Chapter 154 : A Glimpse of Breakthrough
To be honest, she knew where Kagami's problem lies and she could just tell him about it. However, Alex wanted Kagami to realize his own shortcomings and overcome them rather than just being told to. Finding the answer by himself was better for his development compared to just listening to what she said, after all.
"I don't get it." Riko who stood next to her frowned. "I can see there is something different in Kagami-kun in the last play, but I couldn't see it clearly. Is there anything you can share, Alex-san?"
"Well, you cannot see it as obvious as Hyuga-kun or Kuroko-kun's breakthrough because Tiger-chan's breakthrough was inside himself. There was a gear in his brain that started to move unconsciously; a shift in his mindset that would change his game."
"And that would be…?"
"His decision-making under the rim," Alex answered, the smile kept growing on her face. "Before, he would always think that dunk was the only solution to his problem. That's why he got blocked before even though he jumped higher and stayed on the air longer. The opponent knows no matter what, the end of the result would be a dunk. They just need to wait until Tiger-chan starts to go down before they jump too, stopping him easily. But this time, he knows he could do more than this. We can see it from his double-clutch dunk before, and I hope this wasn't a coincidence."
"Then, why would you ask him to go for the three-point shoot?"
Indeed, the abnormal style Kagami showed before was Alex's request. It was just a coincidence that Midorima also changed his style into a violent one, creating an illusion that they wanted to compete against each other with each other's style.
"Because I want to remind him that basketball is not just a physical game," Alex said with a serious face. "I don't know when it started, but I noticed Tiger-chan had the tendency to drive forward and always try to solve everything with a dunk, which was fine. You know even though he grew up in LA, he had been looking up at Lebron James since he was a child, and it was his biggest inspiration to play like him. But he seems to forget Lebron James is not just a dunk merchant."
"Hmm…" Riko pondered for a moment, her brows furrowed. "That still doesn't answer how asking him to go for three would help, though?"
"Because, unlike dunk, physicality wasn't a big aspect in shooting a three-pointer. There might be a lot of people who were good at a confrontational shoot like that Shutoku's player. However, that wasn't the essence of shooting. Instead, it was to create space, try to get comfortable in your position, and shoot that was important. That was pure basketball skill and IQ, and that was what I wanted Tiger-chan to start thinking again."
"So that's it…" Riko nodded in understanding. Her expression turned wryly as she saw Kagami who even though was excited, there was still a hint of confusion there. "It seems what you said hasn't happened yet."
"Don't worry about it." Alex waved her hand nonchalantly. "Breaking through a bottleneck was not a one or two days job. I didn't expect it would be easy. But he started to get the essence, and it wouldn't be long before he transformed into a better player."
----------------------------------------------
Back on the court, Kagami didn't know that he was being talked a lot by his coaches. The only thing he cared about right now was the thing he felt before avoiding Midorima in the air earlier. It was a strange yet familiar feeling as if it was something he forgot after a while. It was like a word that was already on the top of his tongue yet he kept forgetting about it, which was pretty annoying.
"Goddamnit!" Kagami felt his brain was about to mush. "What the hell was that?"
"What the hell was what?" A concerned voice suddenly came from behind. When he turned around, Kagami could see Kuroko looking at him strangely. "Are you alright, Kagami-kun?"
Normally, Kagami would be happy and enthusiastic after beating such a strong opponent like Midorima. However, Kuroko couldn't see any hint of positive emotion in his friend right now. Instead, he could see confusion and frustration grow on the red-haired boy, which also confused him a lot.
"Don't worry about it." Kagami patted his shoulder while walking back to Seirin's area, ready to defend. "It is not a big problem." Yeah. Even though it bothered him, Kagami didn't want to think about it too much, especially in the middle of the game. He decided to keep his focus on the court first, trying his best to stop Midorima.
'If it is important, I would be able to figure it out.'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, until the beginning of the second quarter, Kagami couldn't figure out what happened to him before. Instead, it was Midorima who was on fire again, kept sending a rain of threes every time Shutoku had a chance to attack while keeping Kagami on bay all the time.
"As expected." The green-haired boy pushed up his glasses. "The last time was just a coincidence. You cannot beat me at all."
"Shut up!" Kagami snarked angrily.
The game had already reached the middle of the second quarter, and almost all the players from both teams were replaced to save their energy. For Seirin, it was Kawahara, Tsuchida, Koganei, Fukuda, and Kagami who were on the court. This was a weird lineup where Seirin had no real point guard and just letting Kagami run amok.
As for Shutoku, besides Midorima, all of them were just newcomers.
Now both teams had the same setup, one ace surrounded by the bench unit. Kagami had the advantage though, as he had already had a rest before. However, even though Midorima had never been replaced since the beginning, the shooting guard showed off his incredible stamina by not having his performance declined even for a second. He was basically the better version of Hyuga from Seirin, a powerhouse shooter who had unlimited stamina.
Or at least that was what Seirin thought at first.
Unfortunately, they were completely wrong here. When all of Shutoku's main rosters were not on the court, he transformed into a decent ball handler and leader by keep commanding the bench unit while facilitating them to get better. Coupled with his scoring method that grew from only shooting to becoming a good finisher under the rim, Seirin couldn't handle Midorima's incredulous transformation here.
"Kawahara-kun! Help! Don't let him get away!"
"I got it!"
"Midorima-san, here!"
"Nice pass!"
"Don't go inside! Two people are waiting for you!"
*Clank!*
*Splash!*
"YOSSHAAA!"
"Nice mid-range!"
"Keep it up, everyone!"
"Good job, Midorima! You show potential to be a good point guard here!"
Everyone on Shutoku's bench was excited, waving towels and anything that was within their reach to hype up all their teammates on the court. However, the same couldn't be said on the other side, as the gloomy atmosphere suddenly flared on Seirin's side.
"Should we call a timeout or make a substitution here?" Riko asked worriedly.
"No, this is not the time yet." Alex rejected her suggestion quickly. "Riko-chan, you have to always remember the purpose of every game your team plays. In this case, we want to see how much our team improved after their training camp, and that also includes the bench unit. If we didn't give them a chance to solve the problem, then, it wouldn't be fair."
"Yeah, you are right." Riko nodded, the anxiety vanished from her face. "It is a bit hard to do so. I would always come to the game for a win no matter what happened, so I have never considered your point."
"Just remember, your task as a coach of a young team is not just to win the game, but also to provide opportunity to all your players for them to reach their potential. As long as you remember that, you will be fine."
"Yeah." Riko nodded solemnly before turning her head back to the court. "So, what should we say at this time?"
"Oh, we don't have to do anything here," Alex replied with a big smile. "Playing against an unsolvable opponent both in offense and defensive end was a common occasion for Tiger-chan when he played in the state. He knows what to do."
And indeed, Kagami knew what to do.
"Tsuchida-senpai, Kawahara-kun, I will always try to force him to dribble the ball. If you saw us go in your direction, help me double-teaming that bastard."
"Sure!"
This was the main strategy when playing against an opponent with strong skills like Midorima. Always turn the game into a physical confrontation to wear him out. If Kagami couldn't beat Midorima right now, he would drag the green-haired boy into an endurance battle and strike back later.
This was a good approach, especially considering Midorima hadn't been substituted yet. However, this didn't answer the solution on the offensive end yet, as once again, Kagami hit a brick wall in front of him.
"You are such a pest." The red-haired boy growled. "Why don't you just go away and rest?!"
"So, you admit you cannot get through my defense?"
Kagami gritted his teeth, leaning his body forward before trying to force his way into the paint. However, it was no use. Besides his jump, he had no clear advantage against Midorima. The green-haired boy had a similar physicality as him and knew his habit pretty well, but kept forcing him to go through the left side.
"Goddamnit!"
Having been dancing around for a while, Kagami knew he had to take action. He faked his breakthrough for a bit before stopping dribbling, taking a half-spin before pulling up a jumper from the mid-range. It was a spontaneous decision that Kagami didn't expect would go in. However, this shoot also opened up a new window for him.
'Wait… My vision is….. Clearer? Broadened? What happened here?'
In the end, the ball didn't go in. Kagami's loss of focus before shooting affected his accuracy. Fortunately, Tsuchida managed to secure the rebound, giving Seirin a second chance for the offense again.
"Senpai, here!"
The ball went to Kagami once again. This time, he wanted to confirm his thoughts before. He dribbled the ball slowly, trying to get the best position and enough space to shoot. And when he had that, he jumped, ready to pull up a mid-range. But that wasn't his focus. He tried to see what he could observe while he was in the air. As a result, the ball hit the rim once again.
*Clank!*
However, this didn't bother Kagami at all. Instead, a new understanding went down through his mind.
'As expected, I could see a lot here. I could actually pass the ball to Fukuda or Koganei-senpai who had weak defenders on them. I should try it next.'
Midorima didn't know what was on Kagami's mind. However, he was happy that Kagami didn't force his way to the basket again. This saved him a lot of energy. However, he had a bad premonition of what would come next.
Coupled with Kagami's defense that started to get tougher, Midorima felt a big headache was coming.
*Splash!*
Even though the ball went in, there was no hint of excitement on his face. Instead, Midorima turned solemn as he stared at Kagami with complicated eyes.
'He is getting closer. If only he was one step ahead, even though he couldn't block my shoot, it would be enough to block my sight. That was dangerous.'
In his mind, Kagami who was about to grasp his habit and started to read his game was more dangerous than Kagami who blocked his shoot in the last game. At least, now, Kagami didn't have to jump all the time and risk his knee again just to stop one shoot.
However, the wave of surprise that Kagami brought didn't stop just like that. In the next offense, as if enlightened by something, his movement became faster and sharper as he tried to force his way to the basket once again. At first, Midorima wasn't worried about that. As long as he could calculate the best time to jump, no matter how high Kagami could take off, he would be able to stop him.
That worked before when all of Kagami's mind was always on the basket, trying to go for a dunk. However, this time, as the red-haired boy took off from the ground, he tried to observe everything that happened around him, which gave him another perspective.
'As expected, the sight is a bit narrower because I am so close to the basket. But if I didn't get too focused on dunking, I could still see everyone's movement. Let's see if I could do this.'
The moment Midorima jumped and extended his arm in the air, Kagami retreated the ball, and instead of going for the dunk like he usually did, he kicked the ball out to Tsuchida who was on the corner.
"Nice pass, Kagami-kun!"
Even though Tsuchida's strong point was never in offense, as a 3&D player, he had a decent shooting percentage in several areas, and his hot zone was on the corner. Receiving Kagami's pass, he didn't hesitate to launch it immediately, not giving any Shutoku players a chance to stop him.
*Splash!*
The ball went in!
However, that wasn't everyone's focus. Instead, all the eyes turned on Kagami who grinned like a madman in front of Midorima.
"You think I will go for the dunk, huh?" He mocked the green-haired boy. "I am not just a dunk merchant, get it through your thick skull!"
-------------------------------------------
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 174 on that page. Also, you can read my other fanfiction, Diamond no Ace: The Prince of Hitter up to chapter 35 too.
Thank you! :)
-Zeta Faes-