"Half-court defense?"
Kise Ryouta's words made everyone's faces flash with surprise. Wasn't this tactical setup a little… off?
To understand: in basketball, while teams can technically start defending as soon as the opponent touches the ball, most focus their defensive coverage near their own three-point line.
In other words, standard defense usually means guarding only half the court, or even a smaller area.
But against Shutoku, with Midorima Shintarou on the team, most squads must maintain full-court defense, after all, their full-court threes are no joke.
And now, Seiho is only defending half-court against Shutoku, while keeping full-court against other teams. This defensive tactic… isn't this backwards?
Only Yukio Kasamatsu furrowed his brow and pondered for a moment before saying, "Kise means… Seiho is doing this on purpose?"
Kise scratched his head awkwardly. "Haha, I'm just guessing, really. Midorima's ultra-long-range shots aren't limitless in a game. From what we've seen so far, Seiho is likely forcing him to take longer-range shots to wear him out."
"Honestly, it's the most reasonable explanation up to now."
"On offense, Seiho has already demonstrated three-point firepower nearly equal to Shutoku. As long as they maintain that shooting stability, Seiho is basically untouchable."
"So there's no need to waste energy. Just occasionally contest Midorima's shots, and Seiho can easily take this game."
·····
Although just a rough guess, Kise's assessment accurately predicted Seiho's plan.
Against a veteran powerhouse like Shutoku, there aren't many tactical options. Plus, Seiho's raw strength already slightly overshadows their opponents.
In such a case, simpler tactics often yield better results.
Seiho designated their half-court as a defensive zone.
If the opponent didn't enter this zone, Seiho wouldn't contest.
On offense, from the very start, Seiho had decided to hand full control of the ball to Akashi Asuka.
This is drastically different from other 'Generation of Miracles' teams, where players try to monopolize every possession.
Offense, defense, passing, layups… they want to do it all themselves.
At Seiho, however, Akashi takes the ball only when necessary, sitting back if possible, walking instead of running if he can.
Other teams would never willingly give all possessions to their ace.
Here, Seiho practically forces the ball into Akashi's hands, and he even resists it.
In the first five possessions, Shutoku's scoring came entirely from Midorima's full-court threes, so they never felt any defensive pressure from Seiho.
But now, stepping into Seiho's defensive zone, Shutoku instantly felt a completely different team than last semester.
After a summer of training, Seiho's players had not only improved their fundamentals, footwork, teamwork, even synchronization of breathing, but all had leveled up significantly.
Faced with Seiho's full-court man-to-man defense, Shutoku couldn't even approach the three-point line, let alone attack effectively.
"Damn… where does this pressure even come from?"
Miyaji Kiyoshi, Kimura Shinsuke, and Otsubo Taisuke, the senior members of Shutoku, felt the oppressive presence from nearby defenders and nearly froze.
Compared to first-year newcomers Takao Kazunari and Midorima Shintarou, the veterans knew Seiho better than anyone.
As fellow Tokyo giants, Shutoku and Seiho had faced off many times, but never had Seiho applied pressure like this!
"Otsubo must be completely stunned right now!"
In the stands, some from Izumishinkan, one of Tokyo's three giants, were watching too.
Seeing Shutoku struggle to even pass the ball, they recalled their own practice match against Seiho earlier that semester.
A truly unforgettable game.
"The pursuit from juniors, the grueling summer championship battles… Seiho's current pressure is on a completely different level than what we experienced."
"Being a champion is glory, but also a burden."
Izumishinkan murmured this explanation as if to justify Shutoku's predicament.
Yet it did nothing to ease the tension the Shutoku players felt.
"Yo~ first-year rookie, your senior's here to guide you."
Kasuga Ryuhei grinned, blocking Takao with a simple stance that revealed no weakness at all.
Takao's forehead was covered in sweat, yet he stubbornly forced a smile. "This kind of guidance… really strict, huh, senpai!"
"Of course. Can't let the rookies down…"
Just as he finished speaking, Kasuga suddenly went for a steal. Takao jumped at the motion, there was no warning before Kasuga's move.
It was as if no preparation or muscle tension was needed, he just launched straight into the interception.
Luckily, thanks to his Hawk Eye, Takao barely retained control of the ball, but his dribble was inevitably disrupted.
Kasuga pressed on relentlessly. Takao had no choice but to pass the ball.
It reached Midorima. Facing Akashi's tight coverage, the moment he received the ball, Midorima surged forward, appearing to attempt a drive.
But when Akashi followed closely, he realized Midorima had faked, instantly retracting the ball and flowing into a quick shot.
The entire sequence was seamless. Even spectators were fooled by Midorima's subtle fake.
Yet the instant Midorima released the ball…
SMACK!
A light sound rang out as the ball, still raised overhead, was swatted away by a wide hand.
Midorima's body stiffened.
Then a cold voice echoed:
"Too naive, Midorima! Your feints mean nothing to me now."
Through the gap between Akashi's arm and the ball, Midorima saw a strange light slowly emanating from his eyes…