Beep...
A crisp whistle sounded, and the three minutes of preparation time passed in a flash.
The referee blew the whistle again, signaling players from both sides to go on the court and make final preparations for the game.
When players from both teams stepped onto the court, everyone keenly noticed something strange.
Shoyo naturally discovered the problem.
Kenji Fujima's expression suddenly darkened, and a hint of displeasure flashed in his eyes.
Because he didn't see the figure in his memory in Shohoku's lineup.
"Is Shohoku looking down on us?" Kenji Fujima felt a sudden surge of anger in his heart. He clenched his fists tightly, and there was a hint of anger in his tone.
Toru Hanagata's face darkened, and he frowned slightly, saying coldly: "You are too contemptuous!"
The people in Ryonan and Kainan were also confused when they saw that Jack Carter did not play.
"Not the starting player?" Shinichi Maki frowned slightly and said in a puzzled tone.
Soichiro Jin looked deep in his eyes, and after a little thought, he analyzed: "Is he hiding his strength? Maybe Shohoku wants to let Jack Carter play again at a critical moment!"
Nobunaga Kiyota was very unhappy and shouted: "It's just a trick, a trick!"
Riki Takato fanned himself slowly, his eyes fixed on Mitsuyoshi Anzai who looked calm on the Shohoku bench, and then on Jack Carter who looked nonchalant sitting on the bench, his eyes revealing a thoughtful look.
Moichi Taoka's expression is similar to Riki Takato's, and he knows Jack Carter better than Riki Takato.
Although he couldn't guess what Mitsuyoshi Anzai was thinking at the moment, he could more or less guess some clues based on his years of experience as a coach and his keen intuition.
Hikoichi Aida showed a bit of disappointment on her face and said softly, "Jack Carter didn't even play! I thought I could see his performance from the beginning!"
Ryoji Ikegami crossed his arms and analyzed seriously: "Do they have the confidence to beat Shoyo with the current lineup?"
Hiroaki Koshino continued: "Who knows! It could be that the guy himself doesn't want to play."
After listening to Hiroaki Koshino's words and thinking about them carefully, everyone felt that it made sense.
Thinking about what I know about Jack Carter, doing something like this is in line with his personality.
Sendoh's focus is completely different from everyone else's.
The corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he looked at Shoyo with a playful look, and said leisurely: "Shoyo should feel insulted now! Shohoku did not let Jack Carter start the game. In Shoyo's view, this may be a kind of contempt. They should be very angry."
Many spectators came to watch Jack Carter, but they were immediately unhappy when they found out that Jack Carter was not on the field.
"What's going on? Why isn't Shohoku's No. 9 playing? I came here to see him."
"That's right! Who is that red-haired guy? Get him out of here right now."
"How can Shohoku be a coach? Hurry up and change the players. We want to watch Jack Carter play."
"Yes, we want to watch Jack Carter play."
"Shohoku, please change players quickly..."
The audience's dissatisfied voices, like a torrent, were clearly transmitted to Shohoku's bench off the court.
Ayako listened to the complaints from the stands and felt a little worried. She called out softly, "Coach Anzai..."
Mitsuyoshi Anzai, however, looked calm, not affected by the audience's criticism at all. He still sat firmly in his seat with a gentle smile on his face, and said, "Hahahaha... Don't worry about it, Ayako."
As he said that, he turned his head and looked at Jack Carter who was sitting next to him, and asked, "Jack Carter, do you also think it was a mistake for me not to let you play?"
"Ah?" Jack Carter was slightly stunned, with a puzzled look on his face, and then replied: "I don't care! If the opponent is not strong, it will be boring to go up. I hope Shoyo won't let me down!"
Hohohoho…
Hearing Jack Carter's words, Mitsuyoshi Anzai couldn't help laughing.
There is no doubt that Mitsuyoshi Anzai is optimistic about Jack Carter, and he certainly has his own considerations for not letting Jack Carter play.
In his half-life of playing basketball, he had never seen a player as talented as Jack Carter.
It didn't happen before, and it's unlikely to happen again in the future.
He knew very well how extraordinary Jack Carter's talent was.
In his opinion, such talent may be unique in the world.
His thoughts couldn't help but drift back to the past, and he remembered a player he once played under his command, Ryuji Tanizawa.
That was also a "genius" player who he had high hopes for.
However, even though Ryuji Tanizawa is extremely talented, he is still far inferior to Jack Carter.
Players with such extraordinary talents often have some personality problems, and Jack Carter is no exception.
Basketball is a team sport, but the existence of Jack Carter breaks the inherent concept of "team".
Every time Jack Carter takes the court, the other teammates seem to be isolated.
But the strange thing is that it is not the team that isolates Jack Carter, but Jack Carter that invisibly isolates the entire team, but the team cannot do without Jack Carter.
Jack Carter's strength is too strong, strong enough to compete with a team. Over time, he developed the habit of not relying on his teammates to play.
This is exactly the situation that Mitsuyoshi Anzai does not want to see.
He was eager to change Jack Carter's mind about basketball.
It's more of a change of ideas than a change of thoughts.
Let Jack Carter understand the importance of a team.
Mitsuyoshi Anzai firmly believes that once Jack Carter understands the power of the team, no team will be able to match Shohoku on the national stage.
This is the first reason why Mitsuyoshi Anzai did not let Jack Carter play.
The second reason is to consider the long-term development of Shohoku.
If Shohoku wants to become truly powerful, it cannot rely solely on Jack Carter's support. Other team members also need to continue to grow.
Competing with a strong team is a great opportunity to hone Shohoku, so letting Jack Carter sit on the bench temporarily is also based on this consideration.
Because once Jack Carter comes on the court, the other players' opportunities to practice will be greatly reduced, which is not conducive to their growth and progress.
On the court.
The players from both sides have already taken their positions.
Shohoku's starting lineup:
Center, Takenori Akagi, No. 4, 3rd grade. (Captain)
Power forward, Hanamichi Sakuragi, No. 10, 1st grade.
Small forward, Kaede Rukawa, No. 11, 1st grade.
Point guard, Ryota Miyagi, No. 7, 2nd grade.
Shooting guard, Hisashi Mitsui, No. 14, 3rd grade.
Shoyo's starting lineup:
Center, Toru Hanagata, No. 5, 3rd grade.
Power forward, Shoichi Takano, No. 8, 3rd grade.
Small forward, Mitsuru Nagano, No. 7, 3rd grade.
Point guard, Kenji Fujima, No. 4, 3rd grade. (Captain)
Shooting guard, Kazushi Hasegawa, No. 6, 3rd grade.
The people of Shohoku suddenly realized that the people of Shoyo on the opposite side were staring at them with hostile and murderous eyes. They looked so fierce, as if Shohoku owed Shoyo millions of dollars.
The Shohoku players, who were already somewhat nervous, were now even more nervous, and the tension increased even more.
At the same time, they were full of doubts and didn't understand why Shoyo had such an attitude.
Toru Hanagata stared at Takenori Akagi standing in front of him with eyes as sharp as an eagle, and said in a low and intimidating tone: "I will make you regret your choice now."
Um?
Takenori Akagi looked confused and had no idea what the other person meant.
What choice?
What did we do?
Why do you start to criticize yourself right away?
Hisashi Mitsui's eyes were fixed on the opponent's No. 6 player.
He had overheard the player say in the bathroom that he wanted to keep his score within 5 points, which made him very unhappy.
Kaede Rukawa still had that indifferent look, his face as expressionless as a poker card, as if no matter what earth-shattering events happened in the outside world, his expression could not change even the slightest.
Hanamichi Sakuragi's eyes darted back and forth among the Shoyo people, with an unfathomable light flashing in his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking at this moment.
Ryota Miyagi felt helpless.
He looked at the row of tall Shoyo members in front of him, then looked at his relatively short stature, and suddenly felt so insignificant.
An invisible pressure slowly accumulated in his heart like a heavy stone.
Just when everyone was thinking about their own things and the atmosphere was extremely tense, the referee finally and decisively blew the whistle to start the game.
Beep...
A clear whistle sounded over the stadium.
Then, the referee threw the basketball in his hand high into the air above the players of both teams.
The Shohoku VS Shoyo match officially kicked off.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
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