Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 365 Sakuragi Hanamichi, Devastated

On the basketball court, the second-year students' offense still maintained an amazing level of teamwork.

Miyagi once again demonstrated his precise passing skills, quickly passing the ball to Naito, who was positioned low in the post.

Immediately, the second-year players scattered, taking their assigned opponents with them, giving Naito more space for one-on-one play.

As Naito received the ball, Sakuragi further lowered his center of gravity, firmly planting his feet on the floor.

bang~
A dull thud of muscles colliding rang out, and Sakuragi's body swayed slightly, but he gritted his teeth and withstood Naito's impact with all his might.

After withstanding Naito's first wave of attack, Sakuragi visibly breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face.

That bald guy is nothing special!
However, Naito was not the bloated and obese Kawada.

He was clearly faster and more agile, not to mention his superior low-position skills.

After another collision, Naito immediately turned and broke through, catching Sakuragi off guard.

"not good!"

Sakuragi had a bad feeling and could only watch helplessly as Naito walked right past him.

By the time Sakuragi turned to chase, Naito had already rushed into the paint and slammed the ball home with both hands.

Bang~

The rim made a loud bang, and Naito's back hung on the rim, looking exceptionally imposing.

Watching Naito's retreating figure, Sakuragi frowned, his heart filled with resentment.

This was the first time he had encountered such a formidable opponent.

Although his speed and explosiveness are better than Naito's, the difference is not that big.

The key is that Naito's ability to fight is clearly superior to his.

To withstand Naito's onslaught, Sakuragi had to lower his guard excessively, but in doing so, he would also find it difficult to guard against Naito's turn and breakthrough.

However, if he doesn't put too much pressure on himself, he will be easily crushed by Naito.

In short, no matter which option is chosen, Sakuragi cannot limit Naito's performance.

At that moment, Rukawa Kaede stood in front of him and asked, "You big idiot, you're in trouble, aren't you? Need some help?"

"Fox, with my genius-level strength, I have no need for your help. This is just a minor ailment, nothing more than a little hardship!"

Sakuragi, like a monkey whose tail had been stepped on, immediately shook his head in refusal.

Rukawa Kaede is his formidable rival, so why would he let him help him?

Sakuragi rested his chin on his hand, racking his brains for a way to deal with Naito.

But with his limited brain, how could he possibly come up with an answer in such a short time?

So annoying!
Sakuragi stomped his right foot in frustration, then suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and his face lit up with excitement.

Got it!

When it was the first-year students' turn to attack, Yohei steadily dribbled the ball across half-court.

Miyagi immediately engaged Yohei, taking the initiative to fight him.

Yohei suffered from a lack of experience; under Miyagi's relentless pressure, his steps became somewhat unsteady, and he was almost dispossessed by Miyagi.

Yohei had to grab the ball with both hands, lean against Miyagi, and look for an opportunity to pass it.

Miyagi narrowed his eyes slightly, waiting for an opportunity to act.

"Yohei, over here!"

Sakuragi positioned himself low, trying to block Naito behind him, and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

Miyagi's heart skipped a beat. He shifted his position slightly, preparing to make a steal.

Yohei shifted his left foot, making a passing motion.

Miyagi instinctively moved his feet, immediately cutting off Yohei's passing route.

To Miyagi's surprise, Yohei did not pass the ball to Sakuragi, but instead passed it to Rukawa via handoff.

Using Yohei's body as cover, Rukawa Kaede easily broke through the pursuing Emperor Kakuta.

Seeing that things were going badly, Miyagi quickly caught up from behind.

By slowing down Rukawa's speed even slightly, he can team up with Kakuta to encircle Rukawa.

While moving at high speed, Rukawa Kaede chose to pass the ball behind his back.

The basketball fell back into Yohei's hands. At this moment, Yohei was unguarded and even had time to adjust.

Yohei swiftly brought down a three-pointer.

sigh~
The basketball swished through the net, sending the net swirling upwards.

"Yohei, why are you passing the ball to Rukawa again?"

Sakuragi muttered to himself, complaining that his best friend always passed the ball to his rival.

"Sakuragi, it's not that I didn't want to pass it to you, it's just that I didn't have the chance. Don't worry, I'll definitely pass it to you next time."

"You said it yourself, if you don't pass me the ball again, I'll treat you to a header!"

At the mention of a headbutt, Yohei felt a throbbing pain in his forehead and readily agreed.

Off the court, Akagi turned to look at the curtain and asked, "Rukawa's passing seems to be much better than before. You didn't give him extra training again, did you?"

Mu Mu shook his head and chuckled: "This is mainly due to his own hard work, and a tiny bit of talent!"

Does Rukawa Kaede have a talent for passing the ball?

Have!
During the Xianghai game, Rukawa was still able to make a behind-the-back pass even after being blocked by Maki.

It's important to know that Mitsui was in Rukawa's blind spot at the time.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that in the battle against Xiangshan, Rukawa Kaede successfully broke through Sawakita's tight defense with his excellent passing strategy, laying the foundation for Xiangshan's comeback.

Looking back at Rukawa's two passes, it's easy to see the brilliance they contained.

This all demonstrates Rukawa's talent in passing, but he has become accustomed to playing one-on-one.

Things are different now. Due to the influence of Mokumo and the crushing defeat at the hands of Sawakita during his second year of high school, Rukawa Kaede realized the importance of passing the ball.

This means that Rukawa is getting closer and closer to Kogure, and if he continues to improve, he will become another all-around warrior.

Compared to Sakuragi, Rukawa's 'soft talents' are almost maxed out, and even his 'hard talents' are only slightly inferior to Sakuragi's.

He's talented, but to make matters worse, he's also a 'cabbage' (meaning he's not very good at cooking).

This is also the main reason why Mokumu is optimistic about Rukawa Kaede.

On the field, the second-year players launched another attack.

After Naito took his position, Miyagi passed the ball to him as usual.

Naito catches the ball with both hands and starts his back-to-the-basket move again.

Surprisingly, Sakuragi didn't become overly concerned.

bang~
Even though Sakuragi tried his best, he was still easily pushed back by Naito.

Just as Naito was about to bump into him again, Sakuragi immediately chose to remove the chair.

However, to Sakuragi's surprise, Naito only swayed slightly and was not affected much.

This was mainly because Naito held back some of his strength to avoid losing his balance, which led to Sakuragi's plan failing.

After regaining his balance, Naito took a step back and made contact with Sakuragi again.

Sakuragi thought Naito wanted to make a comeback, and his heart sank.

However, Naito did not continue with his back-to-the-basket attack, but immediately turned around and broke through.

However, he did not completely shake off Sakuragi.

Sakuragi quickly turned around, waving his arms wildly, and appeared under the basket first.

Naito raised his hand high, ready to dunk again.

Hehehe!

At the crucial moment, Sakuragi jumped quickly with all his might.

His speed was extremely fast, as if he had transformed into countless figures, completely covering the basketball hoop.

Naito was clearly stunned when he saw this.

"Bald guy, give it to me!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sakuragi snatched the basketball from Naito.

After securing the ball, Sakuragi immediately launched a fast break.

The first-year players quickly mobilized and rushed towards the frontcourt. "Damn it!"

Naito quickly retreated to defend. His speed was fast, and coupled with his tall and strong body, his imposing presence was awe-inspiring.

bang~
After catching up with Sakuragi, Naito took the initiative to confront him.

Sakuragi felt a powerful force strike him, causing him to stagger and his movements to become chaotic.

During the confrontation, Sakuragi became flustered and his speed slowed down.

At the same time, Naito deliberately forced Sakuragi towards the sideline.

Sakuragi had to stop, looking extremely disheveled under Naito's relentless pressure.

If it were Rukawa Kaede, he wouldn't be in such a sorry state, but Sakuragi's dribbling skills are too immature.

Just like with gOat, if you let him use his breakthrough skills to break through, he is very likely to create a memorable moment.

This is why gOat has always been questioned for his lack of skill; compared to other superstars, his skill level is definitely at the bottom.

Jordan also used a ball-dominant style of play, but the media at the time criticized him for only scoring himself and not being able to lead his teammates.

Then, Jordan proved the media wrong with his actions, showing that "filling the stat sheet" does not improve winning percentage, and such voices from the media subsequently decreased.

In those 11 games, Jordan recorded 10 triple-doubles, including a seven-game triple-double streak.

Throughout his entire career, Jordan only recorded 28 triple-doubles.

Why didn't Jordan become the ball-handling star?
This kind of all-encompassing playing style is too damaging to the team, especially affecting the performance of teammates.

The team's statistics are like a big cake. The cake is only so big, so everyone should share it, instead of waiting for you to divide it up and taking all the big pieces.

If you take all the cake, what will the others get?

Therefore, neither Jordan nor Phil Jackson has ever advocated this style of play.

For the highest-level historical superstars, leading their team to a championship is the real achievement. If they keep talking about their stats, it only shows that they don't belong to the highest level and they're lowering their own value.

gOat's playing style hurts the team more, as he dominates the easiest scoring opportunities on fast breaks and defensive rebounds.

This explains why gOat's teammates' stats and accuracy plummeted after they became his teammates.

As for why gOat hasn't changed, it's because he's not Jordan. If he changed his playing style, his stats would definitely plummet.

His future success will not be due to his own strength, but mainly to the support of the league and Nike.

In addition, he also owns several media outlets.

In short, gOat's success can be replicated.

On the field, seeing that he was about to regain possession of the ball, Naito couldn't help but reveal a ferocious smile.

"This way!"

Suddenly, a figure wearing a white jersey came forward to assist.

Without thinking, Sakuragi passed the ball out, only realizing afterward that he had passed it to Rukawa.

Seeing that Emperor Kakuta was positioned far back, Rukawa seized the opportunity and swiftly launched a three-pointer.

shuh~
The basketball swished through the net, and Rukawa Kaede scored another three points.

"Rukawa, great shot!"

"Rukawa, you did a fantastic job!"

……

The first-year players all praised Rukawa's performance.

From the start of the competition until now, all of the first-year students' scores have been related to Rukawa Kaede.

It was precisely because of Rukawa Kaede's performance that the first-year students were able to take the lead over the second-year students.

"Damn it, Rukawa stole the spotlight again! I was the one who got the basketball!"

If there's one first-year player who's unhappy, it's definitely Sakuragi.

At that moment, as Rukawa was returning to defense and passing Sakuragi, he said, "Thanks for the pass!"

Watching Rukawa's retreating figure, Sakuragi didn't know what to say.

The fox was actually quite polite.

However, now is not the time to think about these things, because the second-year students launched another attack.

Sakuragi quickly returned to defense, his eyes brimming with confidence.

After successfully blocking one of Naito's shots, he believed he had found a way to limit Naito.

But is that really the case?
the answer is negative!

In this attack, Naito launched another attack from the low post.

Sakuragi chose to repeat his old trick, wanting to use his amazing speed to regain possession of the ball once again.

Unfortunately, this method might be effective the first time, but it won't work the second time.

Faced with Sakuragi's defensive tactics, Naito chose to overpower everything with sheer force, delivering a brutal two-handed dunk.

Bang! Crash!
Sakuragi was knocked away and crashed heavily onto the floor.

Naito released the basket and landed on the ground, looking down at Sakuragi and saying, "Red-haired monkey, the same trick won't work on me!"

After speaking, Naito turned around and went back to defend.

"Bald guy, just you wait, I'll definitely beat you!"

Sakuragi slammed his hand on the floor and stood up as if nothing had happened.

His eyes seemed to burn with fighting spirit.

Unfortunately, lacking the necessary skills, Sakuragi inevitably did nothing but waste his time.

The game continued, and even though Sakuragi showed great fighting spirit, he still couldn't stop Naito.

For a time, Naito had everything he wanted.

Thanks to Naito's exaggerated efficiency, the second-year team quickly took the lead.

By the end of the first half, the second-year team's lead had reached double digits.

During halftime, Sakuragi sat absentmindedly on the bench, seemingly dejected.

In the first half, Sakuragi was completely dominated by Naito.

"Do you need my help?"

Rukawa leaned against the bench and made the suggestion again.

In the first half, Rukawa Kaede was the best performer on the first-year team.

If it weren't for Rukawa's outstanding performance, the second-year team would have already widened the score gap further.

"do not want!"

Sakuragi instinctively shook his head in refusal.

Just kidding, he would never cooperate with Rukawa Kaede; he'd rather defeat Naito on his own merits.

Rukawa was not surprised by Sakuragi's answer.

"If that doesn't work, I suggest you try fronting up to defend!"

However, Rukawa Kaede still offered a suggestion.

What is fronting defense?

Sakuragi looked puzzled.

Since his debut, he has never played fronting defense, nor has anyone been worth him playing fronting defense against.

Puchi~
Yohei, who was drinking a sports drink nearby, sprayed it out and then coughed violently.

"Fronting defense is a defensive technique targeting inside players, which involves pre-positioning to block the offensive team's receiving routes near the paint."

In short, all you need to do is prevent Naito-senpai from catching the ball.

Rukawa Kaede quickly explained the significance of fronting out in defense.

"I see!"

Sakuragi clapped his hands, feeling his confidence return.

"Thanks, Rukawa!"

Rukawa Kaede was also surprised that Sakuragi would express his gratitude to him.

For a moment, Rukawa Kaede was stunned.

(End of this chapter)