Chapter 157 : Alex's Adjustment, Kuroko's Evolution!
Yeah, the shooting guard showed up in this quarter, trying to prove that he is still the best shooter on the court. No matter where he took it; whether it was on the low-post, elbow, or even from the downtown, he would always be able to knock it down. In total, he already took 3 out of the 3 three-point attempts and 4 out of the 4 mid-range shoot attempts without a single miss.
On the other hand, Seirin somehow couldn't develop their style comfortably under Shutoku's defense. Even though there wasn't a significant change there, they targeted Kagami's breakthrough, allowing the red-haired boy to drive forward and shoot himself. And it worked pretty well for them.
Even though Kagami started to develop his new playing style, it was still immature. His vision on the court was still limited by what was in front of him and he couldn't understand what his teammates thought. He also had a hard time deciding when should he pass the ball and when should he take it for himself. In total, he had already had 2 turnovers and 0-3 field goal attempts in this quarter.
After another round of failure and seeing how frustrated her players became, Alex finally took a timeout to make some adjustments.
"So, any idea what happened?" Alex asked Riko while letting her players take a break.
"Yeah." The younger girl nodded solemnly. "After observing for a while, I finally realized what happened. With them abandoning their signature twin tower strategy, it allowed much more freedom and space to take a shoot. And it wasn't like Midorima played alone. Even though Kimura-san and Otsubo-san waited in the perimeter area, the moment the shot was taken, one of them would rush forward for the rebound while the other went back to prevent our fastbreak. It was a well thought and yet provoking strategy, not something I would expect from a traditional powerhouse like Shutoku."
"Hmm… I could see that…." Alex nodded at the explanation. At that moment, an inspiration suddenly came through her mind. "I got an idea."
"Oh?"
"Wait, a second." Alex took a small notebook from her pocket and started drawing some tactical patterns there. Riko took a peek curiously, trying to figure out what was on Alex's mind. After looking at the detail though, she frowned sceptically.
"What do you think?" Alex asked.
"Are you sure this would work?" Riko asked back. "I mean, they are not that stupid, right?"
"Yeah, but this is worth experimenting. You can see except for their shooting guard, the others were still awkward playing their new role. Let's exploit that first."
"Well, if you are sure…."
Even though Riko was not sure about Alex's new tactic, she had to admit that Alex had a point. She could see how awkward the other Shutoku players were in their new position. It would be a shame to not exploit it.
'The question is, would it be worth it? The sacrifice would be too big here.'
Riko shook her head, trying to snap her thoughts. Even though the adjustment was a gamble, just like what Alex always said before, this was just a sparing game. It didn't cost them anything even if they lost. In fact, this could also train the players' adaptability when facing such a strange situation like this. And it wasn't like a fixed strategy, so it wouldn't be worth studying for the opponent.
Overall, there was no disadvantage in taking Alex's gamble.
'Well, it still depends on the players, though. Let's see if they could implement this gamble. This would be interesting.'
-------------------------
Furihata stretched up his body, ready to play. He would replace Kiyoshi as Seirin would play a small ball strategy. This wasn't the first time they used this lineup, with the best shooters on the court. Without anyone protecting the rebound, the direction of the game would lie on the shooters' touch. If they felt cold, they could say goodbye right away.
'Okay, no need to get excited. Let's stabilize the mood first.'
Furihata took a deep breath, taking a step into the court.
"Don't worry, Furihata-kun. Just do what Alex-san said. Even though you messed up, the blame wouldn't be on you." Hyuga said.
"Well, the same for you, Captain." Furihata nodded, acknowledging Hyuga's words. As the shooters of the team, they were responsible for scoring. So, if they messed up, everything would be over. Even though the final result wasn't important, who would be okay after losing a game?
"Just keep calm and do your job." Hyuga patted his back. "Moreover, it is not us who are under the biggest pressure." His eyes looked forward to the one person with sky-blue hair who tried to merge with the background. Furihata also did the same and nodded unconsciously.
"Yeah. Let's ease his burden a bit."
"That's the spirit!"
-------------------------
The game continued with the ball in Izuki's hand. Furihata went to the wing side where Otsubo stood. After making sure he was in Otsubo's eyes, Furihata started to move. First, he went inside, attracting the opponent's center to go back into his original position. And when it was successful, he pulled back to the wing side, asking for the ball. Unexpectedly, Otsubo was late to follow him back, creating a lot of space for him.
'As expected of Alex-san. That tiny detail couldn't escape from her eyes.'
Furihata smirked as he received the ball from Izuki. Inwardly, he recalled the huddle in the last timeout before.
"Okay. You see their movements are still a bit awkward, right? Especially those two big men. If I had to guess, this is the first time they have used this strategy. They are just like us, still getting used to a new strategy. So, why don't we exploit it? Let's target the two big men whenever they try to defend the perimeter, but don't go inside. Lure them out and kill them from outside."
Surprisingly, this worked pretty well for Seirin. Alex who was on the sideline nodded happily, satisfied with how the play went.
'As expected, just like Riko-chan said, the addition of the 3-seconds defense hurt them more. Their big men who usually only need to wait under the rim to grab the rebound, dunk, and protect the rim were now forced to move out of their comfortable area. They are still trying to get used to this new rule.'
The 3-second defense was basically the rule to prohibit any players from waiting in the paint area for more than 3 seconds. This was the new rule adopted by the Japan Basketball Federation from the NBA after seeing how successful it was to let the offense run smoothly and attract more spectators. But for a traditional team like Shutoku, they really had a hard time to adapt with this new situation.
Fortunately, they had Midorima this year, or they would suffer a lot in the last inter-high.
"Furihata, behind!"
Being warned that loud, Furihata who was about to shoot stopped the motion, doing the pump fake and trying to see who came to help defend him. Unexpectedly, it was Miyaji, the most versatile player in Shutoku's squad. Furihata clicked his tongue in annoyance as he was getting double-teamed quickly by him and Otsubo.
'Even though he had no outstanding talent, his basketball IQ and his hustle are so annoying. He would always be in a good position, ready to help everyone on the team. He is like an upgraded version of Koganei-senpai.'
Furihata didn't panic though. He had already foreseen this kind of situation. There is no way Shutoku is not aware that their two big men were still adapting from a rim protector into a perimeter defense. So, before all the space was closed by those two and he couldn't do anything, Furihata passed the ball back to Izuki.
The point guard didn't hold the ball for too long. After observing his teammates' movement, he bounced the ball into an open position where nobody was there. At first, it looked like a mistake. However, Shutoku wasn't fooled by that.
"Takao! Keep your eyes open!"
"I got it!"
Yeah, Shutoku had already known this kind of ball would go to Kuroko. The question is, where would it go again after being redirected by the blue-haired boy? They all kept their eyes on the Seirin players they guarded, ready for a sudden attack.
Unfortunately, the ball didn't go into any of them. Instead, it flew high to the sky, startling Takao who was not ready to guard the shoot. And within the second, the ball fell smoothly to the basket, creating a beautiful sound after hitting the net.
*Splash!*
"YOSSHAAA!"
"NICE THREE, KUROKO!"
"GOOD JOB!"
Riko who saw the shoot from the sideline also nodded approvingly. In the training camp, she was the one who was responsible for keeping eyes on Kuroko's progress. Seeing the fruit of her labor, she couldn't help but feel satisfied.
But it wasn't the end of the wave that Kuroko just created. In defense, he would always be in the position between Kimura and Otsubo in the perimeter area. And the moment Midorima shot the ball, he was the first one to rush, not to grab the rebound, but to initiate the quick fastbreak.
"RUN!"
With Kuroko's shout, the four players who were on defense a second ago now rushed forward without hesitation. It was like a shotgun strategy in American football where the quarterback would wait for all the wide receivers to spread around before passing the ball. Even though Takao and Kimura went back in time, they were in a disadvantageous position with 4v2 there.
This was the gamble that Alex said before. She knew Midorima had a ridiculously high shooting percentage. So, instead of waiting and hoping that he would miss, it would be better to just move on and accept the ball would go in the moment he shot and caught them off guard with the quick fastbreak.
This was basically fighting fire with fire. They gave up the defense in order to make their offense sharper.
"Nice pass, Phantom!"
Furihata grinned, receiving the ball comfortably. He had a lot of choices there. He could just toss the ball to Kagami for an alley-oop, pass it to Hyuga, or finish it himself. And having a healthy amount of ego and confidence, of course, Furihata took it for himself.
*Splash!*
"YOSSHAAA!"
"Nice shoot, Furihata-kun!"
"Good pass, Kuroko!"
'Good.' Alex smiled, satisfied with the result. 'It doesn't matter how ridiculous the opponent's accuracy is. As long as we could prevent his three-point shoot and take the point back in the next possession, it would be alright.'
The trend of the game continued like this, with the momentum shifted back to Seirin's hand. And in this moment, Kuroko finally showed off his fang. Defensively, he would always be the first one who came back and ready to initiate the offense. Having been invisible most of the time, he had a lot of time observing his teammates' and opponents' habits and knew where to pass.
And offensively, he was unstoppable. The addition of his three-point shoot elevated his style into a new dimension. Even if Takao could find out where Kuroko was and where he would pass, he wouldn't know whether Kuroko would actually pass it or take it for himself. And if Takao was able to stop both pass and shoot, Kuroko still had vanishing drive in his bag.
Kuroko grew from the boy who could only pass the ball and stay invisible into an offensive powerhouse right now.
*Splash!*
"Yeah!"
"Nice three, Kuroko!"
This was the third three-pointer that Kuroko managed to knock down in the last couple of minutes. The evolution of the blue-haired boy made his former teammate uncomfortable. Midorima stared at Kuroko for a moment with a complicated expression. Takao who saw that patted his back worryingly.
"You okay, Shin-chan?"
"Yeah, don't worry." Midorima nodded, pushing his glasses upward. "Takao, do me a favor and pass the ball to me right after we passed the half-court line." Takao was taken aback by the sudden request. However, he still nodded his head, not refusing the request.
"Sure."
Even though Midorima could just ask for the ball right now, receiving it from the inbound pass would be too suspicious. Seirin would see that he was about to aim for three and sent Kagami to deal with him. And no matter how he wanted to deny it, Midorima wasn't sure anymore whether he could escape from Kagami's jump in a head-on battle or not.
Sure, he scored a lot under Kagami's nose this quarter. But that was the combination of his off-the-ball movement, shoot selection, technique, and a lot more that should be considered to avoid Kagami's high jump for blocking his shoot. That wouldn't work when facing Kagami in the perimeter area where both of them knew he would go for a three-point shoot.
That's why he would rather catch the opponent off guard rather than facing him head-on.
Unfortunately, they forgot Kuroko who had a thin presence there. The blue-haired boy accidentally eavesdropped the conversation and knew what would happen next. So, he snuck from Midorima's blind spot, waiting for the ball to come to his former teammates. And when it did, he charged quickly, stealing the ball before it could be grabbed by the green-haired boy.
"SHIT!"
Takao and Midorima were not expecting the ball would be stolen that easily. It took them a few seconds to react. Unfortunately, that few seconds was enough for Kuroko to run toward Shutoku's side and put the ball to the basket with an easy layup.
"YEAH!"
"Nice steal, Phantom!"
"Goddamnit! Is it really you?!"
All the Seirin players high-fived the blue-haired boy who still had the same flat expression. Unexpectedly, when Kuroko turned around, his blue eyes met Midorima's green eyes. For a second, time seemed to freeze as they communicated silently with each other. The contact finally broke when Kuroko nodded at him before turning around at his teammates.
At that time, Midorima finally realized, Kuroko was not the same timid boy who was easily bullied in middle school anymore. The blue-haired boy finally found the ground where he could stand, ready to face the same storm as he and the other Generation of Miracles faced before.
At this time, Kuroko finally evolved from an invisible role player into an elite star comparable to his former teammates.
Seirin 52 – 50 Shutoku
-------------------------------------------
Author note :
If you want to support me more, you can visit my Patreon page on patreon(.)com/ZetaFaes
You can read this fanfiction up to chapter 177 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 38 too.
Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-