章 25: Round 4; Tokiwadai vs. Seio
Shun and Mibuchi were shopping at the in-stadium shops to be accurate Mibuchi was the one buying things, Shun was browsing through the goods without the intention of buying anything, which meant he was window shopping.
Shun didn't buy his clothes, he wore whatever his mother bought for him, and he was totally fine with it. Shun's mother had a good fashion sense, so whatever she bought looked good on Shun, on top of that, Shun was the type that could pull off almost any type of clothes and look good in them.
The only clothing that Shun bought by himself were the clothes that he wore in his home, which were oversized shirts and shorts, his basketball shoes, and the multiple set of workout clothes that he wore during basketball practice.
Mibuchi finished his shopping, and as they were returning to the locker room, Mibuchi asked Shun a question.
Mibuchi: "Kageyama-chan with you being on the offense and stealing the ball in the second half; winning has become a whole lot easier."
Shun smiled at the words uttered by Mibuchi. Shun didn't smile at the praise but at the confidence that Mibuchi displayed through his words.
Mibuchi said that with the help of Shun, winning had become easier, and by that, he meant that even if Shun played like he usually did, they would still win.
Shun felt nice for having such dependable and confident teammates, but at the same time, Shun thought that he should warn them.
Shun: "Me being on the offense is resulting in us winning with large point gaps, but the team shouldn't think that the stealing I am doing would always work, or at least not at the rate I have done in the last two matches."
Mibuchi was surprised by hearing and couldn't believe that the almost god-like skill that Shun had displayed wouldn't always work.
Mibuchi: "What do you mean by that, if I was on the opponent team I don' think I would be able to stop you."
Shun looked at Mibuchi and let out a sigh,
Shun: "Please remember this; there is no technique or skill that doesn't have a weakness. Even the steals that seem godly to you have a weakness.
If I played against myself in a game, I would have quite easily stopped my ball from being stolen. The reason that both our opponents weren't able to think of a solution was that they panicked and weren't able to think straight."
Mibuchi: "So if they were given time, they would have been able to stop you."
Shun smiled brightly at that and said.
Shun: "Not at all. They didn't have a single player on their teams that could have been able to stop me. The theory behind the solution is quite easy, but executing it mid-game is what makes the solution challenging.
Even if they did stop me, they wouldn't be able to completely escape from me, my presence on the court would still be a huge hindrance as if they slip up, I would be able to steal again."
Shun didn't say anything after that, and Mibuchi didn't ask, as he knew Shun didn't want to tell anybody yet.
[A/N: The explanation will be in the future, so don't worry about me pulling some nerf crap. I think if you guys thought about it, you would be able to arrive at the answer.]
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Tokiwadai's round-four game was against Seio Middle School. Seio Middle School was a team that focused on offense and had an average defense.
Shun once again decided to change his playstyle, this game he was going to play defense and make an offensive team feel the pressure of being defended.
The game started with Seio going straight for the attack their point guard threw the ball to their shooting guard with a high pass. The shooting guard got in his shooting form and threw the ball, but not before Shun contested the shot.
Shun was not in time for swatting the ball from mid-air, but that didn't mean that he couldn't do anything, the defense was more than stopping the ball, the real meaning of defense was not letting the opponent score.
Shun got near Seio's shooting guard and jumped with his hand raised. Shun's aim was not to touch the ball but to block the shooter's vision.
Shun: 'You can't shoot if you can't see the basket.'
Seio's SG: 'Crap, I can't see the basket clearly.'
The result was the ball bouncing wildly of the rim and Ishida getting the rebound.
Seio's SG: 'Tsk!'
The ball was passed to Aone who exploded past his defender and scored with ease.
Aone was a little restless because he didn't get the ball that much in the previous match, so he was ready to do some real damage in this match.
The ball was again in possession of Seio, they tried to pull a fast break, but Shun had already sprinted after them.
One of the most important rules for good defenders was to never allow easy transition scores.
Shun remembered what his coach said during defense drills,
Coach: "You must always return to your basket as quickly as possible. A good defender would either try to stop the offense or go for an offensive rebound after the shot. While in transition, you should never wait for your teammates to go for rebounds and then react, every player on the team should go with the intention that they would get the rebound."
Shun ran to his basket and got in the defensive position near his mark. Shun stayed one arm distance away from his mark, lowered his body, and spread his arms to stop him from driving away.
Shun kept an eye on both his mark and the ball; he didn't want his mark to pass him and get an assist that might lead to a score. The game continued with Shun constantly changing his marks on defense and pressuring them.
Shun's defense was his weakest area in basketball; he had once heard the coach tell him a line that stuck to his mind.
Coach: "If scoring requires talent, then defending requires desire."
Shun: 'The coach was right, being a defensive player is extremely tough. Defense requires going a hundred percent for the full game.'
The defense was a tiring job. They needed to block their marks, they needed to ready for rebounds, they needed to steal free balls and many more things.
Shun: 'Committing yourself to be a defensive player is extremely tough the constant effort might not always pay off.'
The mindset of an offensive player and a defensive player was also different if a player missed a shot, they could always try again, but if a defensive player let the ball past him and score, they couldn't get those points back.
Shun's defense got better as the game went on unlike stealing, defending didn't require a complete profile to work; his gradual knowledge increase in knowledge would also increase his capability to defend.
Shun started to force his marks into the area of the court they didn't like, he would let gaps in his defense, and let them go into the areas where they were weak.
Seio's players started to get frustrated; they had come to this game with the expectations that it would turn out to be a game where both teams would focus mostly on offense.
But what they got was the most offensive player of Tokiwadai or even all of the teams in the Nationals, playing defense.
Shun kept changing marks after some time, so it felt like he was all over the court. He played on the perimeter, in the post, near the key area.
As the game went on Seio found more and more difficult to score, Shun would be on his mark at all times when a player got the ball and Shun was his defender they couldn't get past him, and they were scared of passing as Shun might steal the pass.
Thus, they were forced to either take the shot from their position or risk a pass.
Even the center was worried about Shun in the paint, Shun was playing defense, and he wasn't scared of some contact, he would get in post position quickly and stay close to his mark and restrict any moment.
By the last quarter, Shun's defense which consisted of his commitment to defend, perfect profile, and the pressure piled throughout the game became impossible to score against.
In the first half, Seio scored nineteen points, in the third quarter they scored seven points, and in the last quarter, they were only able to procure four points. In the whole game, Seio was only able to put thirty points on the scoreboard.
The final score of the game was 68-30.
After the game, Shun looked at the stats and found what it meant to be a pure defender. Shun scored nine points, nine blocks, fourteen rebounds, and twelve steals.
Defending was more than what the stats displayed, and his performance in this match increased Shun's respect for defensive players.
Day two of the Nationals was over, and only four out of forty-nine teams remained to compete for the top spot.
クリエイターの想い 
FictionOnlyReader
FictionOnlyReader I am back,
Sorry for the absence yesterday. I decided to write my report in one sitting. I wrote seven chapters worth of words in that report.
It was tough, I got to know that motivation is extremely important, I got so bored and sleepy while writing that report.
When I finally got back to writing this fic I found that how quickly the words were getting on the screen.
Please like, add to the library, and share this fic.
Today is a good day.
Thx
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