46 Mini-Game
The next day, Tokiwadai first-string were having their daily mini-game, but today there was something unusual happening with the mini-game.
Tokiwadai played their mini-games in either a 4v4 format or 5v5 format, and sometimes the coach asked them to play 3v3 for a change. The games were as long as half of the real games, which was sixteen minutes of playtime.
But, today was different. The coach had changed the lineup of the matchup.
Coach: "From today onward, the team with Kageyama will always have one less member on the team."
That immediately started a discussion between members of the first-string.
Coach clapped his hands to gain attention, which quieted everybody down.
Coach: "We all saw Kageyama's performance in the Nationals, so it is safe to speak that the team with Shun on it will have a significant advantage in it. Shun has also decided that he wants to be a playmaker, so he needs the experience to work in tight situations.
I expect you guys to force Shun to score by himself rather than gaining assists. I think this will be a good team exercise."
The coach explained how this exercise benefits the team.
Coach: "How many of you know of AAU basketball from the USA."
Shun raised his hand, but there weren't many people who knew about AAU basketball, so the coach explained it to them.
Coach: "AAU stands for Amateur Athletic Union, and they have an extremely popular basketball league in the USA. The AAU functions by having players from different high school team up and play games against other similar teams."
The club members were fascinated by the prospect of playing with players from other schools.
Coach: "The league was designed to provide exposure to high school students so that they could gain experience, but there is one problem in the league which was that the players of the teams didn't get to practice together much, and that led to the AAU teams seeking greater talents to bolster their team with players who had greater individual skills and abandoning teamwork.
The competition got so intense that players started to change teams multiple times a season."
Everybody was confused about where the coach was going with this.
Coach: "Our mini-games are also like this; the teams in our mini-games also change every day. Of course, you guys know each other, so you play with teamwork, but you guys stick to simple strategies as you aren't getting enough time to play with the same team.
My purpose by making you guys play these games is that I want you guys to learn to play with each other with a higher level of team play, so our teamwork doesn't suffer in an official match when we substitute members.
The teams in the mini-games aren't always balanced; there might be teams where there are only short players or the team where there are no outside shooters.
These games will force you to improvise while simultaneously allowing you to get to know the playstyle of other members in the first-string."
Coach clapped his hands once more and said.
Coach: "Let the games begin." [A/N -1: LOL]
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
There were three courts in the first-string gym, so three games were going on.
The game with Shun on it was 3v4.
Shun looked at his team. Shun's team for this game was Kaitani and Yuki.
Shun went to them and said.
Shun: "A first-year lineup, huh. Well, I think that our team is well balanced for a three-person team. I can shoot from outside, Kaitani-kun can shoot from mid-range and finish at the rim, and Yuki-kun is good at defense and scoring at the rim."
Kaitani and Yuki agreed with Shun on the team balance. Shun looked at them and said.
Shun: "Please play as you usually do. Go to areas where you usually like to score, and I will get the ball to you. Just be at the lookout for the assists."
Kaitani raised a single eyebrow and questioned.
Kaitani: "Do you know our playstyle well enough to know how we play?"
Yuki had the same question in his mind.
Shun smiled and said.
Shun: "I know the playstyle of every player in the first-string. You guys don't have to worry we will do just fine."
Kaitani and Yuki were skeptical but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Shun looked at the opposite team, and that team was made up of two second-years and two third-years.
[A/N -2: We will refer them as Ichi(One), Ni(Two), San(Three), Shi(Four).]
Shun and the others broke their huddle when the coach announced the start of the game.
The game didn't start with a tip-off but with the ball with Shun's team.
Shun moved to the center of the court with the ball.
Ni and Shi came to guard Shun with a double team. Shun looked at the other players and found Ichi guarding Yuki and San guarding Kaitani.
Shun returned his line of sight to his defenders. Shi was standing a little behind and to the right to Ni, and Ni was trying to pressure Shun to go right towards Shi.
Shun dribbled towards Ni, slowed in front of Ni, and did a sidestep to evade and make space between Ni and himself.
Shun then dribbled forward till he met Shi, Shun came to a complete stop in front of Shi, hopped, and threw the ball over Shi's head to Kaitani in an overhead pass, who had managed to create some space between him and San.
Kaitani caught the ball and began a drive straight to the basket. San caught up and was right beside Kaitani.
Kaitani slowed down his speed in the last two steps and stopped near the basket, but San was not able to decrease his speed, and that created a little space between them.
Shun, who saw that thought.
Shun: 'He has good control over his movement, he was able to come to a complete stop within two steps, and created space for an easy layup.'
By the time San stopped and tried to move back towards Kaitaini, he had already tossed the ball in the basket with an overhead layup.
Kaitani looked at Shun and said.
Kaitani: "That was a nice assist."
Shun replied with a compliment of his own.
Shun: "That stop at the end was perfectly timed."
-*-*-*-
The ball was in the hands of Ichi, who was in the post position in the low post area, making contact with him was Yuki.
Yuki was trapping Ichi in a tight defense, not allowing him to move freely.
Kaitani slowly moved towards Ichi while keeping an eye on his mark. Shun was in the middle of two players, making them feel pressured, by looking for an opportunity for a pass-steal.
Kaitani suddenly increased his speed and tipped the ball out of Ichi's hand.
The tipped ball was then caught by Yuki, who made his towards the rim.
Yuki was chased by Ichi and San appeared from the front, Yuki passed the ball to Shun when the two got closer to hum.
As soon as Shun got the ball, Ichi, San, and Shi converged upon Shun's position but Shun, relayed the ball back to Yuki when the three got near him.
Yuki scored the ball with defenders nowhere close to him.
As the game went on, Kaitani and Yuki piled up points while Shun supported them with assists and defense.
Shun was in the post position with San at his back.
Shun warped his leg around San's leg and pivoted till he was at San's back. San was locked in his position as Shun was blocking him with his body and wasn't able to turn immediately.
Shun moved his hands up for a shoot, and Ni jumped up to block him, but Shun turned it into a fake and passed it to Kaitani. Shun immediately set up a screen on San, so he couldn't go towards Kaitani, and Ni was already late because of his jump.
Kaitani received the ball and shot from mid-range, but he missed.
Yuki and Ichi jumped for the rebound. Yuki got the rebound, and he jumped immediately again to score the ball into the basket.
As the game went on, Kaitani and Yuki finally realized how good a point guard Shun was. Shun hadn't scored a single point in the game, and even then, they were in the lead by ten points.
Shun knew how Kaitani and Yuki played, so he followed the same pattern of getting the ball, evading his defenders, wait for Kaitani and Yuki to get free, and then pass the ball to them.
Shun selected Ni and San for his defense targets, and wouldn't let them score. He left the other two to his teammates as this was a practice game, and they needed to get good at defense.
Shun had decided that he would use most of the games as practice for his dribbling skills and his passing skills.
Shun: 'If I want to emulate Akashi's perfect positioning and Nash's teleport passes, I would need a lot of practice, and these games are perfect for that.'
The game ended with Shun's team winning by a thirteen-point lead.
The final score was 31-18.
Kaitani and Yuki had managed to score thirty-one points in a 3v4 matchup with the help of Shun.
Kaitani came to Shun and raised his hand for a high-five.
Shun grinned and raised his hand to slap his hand against Kaitani's in a high-five.
Behind them, Yuki was standing with both his hands raised, looking for high-fives of his own. Shun and Kaitiani fulfilled his desire by giving him high-fives on one hand each.
Shun & Kaitani: "Yeah!"
Yuki: "Good game."
The day ended with the three of them deciding to leave together after their extra after-club practice.
