Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

Halftime break.

Hainan locker room.

Gao Touli slammed his folding fan onto the chair. The Hainan players stood in a semi-circle, all panting heavily, but no one dared to breathe too loudly.

Takasago's jersey was soaked with sweat and clung to his body. Ajin wiped his sweat with a towel, while Kiyota's legs kept shaking, whether from exhaustion or anger, it was hard to tell.

Shinichi Maki stood at the front, his expression unchanged, but his fist clenched around his waist hadn't loosened since he entered the locker room.

He was dominated in the first half, trailing by 23 points, a situation he had never encountered since joining the Hainan basketball team.

"Akagi has gone down." Takato fired directly.

"When Akagi left the court, the score difference was 18 points. And then? In the last two minutes of the first half, you were pulled ahead by 5 more points by Shohoku! A 23-point difference."

"Shohoku has fallen behind by 5 points again without Takenori Akagi!" His voice suddenly exploded, making the walls of the locker room vibrate.

Takato took a deep breath, his chest heaving, and pointed to the stat sheet on the tactics board: "Rukawa Kaede. 18 points in the first half. He scored 7 points in the last two minutes. Who was guarding him?"

No one answered, and Kiyota's expression turned grim.

"And Sakuragi Hanamichi, Akagi's off the court, he's filling in at center, and you still can't score under the basket! You can't get rebounds, your layups get blocked. Takasago, tell me, without Akagi, why can't you score?"

Takasago remained silent. His Adam's apple bobbed once, but he didn't utter a word. For those two minutes, he had been so blocked by Sakuragi that he could barely even jump. A first-year rookie, playing the center position, was no worse than Akagi! But he dared not speak.

It would be even more embarrassing to say that Akagi was suppressing him, but a first-year student was also completely dominating him.

Gao Tou closed his eyes, picked up the fan from the tactical board, looked at it in his palm for two seconds, and then his voice became calm.

"Second half. Kiyota, you stick to Rukawa like glue. He can score, but every basket comes at a price. Got it?"

"I understand!" Kiyota's neck turned bright red.

Takato turned to Maki Shinichi: "Maki, you handle Sakuragi's rebounding and rim protection. Put pressure on him and try to foul him out of the game."

Mu Shen nodded. "I will definitely keep him under control."

The atmosphere in the Shohoku locker room on the other side was completely different.

Sakuragi Hanamichi stood with his hands on his hips, sweat still damp but his smugness practically overflowing: "Don't worry, Gorilla! With this genius on the court, I feel like Hainan is easier to beat than Shohoku! Even without you, it's no problem. We're easily leading by 23 points in the first half! 23 points!"

Akagi sat on the bench, his left foot already bandaged. He didn't smile, but when he looked up at Sakuragi, there was something rarely seen on Akagi's face: trust.

"Don't make it sound so easy." His voice was still deep, but the worry on his face had lessened considerably.

Miyagi patted Sakuragi's lower back: "But seriously, with Akagi out, you and Rukawa were really on fire in the last two minutes. Especially those two consecutive blocks, Rukawa's steal and Sakuragi's volleyball block, the whole arena went crazy."

Coach Anzai waited until the players had finished their commotion before slowly speaking. "You all did a great job."

The locker room quieted down.

"In the second half, Sakuragi will continue at center, and Rukawa at power forward. Defend the paint."

A glint flashed across his glasses as he turned to Miyagi, Kogure, and Mitsui: "Miyagi, Mitsui, Kogure, you guys shoot boldly from the outside."

Then, looking at Sakuragi, his chin twitched slightly: "It's okay if you miss, Sakuragi will grab the rebound."

Sakuragi thumped his chest loudly: "Leave the rebounds to this genius!"

The whistle signaling the end of halftime came from the end of the corridor.

When the players from both teams ran out of the tunnel again, the roar from the stands surged up once more, louder than at any point in the first half.

In the stands, in the Ryonan stands, Jun Uozumi frowned as he saw Akagi sit down on the bench, his gaze lingering on Akagi's left foot for several seconds.

"Although Shohoku is currently leading by 23 points," Uozumi couldn't help but ask, "without Akagi, can Shohoku's interior really hold up against Hainan for the entire second half?"

"We can definitely hold them off. Don't you know how good Sakuragi is? He can handle guarding the basket." Sendoh said confidently from the side.

Aida Yayoi, who was in the press section, also witnessed this scene, and her pen quickly scribbled notes in her notebook.

"Akagi Takenori did not play in the second half, and his injury looks quite serious."

Then he looked up, his gaze falling on the red-haired man with the pompadour on the court. Right now, Shohoku's interior defense relies entirely on this first-year rookie.

Coach Anzai turned his head and glanced at Akagi, who was sitting restlessly next to him.

"Akagi," Anzai's voice was soft. Akagi turned his head. "You have to trust your teammates."

Akagi nodded.

The referee blew the whistle, and the second half began.

Shohoku has possession of the ball. Ryota Miyagi dribbles the ball from the backcourt across half-court, and Shinichi Maki starts applying pressure on him from the top of the key.

Miyagi glanced at the wing; Rukawa was on the right side beyond the three-point line, with Kiyota Nobunaga already marking him closely. Rukawa raised his hand, asking for the ball. Miyagi decisively passed the ball to him.

Rukawa receives the ball. Kiyota's defense is indeed tighter than in the first half, with his arms outstretched and his footwork more frequent. Rukawa takes a right-footed step, Kiyota follows. Rukawa pulls the ball to the left, Kiyota follows.

Rukawa came to an abrupt stop, and Kiyota, not having had time to slow down, was thrown back half a step.

Rukawa pulled up for a jump shot at the top of the free-throw line. The ball flew over Kiyota's fingers.

Swish... The first goal of the second half.

The score difference is 25 points.

Kiyota landed, gritting his teeth. He had caught up just moments before, only a fraction of an inch away, but he simply couldn't stop Rukawa.

Hainan attacks. Maki Shinichi breaks through Miyagi, drawing Sakuragi's help defense before passing the ball to Takasago on the baseline. Takasago receives the ball, thinking Sakuragi has already been taken away by Maki, and jumps, only to suddenly appear in front of him as Rukawa Kaede jumps as well.

Takasago's shot was directly interfered with by Rukawa and went wide. Sakuragi turned around, blocked Maki Shinichi, and jumped to grab the rebound.

Shohoku goes on offense. Miyagi passes the ball to Rukawa again. Rukawa faces Kiyota outside the right three-point line and pulls up for a jump shot. This time, Kiyota's fingers almost graz his wrist, but the ball still goes in. Three-pointer in.

"Oh ho ho ho... Lukawa... LOVE... Lukawa..." Rukawa's cheerleaders screamed again.

But when Rukawa landed, his chest heaved even more, though he didn't show it, his breathing rhythm had already become erratic.

Hainan offensive.

This time, Maki Shinichi didn't pass the ball out; he did it himself.

Facing Sakuragi's switch at the top of the key, Maki used a series of crossovers to create half a step, drove to the basket, and scored with a powerful layup. Maki's arm collided with Sakuragi's shoulder, and both of them took a half step back.

As Maki Shinichi returned to defense, he glanced at Sakuragi. After Akagi went down, this red-haired kid's rim protection area was even larger than Akagi's. Akagi was fixed to guard the area under the basket, while Sakuragi wasn't guarding his position; he was chasing down everyone who got close to the basket.

The rest of the match took an odd turn.

Shohoku's offensive end:

Rukawa Kaede scored with a variety of defensive moves: catching the ball, driving to the basket, pulling up for a jumper, a fadeaway, a floater, and a layup. Kiyota played relentlessly on defense every possession, with Maki Shinichi and Takasago providing immediate help defense.

But Rukawa scored every time by sending the ball into the basket in an increasingly tricky way.

On Hainan's offense: Maki Shinichi drove to the basket, passed to A-Shen for a three-pointer, and then drove hard to the basket for a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line. He scored almost all of Hainan's points in the second half. A-Shen's two three-pointers were achieved by passing to him after drawing double teams, as Takasago and Muto were completely unable to finish on their own.

Kiyota was also rendered helpless by Rukawa's persistent pursuit and Sakuragi's defensive rim protection.

Both aces are leading the offensive.

Sendoh Akira sat up straight in the stands. He rested his chin on his hand, his gaze fixed on Rukawa Kaede.

"In Rukawa's current state, no one can stop him."

His voice was calm and measured, but his assessment was serious: "However, playing like this is too physically demanding. In the second half, he used extreme moves to finish every ball; none of them were easy scores. This style of play is very energy-consuming, and the body can't sustain it for long."

The clock showed that six minutes of the second half had already passed.

Rukawa Kaede's score has already surpassed 35 points. Every time Rukawa Kaede scores, the screams of the "Rukawa Life Cheerleaders" in the stands come one after another.

Kiyota's face had turned pale, from being beaten so badly. He had given it his all, executing every defensive move perfectly, but Rukawa still managed to score.

It's not that his defense is bad, it's just that the opponent is on a completely different level today.

Hainan kept trying to catch up, but not only could they not close the gap, they were actually pulled ahead by more than 35 points.

Suddenly, Coach Anzai called a timeout.

The entire audience was stunned for a moment.

Rukawa Kaede made a quick layup in mid-air to get the ball in, but after landing, his legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

Rukawa Kaede's stamina bar is almost empty.

The screaming "Lucawat!" from the stands suddenly fell silent...

At this point, there were still 12 minutes left in the game.