The first to be held was the semifinals of the upper bracket, with Tsinghua High School, led by Da Zhi, facing the challenge of Nanmo Middle School, led by Da Yao!
Two destined rivals, the two strongest centers in high school basketball and even in China's future, met prematurely on the semifinal stage to decide the victor...
However, Da Yao at this time was clearly still too immature. Neither his post-up footwork nor his post-up skills were a match for Da Zhi...
Da Yao was no match for Da Zhi, and Nanmo Middle School's strongest offensive point was suppressed by Tsinghua High School.
On the guard line, Liu Wei was also entangled by Zhang Yunsen, and their organization was not smooth.
On the forward line, Zhang Wenqi was not completely shut down by Li Nan, but the problem was that Zhang Wenqi could not shut down Li Nan either. The two used offense to compensate for defense, mainly focusing on offense, and Zhang Wenqi truly could not outshoot Li Nan...
After resisting for three quarters, in the final quarter, Nanmo Middle School collapsed as Da Yao's stamina waned. Da Zhi established a leading advantage with a surge, taking away the suspense of the game.
The strongest Tsinghua defeated their opponents and was the first to advance to the championship and runner-up finals, awaiting the king from the lower bracket!
"I thought that Nanmo Middle School's number 11 was the ceiling for centers, but I didn't expect Tsinghua High School's number 14 to be even more terrifying..."
"China's strongest high school student... did you think it was a joke?"
"I don't know who will break out from the lower bracket? Is it the traditional powerhouse Shenyang No. 2 High School, or this year's biggest dark horse Zhuji Middle School?"
"No matter who breaks through, facing Tsinghua High School in the end will only have one result... This Tsinghua High School is simply invincible right now..."
"That might not be true? How can a team that has fought its way from the grassroots to the Eastern Conference finals and finally to the championship stage be weak?"
"It's not that they are weak, but Tsinghua High School is too strong... just talking about Da Zhi, how can he be defended? Who can defend him? Even Nanmo Middle School's Da Yao was beaten down, who else can contend with Da Zhi?"
"That's true... Tsinghua High School's center position is truly invincible..."
...
After watching the duel between Tsinghua High School and Nanmo Middle School, the audience in the stands lamented Da Zhi's invincible performance. The strongest high school student in the country lived up to his reputation...
"Tch! It's like we don't have any hope of winning..."
Hearing the discussions by the sidelines, Zhang Zhenpeng looked unconvinced.
"Don't mind that useless talk! Right now, we need to concentrate and take down Shenyang No. 2 High School first... In this game, you are the key to victory..."
He Ximeng patted Zhang Zhenpeng's shoulder with a solemn expression!
"Don't worry, don't worry! It's just about restricting Shenyang No. 2 High School's number 8... What's his name again?" Zhang Zhenpeng asked He Ximeng with a relaxed expression.
"Sun Jun!"
"Okay! I'll take care of Sun Jun! But, we agreed, you can't just let me do all the dirty work... you can't waste my offensive talent..."
"Understood! Got it! As long as you get open, I'll definitely pass you the ball... But, you need to be careful, Sun Jun's defense is not bad..."
"Don't you trust my offensive ability? Believe me, it's fine..."
Well, what a pointless reminder.
After reminding Zhang Zhenpeng, He Ximeng announced today's starting lineup.
He Ximeng had made some adjustments for today's game against Shenyang No. 2 High School's smaller, faster lineup.
The center was still Yan Hui, the power forward was changed to Zhang Zhenpeng, the small forward was Wang Xian, the shooting guard was Fu Xinyuan, and the point guard was He Ximeng.
Shenyang No. 2 High School's lineup was center Wu Naiqun, power forward Sun Jun, small forward Wu Qinglong, shooting guard Zhang Qingpeng, and point guard Li Xiaoyong.
Wu Naiqun was similar in height to Yan Hui. The two were evenly matched in the tip-off, but Yan Hui had better rhythm and successfully tipped the ball to He Ximeng with his fingertips. Zhuji Middle School gained the opportunity for the first possession!
He Ximeng steadily brought the ball past half court.
Li Xiaoyong had watched He Ximeng's game yesterday and knew that He Ximeng's three-point shooting was very strong, so he kept a close eye on He Ximeng, retreating and defending, wary of He Ximeng suddenly pulling up for a three-pointer.
But He Ximeng didn't rush to attack himself. Instead, he directed his teammates to run their routes, patiently observing the opponent's defensive positioning!
Zhang Zhenpeng moved very actively. Using a backdoor cut after a baseline run, he successfully created an open mid-range shot opportunity.
He Ximeng kept his promise and passed the ball to Zhang Zhenpeng immediately!
Zhang Zhenpeng caught the ball, stopped, turned, and shot! It had to be admitted that the shot was very beautiful!
Sun Jun's pursuit defense was too late, and Zhang Zhenpeng scored the first points of the game!
As he ran back on defense, Zhang Zhenpeng smiled and gave He Ximeng a thumbs-up. He Ximeng quickly reminded him to keep an eye on Sun Jun and not to be careless.
As expected, Zhang Zhenpeng was only happy for less than 20 seconds before Sun Jun answered with a score.
However, it wasn't due to Zhang Zhenpeng's carelessness, but rather Sun Jun's superior skill.
Li Xiaoyong brought the ball past half court to Sun Jun, who was beyond the three-point line. Sun Jun directly drove past Zhang Zhenpeng with the ball, attacked the low post, and before Zhuji Middle School's double-team defense could arrive, he stopped, faked, and then jumped to shoot after overpowering Zhang Zhenpeng... All the moves were executed in one go, as smooth as flowing water.
Zhang Zhenpeng defended very hard, but Sun Jun's fake moves were very realistic, and the transition between each move was very fluid. Zhang Zhenpeng still couldn't avoid being shaken off.
On Zhuji Middle School's second possession, He Ximeng again calmly brought the ball past half court, organizing his teammates' movements.
Li Xiaoyong wanted to put pressure on He Ximeng and prevent him from playing so easily and gracefully, so he tried to get close to He Ximeng to steal the ball.
He Ximeng played along with the plan, pretending to focus on his teammates in the paint. When Li Xiaoyong made his move, he used a one-handed crossover, dodged Li Xiaoyong's interference, and accelerated to the right. Li Xiaoyong couldn't turn around in time and was blown past by He Ximeng. In the paint, Wu Naiqun shifted to block He Ximeng. He Ximeng executed a running floater, easily getting it over Wu Naiqun's block and scoring off the glass!
The running floater is a must-have skill for most point guards in the NBA! Its main purpose is to avoid the interference of big men in the paint after breaking through. After all, there are countless big men with astonishing jumping ability in the NBA, and ordinary layups could easily result in a block. The floater is a safer scoring method!
Allen Iverson, Tony Parker, and Stephen Curry are all masters of this technique!
Tony Parker, in particular, has taken this technique to another level! In his prime, with his super-fast dribbling speed and this unsolvable floater, Parker, at 1.88 meters tall, could compete with 2-meter-plus monsters in the league without being at a disadvantage.
"Did Ximeng unlock a new skill?" On the bench of Zhuji Middle School, Zhang Tian'ai's eyes began to sparkle again...