Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

Kenji Fujima stood at the top of the arc, his hands supporting his knees, panting heavily.

His mind was a tangled mess. This mess grew tighter and tighter from the second half onwards.

He tried to untangle the knot during timeouts, dead balls, and free throw breaks, but each time he thought he had found the starting point, he only pulled out an even more tangled mess.

He now deeply regrets taking on the role of coach.

The first half wasn't like that.

In the first half, everything went according to his plan. With four tall players from Xiangyang standing on the court, averaging 1.9 meters in height, their zone defense made the paint look like an impenetrable net.

With a point difference of around 20 between the two teams, the initiative is still in his hands.

He thought the game would go according to his script: Xiangyang would beat Xiangbei, advance to the finals, and then face Shanghai Hainan, using this lineup of tall players and zone defense tailored for Hainan to bring down the champions.

Then in the second half, Coach Anzai substituted Miyagi with Kogure, letting the red-haired player with number 10 play point guard.

From the very first attack of the second half, everything changed.

The regional joint defense system in Xiangyang, which they had spent a year refining, repeatedly practicing, and repeatedly adjusting, was completely dismantled.

Shohoku's three outside shooters lined up, all stretching out beyond the three-point line, and then the point guard was replaced by someone who had been battling for rebounds in the paint during the first half.

Fujima had never defended against this kind of play before.

When Sakuragi Hanamichi received the ball and stood at the top of the arc, Fujima's first reaction was to close in and defend him tightly, compressing the opponent's space to handle the ball.

But Sakuragi didn't dribble past the other guards; instead, he turned around, leaned back, and started arguing.

Fujima remembers the feeling at that moment. He placed his hands on Sakuragi's lower back, bent his knees, lowered his center of gravity, and used all his strength to push against him.

He withstood the first impact. Then Sakuragi arched his back a second time, taking half a step back. The third time, he took another half step back. The fourth time, he had retreated from the three-point line to the free-throw line.

The squeaking sound of his shoes scraping against the floor seemed to be a reminder to him... Give up! You can't take it.

In all his years of playing basketball and games, this was the first time he'd ever been backed down and pushed all the way to the basket from beyond the three-point line.

Fujima made a quick tactical adjustment. In the next round, he had Takano switch to defend Sakuragi, while he himself moved to the flank to defend Kogure.

Takano is stronger and has broader shoulders than him; he should be able to withstand that red-haired guy's back-to-the-basket attack.

However, Sakuragi stopped backing down his opponent and switched to face-up drives, using his speed and crossovers to shake off Takano and penetrate the paint.

Fujima stood on the wing, watching Sakuragi use a crossover step to shake off Takano, stride into the paint, and then, facing Hanagata's help defense, score after an aerial contest, earning a free throw.

He heard the referee's whistle and saw Hanagata's raised hand, knowing that Hanagata couldn't defend against him either.

Fujima tried to collapse the defense. As soon as Sakuragi got the ball, Takano pushed in front, and Hasegawa collapsed to the side to help defend. Then Sakuragi slipped the ball through the gaps in the defense and it landed precisely on the outside.

Mitsui Hisashi, left wide open, received the ball, jumped, and shot. The ball drew a high arc in the air and swished cleanly into the net.

In the next possession, Mitsui received the ball in the corner and hit a three-pointer. The possession after that, Kogure received the ball at the top of the arc and also made a three-pointer.

Fujima stood on the court, watching the ball fly out of Shohoku's outside shooters' hands again and again, and through the net time and time again.

He realized that Shohoku's defense had been breached. Sakuragi drew double teams with the ball, outside shooters created space, and the twin towers inside secured the rebounds.

This system is designed to counter his zone defense, hitting Shohoku's weakest points with every punch.

Not only was the zone defense system broken, but Sakuragi also completely disrupted his own and Hanagata's 15-pick-and-roll offensive system, causing his shooting percentage to drop.

Midway through the second half, Mitsui Hisashi was substituted. His stamina finally gave out; his footwork slowed noticeably when making runs, and he was easily beaten by Hasegawa in defense.

When Fujima saw Mitsui walk off the field, he was bent over, hands on his knees, panting heavily. Then Miyagi Ryota stepped up.

Fujima's mind raced. With Shohoku losing a top-tier shooter on the perimeter, his defense could collapse. He made a gesture, indicating that the defense should tighten and focus on defending the inside.

Shohoku's outside shooting options are currently limited to Rukawa and Kogure. Tightening their defense should limit Sakuragi's drives and Akagi's low-post isolation plays. There's still a chance.

Sakuragi Hanamichi stood at the top of the arc, dribbling the ball twice in his hand. Takano took two steps back, giving him a step's distance, defending against drives but not shots.

He watched as Sakuragi's knees bent slightly and his body leaned forward a little. He thought Sakuragi was about to break through, so he shifted his center of gravity back half an inch.

As a result, Sakuragi took a step back, jumped, and hit a three-pointer.

Takano's pupils contracted sharply, his body lunged forward, and his hand stretched out, his fingertips still a long way from the ball.

The ball flew over his head, its arc high and graceful. He turned his head to watch its trajectory. At its highest point, the ball began to fall, and "swish," it swished through the net.

Fujima felt a chill run down his spine. His mouth was slightly open, and his pupils reflected the image of Sakuragi Hanamichi falling from the sky.

This redhead can actually shoot threes? He can post up, drive, pass, rebound, and shoot threes?

Time was ticking away.

Rukawa's stamina was also running out, and his pace was noticeably slower when he was on fast breaks compared to the first half.

The stamina of Shohoku's main players wasn't much better either. Hanagata's turnaround jump shot started to get shorter, the ball bouncing back off the front of the rim. Takano's defensive footwork slowed down, and Sakuragi easily beat him.

Nagano's positioning was no longer as solid as in the first half, and Sakuragi was getting increasingly easier at grabbing rebounds from his head.

Fujima gritted his teeth and supported Shohoku's offense, faked out Kogure, stopped abruptly and jumped to shoot. The ball spun around the rim and bounced out, and Sakuragi grabbed the rebound.

In the next possession, he took another shot, which bounced off the front of the rim. In the possession after that, he drove into the paint and forced a layup despite being double-teamed by Sakuragi and Akagi, but Sakuragi slapped the ball away.

His knees started to ache, and each shot required twice the force of the first half to get the ball to the basket.

Shohoku steadily closed the gap, tied the score, and then took the lead...

The final whistle blew.

The sharp sound echoed in the stadium, like a needle piercing Fujima's eardrums.

The scoreboard showed 75 to 66, with Shohoku winning the game by 9 points.

From trailing by 18 points to taking a 9-point lead, the 27-point deficit seemed incredibly easy after Sakuragi switched to the point guard position.

Fujima stood in the center of the court, hands on his hips, looking up at the scoreboard. His chest heaved violently, and his t-shirt was soaked through, clinging to his body.

His eyes welled up, and tears slid from the corners of his eyes, streaming down his cheeks, mingling with the sweat, making it impossible to distinguish which drop was sweat and which was tear. He didn't wipe them away; he just stood there in the center of the court, letting the tears flow.

A year's worth of effort, a whole year.

He started designing this tactic last summer, watching Hainan's game videos over and over again, analyzing Maki Shinichi's breakthrough routes frame by frame, and drawing defensive formations on the tactics board over and over again.

This tactic was prepared for Hainan. He simulated countless matchups against Hainan, where when Maki Shinichi broke through with the ball, the tall players would collapse, the zone defense would double-team him, forcing him to pass and forcing him to make mistakes.

Hainan only has one long-range shooting ability, A Shen; the others can only score in the paint.

He thought that as long as he got through the Hainan hurdle, Xiangyang could win the county championship, advance to the national competition, and prove himself on that bigger stage.

Then Shohoku came.

A team that didn't even make it to the round of 16 last year, a team he didn't take seriously at all before the match, defeated them today.