still couldn't hold me down."
He seemed to have pulled something new out of his pocket again.
For Ryonan, this was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Kaede Rukawa's pass did give Ryonan a glimmer of hope, but Eiji Sawakita quickly pulled out something new from his Doraemon pocket, completely obscuring that glimmer of light.
Moichi Taoka slowly sat back down in his chair, his shoulders relaxing completely.
It's not relaxation, it's more like acceptance.
At this stage of the competition, Ryonan has laid all their cards on the table, practically exposing their underwear; they have no more tricks up their sleeve.
There are ten minutes left in the game.
Masashi Kawata, the nation's top high school center, remains firmly on the bench. He is Sannoh Industrial High School's bottom line; as long as Ryonan doesn't cross that line, he won't back down.
This clearly demonstrates the insurmountable obstacle between the two teams.
For the remainder of the time, Moichi Taoka did not plan to devise any more tactics; he left the time and the field to the players.
Ryonan has already accomplished its mission by getting this far. Moichi Taoka knew perfectly well that they didn't have the strength to be national champions.
Putting everything else aside, let's just talk about Shohoku. If they really met in the finals, they still wouldn't be able to beat them. The county tournament already proved that the gap between the two teams wasn't just a few or ten points.
Therefore, based on the group assignments, the most ideal and respectable result for Ryonan is the national runner-up.
Tsk, this is of course just an ideal scenario on paper.
Sannoh Industrial High School is a formidable obstacle that not only Shohoku battered and bruised, but also Ryonan couldn't overcome. The fact that they only met them in the semifinals is already a stroke of good luck.
Reality slapped everyone hard in the face.
The top four in the nation is the ceiling for Ryonan.
But this ceiling is already dazzling enough; the team's history has to be rewritten.
On Moichi Taoka's resume, this is enough for him to boast about for years to come.
More importantly--
They still have tomorrow's cards in their hands.
Sendoh is only a second-year student, while Kaede Rukawa is a first-year high school student.
This Twin Stars has been working together for a whole year, and their chemistry is only going to be more astounding.
Of course, Uozumi and Ryoji Ikegami had to leave; there was nothing that could be done about it.
However, given Moichi Taoka's skills and the reputation he's built this year, Ryonan is likely to land some big fish during the offseason, completely revamping their roster.
Everyone has regrets; it's just a matter of how you experience them.
Moichi Taoka swallowed his anger.
Right now, all he can think about is how to thank these guys for going crazy with him all season.
Next year, Ryonan is definitely going to blow up the whole country!
Time ticked away, second by second.
The game was dragged into the final five minutes.
A thirty-point difference hung on the scoreboard like a lame joke.
Ryonan has lost even their theoretical chance to turn the tide.
Their national competition was on the verge of collapse, hanging by a thread.
They became the last team to fall in this competition.
The players on the field had long since forgotten about winning or losing; they were now purely engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the strong, extracting growth from every collision.
Kaede Rukawa charged in again, plunging headfirst into Mikio Kawata's mountain of flesh, then with a flick of his wrist, he shoved the ball into Uozumi's hand.
Uozumi toughed up against Masahiro Nobe and slammed those two points into the basket.
With just this one play, Kaede Rukawa reached ten assists!
This is the first time in his career that he's recorded double-digit assists!
Breaking through this barrier in the semifinals carries immense significance.
Uozumi also used this shot to climb into double digits in scoring.
This can be considered a fairly satisfactory conclusion to my last match.
After the ball went in, Uozumi roared so loudly that the veins on his neck bulged, showing no sign that they were already down by more than thirty points.
This team is truly impressive.
Goro Domoto simply didn't bother taking down the main force, letting them drag Ryonan down to the last second.
He believes that the guys on the field think the same way.
Especially for Eiji Sawakita, this was probably the game he laughed the most this season.
Let him have another blast and get back into form for the finals.
Time was dwindling to just a few dozen seconds.
Sendoh held the ball in the attacking third, staring wide-eyed at Eiji Sawakita.
The three-pronged attack evaded him repeatedly, then suddenly found an opening. He pushed off the ground in the opposite direction and slipped through. He slid to the baseline, braked abruptly, and caught the ball—
He flipped over, his whole body floated backward, and with a flick of his wrist, the ball flew out!
Almost simultaneously, Eiji Sawakita sprang up, as if springing to his feet, his entire body leaping into the air, his fingertips landing perfectly on the ball.
Ta~
A sound as soft as a mosquito's buzz signaled a brilliant defensive play.
The ball fell limply downwards, untouched by anyone, until Masahiro Nobe pulled it into his arms.
Eiji Sawakita waved the finger that had played a crucial role at Sendoh, grinning broadly, his face practically screaming, "See that? How was that defense?"