"Woooah~~~"
"It went in, Seirin finally scored!"
"What was that? That weird shooting form… even Murasakibara couldn't stop it?"
"And Yosen finally conceded points in this match, no, wait, not just this match, this is the first time Yosen has allowed points in the entire Winter Cup!"
If the players involved in that possession had been anyone else, the scene wouldn't have caused such a huge commotion.
After all, it was just two points.
Yet at this moment, the spectators were as excited as if the game itself had just ended.
Kise Ryouta muttered to himself, "You've gone and created another weird technique again, Kurokocchi."
At the very back row of the stands, Satsuki Momoi exclaimed in surprise, "That's amazing. Is this the result of your special training, Aomine?"
Aomine Daiki shook his head. "No. All I did was make him abandon the textbook-standard shooting form. Being able to polish an ordinary shot until it can be called a special move, that's entirely Tetsu's own hard work."
...
"I really didn't expect our first lost point in this year's Winter Cup to come from you, Kuroko."
On the court, Murasakibara Atsushi looked at Kuroko Tetsuya with obvious displeasure.
"Is that so? Then please be more careful next time."
Kuroko replied calmly, refusing to back down.
A few seconds later.
The referee's whistle rang out once more.
"Here it comes, Yosen's offense!"
Seeing Yosen reorganize their attack, the spectators outside the court immediately perked up.
Yosen's offensive formation was the same as Shutoku's: Murasakibara Atsushi stayed planted under the basket, leaving four players to run the offense.
But even with only four attackers, stopping them was still extremely difficult for Seirin. After all, Seirin was an ultra-offense-oriented team, and their defensive strength was average at best.
Just to restrict Himuro Tatsuya alone required at least two defenders.
And against the interior attacks of Okamura Kenichi and Liu Wei, both over two meters tall, Seirin still had no effective countermeasures.
Both being interior players,
Kiyoshi Teppei, despite his disadvantage in height, could barely hold his own against Liu Wei through technique and experience.
But Kagami, at heart, was still a power forward. His offensive ability was exceptional, yet when it came to defense under the rim, his experience and technique inevitably fell short compared to Okamura Kenichi.
When Yosen went on the attack, Okamura Kenichi and Liu Wei cut straight into the paint. Once they received a pass from the perimeter, usually from Fukui Kensuke, Okamura would immediately back Kagami down with brute force, pushing all the way to the basket.
Damn it! He actually shoved me aside with sheer strength… and this guy's power and build are just ridiculous. What am I supposed to do against this?
BANG!
Okamura Kenichi hammered home a thunderous dunk over Kagami Taiga, scoring two points.
21:2.
"Don't just stand there, Kagami. It's our turn to attack now."
The moment Okamura finished scoring, without the slightest pause, Seirin immediately launched a counterattack.
Shun Izuki dribbled all the way to the three-point line on Yosen's side, then once again passed the ball to Kuroko Tetsuya…
"Not this time. I won't give you another chance."
Fukui Kensuke lunged forward, but to his surprise, Kuroko didn't shoot immediately after receiving the ball. Instead, he started dribbling and drove past him.
Whoosh,
Like a gentle breeze brushing past his eyes, and in the next instant, Kuroko Tetsuya vanished from Fukui Kensuke's sight.
Fukui's pupils shrank sharply. "You've got to be kidding me… this is the [Vanishing drive]? He really disappeared?"
After breaking past Fukui, Kuroko once again assumed that peculiar shooting stance.
"Kuroko…"
Murasakibara Atsushi charged over in an instant. This time, his reaction was even faster and more decisive, but the result was still the same.
Because just as Murasakibara rushed in to contest Kuroko, Kuroko suddenly passed the ball out to the perimeter. Hyuga Junpei caught it and fired without hesitation.
SWISH!
The three-pointer dropped cleanly.
21:5.
"Alright~~!"
"Nice one! Great shot!"
"Beautiful, Hyuga!"
With Kuroko's new special move, the [Phantom Shot], and their seamless team coordination, Seirin finally managed to tear open a crack in Yosen's airtight defense.
In the time that followed,
Seirin and Yosen engaged in a fierce scoring battle.
The two sides traded blows, clashing for seven or eight consecutive possessions.
But…
33:16.
Although both teams' scores continued to rise, the point gap showed no sign of shrinking.
...
So it's still not enough… Relying on Kuroko alone, the offensive output is too weak. And his techniques can't be used continuously. We need to find another way, open up a new breakthrough from a different angle.
On the Seirin bench, Aida Riko bit her fingernail, frowning as she pondered.
To open a new breakthrough, there were only two possible directions.
Either further strengthen Seirin's offensive power.
Or restrict the opponent's offense.
"Beep~~"
After a brief moment of thought, Aida Riko called for a timeout.
Once Seirin returned to the bench, Riko laid out her new tactical instructions. Soon after, both teams headed back onto the court.
And the moment Seirin stepped back onto the floor, the spectators outside were filled with shock and surprise.
The reason was simple.
Because for this possession, Seirin actually sent Kiyoshi Teppei out as the point guard.
"Kiyoshi as the point guard?"
"There's nothing strange about that. After all, Kiyoshi is a special center with point-guard awareness. What I'm curious about is, what exactly is Seirin's objective by putting him at point guard?"
As Tsutomu Iwamura and Kasuga Ryuhei spoke, Seirin had already advanced beyond Yosen's three-point line.
When Kiyoshi Teppei dribbled to the arc, he suddenly stopped, and, to everyone's surprise, directly took a three-point shot.
SWISH!
The three-pointer went in.
This attack genuinely caught Yosen off guard. But even if they had anticipated it, they might not have defended it anyway.
After all, according to their scouting reports, Kiyoshi Teppei didn't possess reliable three-point shooting ability.
So even though the shot went in, it didn't cause much emotional fluctuation among Yosen's players.
"He actually made it?"
"Meh~~ probably just luck."
"Alright, stay focused. Next, it's our turn to get one back."
Yosen's offense remained calm and methodical, steadily answering Seirin's basket and pushing the score to 35:19.
Then Seirin attacked once more.
This time again, Kiyoshi Teppei acted as the point guard. As he reached the three-point line, he once more raised the ball as if to shoot. But this time, his shooting motion lingered just a fraction of a second longer.
It looked as though he were deliberately luring someone over.
Seeing this movement, the coach on Yosen's bench felt a sudden flash of insight and understood at once.
"So that's it… this is the plan you're running."
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Completed version available on Patreon.com/Veltoria