Aomine was quite pissed off.
What he couldn't stand the most was someone saying he wasn't as good as Yuuto.
Especially in terms of intelligence and maturity.
Did that Okushirazome feline get exam scores any better than his?
The game continued.
Shutoku's offense.
Midorima held the ball personally.
What Takao couldn't see, Midorima saw.
He knew that if the team wanted to go further, he needed to step up.
More importantly.
He attempted to find his own Zone through direct dialogue with Yuuto!
Even if the possibility was slim.
A one-on-one duel with Yuuto wasn't in Shutoku's tactical arrangements, but this was one of the two times he could be selfish today.
Yuuto took a step forward. Massive pressure swept over Midorima's entire body, causing him to inadvertently make a move to gather the ball.
"Is the pressure really this great?"
While Taisuke Otsubo was nearly forced into an inbound violation, Midorima was also forced by Yuuto's single step to gather the ball to protect possession.
"Doing this can indeed protect possession, but it also kills the dribble."
What could Midorima do after gathering the ball?
Force a pull-up shot against Yuuto's defense?
Midorima quickly gave an answer.
He made a passing motion, then faked a shot, intending to draw a foul while shooting.
But the Eye of the Sky locked onto his entire body.
Close to three quarters of correction was enough to use the Eye of the Sky like the Emperor Eye.
Yuuto's arm slid down like a scalpel.
Accompanied by a smack, Midorima held his hands high, but the basketball was gone.
Not a single chance!
Shutoku's despair could be felt by the fans through the score alone.
They had been in a scoring drought for 3 minutes.
In these 3 minutes, Yuuto completely froze Midorima, continuing to widen the gap.
"It's over, Midorima."
Fwoosh~
A large amount of steam erupted from Yuuto's body, followed by golden light covering him completely. He truly looked like a scorching sun breaking through the sky.
"No, it's not over! We haven't lost yet!"
Midorima screamed in his heart, turning and moving his legs to chase. But the 20% gap was fatal; no matter how hard Midorima tried, it was useless.
Screech!
Yuuto stopped abruptly after stepping inside the three-point line. Core strength comparable to the Uncrowned Kings' "Brute Force" allowed him to stop instantly.
Midorima, however, because he rushed too fiercely, couldn't withstand the inertia with his body, braked forcibly, and finally fell to the ground again.
Yuuto looked at him indifferently, stepped back to outside the three-point line.
Gather.
Jump.
Hit.
He completed this three-point shot with ease, his elegant posture making it look like shooting practice.
The point difference officially widened to 22 points!
Many Shutoku fans couldn't bear to watch anymore.
Too strong, truly too strong!
People marveled. The Lion of Okushirazome leading his team to defeat Teiko last year was absolutely no accident.
He truly possessed the potential and combat power to become the strongest high school student in the nation.
Beep~
The whistle sounded for the end of the third quarter.
Following an unreasonable crossover drive tearing through a 3-man double-team for a layup.
Shutoku trailed Seiho by a full 30 points, 63:93.
Fwoosh!
The white steam dissipated into the air. The white color on Yuuto's head also melted like snow in the spring sun, returning his short hair to jet black.
The massive stamina consumption made him start to pant as well.
However, there was no problem anymore.
Holding a 30-point lead, they couldn't lose the game.
"Rest for a few minutes?"
"Yeah, rest for a few minutes."
Yuuto didn't insist. Most athlete injuries stem from fatigue.
He wouldn't force himself in a place like this.
Yamashita Shio nodded in satisfaction. He was really afraid Yuuto would insist on playing.
Turning his head, he said to the others, "In the fourth quarter, we need to lower the game tempo. I allow you to consume the full 24-second shot clock even if you don't attack."
"Tsugawa, stick to Shutoku's Number 10 (Takao). If they want to chase points, they will actively look for Midorima Shintaro."
"Kasuga, go assist Tsugawa. Midorima's dominant hand is his left, and he prefers standing on the left three-point line when attacking."
"Wait for Tsugawa to force Takao to go left, then watch for the opportunity to try and intercept their pass."
Yamashita Shio was truly a good coach on the defensive end.
The weaknesses of Midorima and Takao he saw now were almost exactly what Akashi saw in the original work.
Tsugawa Tomoki's defense was strong enough against players outside the level of the Generation of Miracles and Yuuto.
At least in this match, after three quarters, Takao hadn't scored a single point.
However, coming into the fourth quarter.
Midorima attempted to sound the horn of counterattack with a full-court three-pointer.
"Doesn't this kid get tired?"
"How can he not be tired? He's just unwilling to lose like this."
Yuuto covered his head with a towel.
Midorima's release point was the highest he had ever seen, bar none.
Such a high release point allowed him to avoid being blocked by opponents to the greatest extent.
But at the same time, that high-trajectory shot consumed more stamina than ordinary shooting.
This full-court three-pointer was even more so. Every time Midorima shot, he used more force than ordinary players.
Yamashita Shio thought so too.
Midorima had already taken 16 shots in this game, and at least 6 shots were disrupted by Yuuto, so his total attempts reached at least 21 (plus the disrupted ones?).
Plus, he had been chasing Yuuto on defense all game; his stamina must be overwhelmed.
It looked like a counterattack horn, but it was more like the struggle of a trapped beast.
Thinking of this, Yamashita pressed down his palm, signaling the players to slow down according to the plan.
And when Seiho's offensive clock ran out of 24 seconds, he waved his big hand again, initiating a full-court press tactic against Shutoku.
The later the game went, the more obvious the advantage of Seiho's Lightning Run became.
They always had more stamina than their opponents, maintaining a high-intensity game state throughout.
In fact.
In the past years when Seiho fought Shutoku, the games Seiho won were all reversals made by exerting force in the second half.
The difference was.
Today, after three quarters, Shutoku was still the trailing side.
Fatigue caused Shutoku to make continuous errors, while Seiho seized these small errors to strive to maintain their advantage.
Midorima could only completely take over the game, hitting 4 consecutive three-pointers as soon as the fourth quarter started.
This playstyle, completely disregarding stamina, indeed helped Shutoku successfully pull the gap back to around 20 points.
But there was very little time left in the game.
Seiho consumed the time on every offensive possession, shooting only in the last few seconds.
If they missed, fine. But if they made it, back and forth, Midorima needed to hit three 3-pointers just to gain back two points.
This situation continued until the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
Yuuto took off his jacket and appeared at the scorer's table.
"I'm going back, Satsuki. Seiho won."
...
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