Zhang Zhenpeng was "abandoned" by his teammates, and Gong Xiaobin finally felt a little "vindicated."
"Looks like you don't have many friends on the team," Gong Xiaobin said with schadenfreude.
To save face, Zhang Zhenpeng forced himself to say, "Can't help it, strong players always get jealous..."
"Yan Hui..." Although He Ximeng was already far from Zhang Zhenpeng, he couldn't help but hear Zhang Zhenpeng's nonsensical rambling due to his loud voice, even though He Ximeng was walking at the front.
After all, the team was a unit, and Zhang Zhenpeng's embarrassment there was almost equivalent to Zhuji Middle School's embarrassment. He Ximeng couldn't help but call out to Yan Hui.
"Got it!"
Yan Hui didn't need He Ximeng to explain in detail; he immediately understood what He Ximeng meant. To be honest, he had long wanted to drag Zhang Zhenpeng over. It was only because He Ximeng had a good temper...
As they spoke, Yan Hui detached himself from the group, turned around, and went to Zhang Zhenpeng's side. He clasped Zhang Zhenpeng's neck with his strong biceps and dragged him directly towards the court.
Gong Xiaobin stared dumbfounded at Yan Hui's violent treatment of the team's core and ace player, Zhang Zhenpeng. For a moment, he had a premonition that he might have found the wrong target...
The one-hour warm-up practice wasn't long. He Ximeng primarily organized his teammates in running and shooting drills to get used to the floor and the hoops.
After the training ended, Grandpa San somehow got a dozen game videos of last year's national championship Eastern Conference finals.
He Ximeng focused on selecting a classic match between Weifang No. 1 Middle School and Nanmo Middle School for tactical analysis with his teammates.
Weifang No. 1 Middle School's playstyle was somewhat similar to Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School. Their tactics primarily revolved around their absolute core, Gong Xiaobin. Gong Xiaobin's personal ability was strong enough to support Weifang No. 1 Middle School on both offense and defense. Therefore, to defeat Weifang No. 1 Middle School, Feng Chen and Zhang Zhenpeng's individual defense were very important. However, more importantly, Zhuji Middle School had to work as a team, increase efficiency on defense, and prevent other players on Weifang No. 1 Middle School, apart from Gong Xiaobin, from performing well... In simple terms, it was to imitate the "Jordan Rules"... Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School, led by Liu Yudong, was almost defeated by this tactic of He Ximeng.
After He Ximeng's analysis, Zhuji Middle School immediately gained great confidence in defeating Weifang No. 1 Middle School tomorrow.
Nanmo Middle School, previously led by their core point guard Liu Wei, adopted a team-oriented approach. They excelled at fast breaks during offense-defense transitions and at off-ball movement in set plays.
However, while watching the video, He Ximeng directly reminded all his teammates that this year's Nanmo Middle School might undergo significant changes.
Because, according to news from Liu Yudong, Nanmo Middle School had recruited Da Yao! Although Da Yao had just graduated from junior high and was a first-year rookie, his height of over 2.2 meters was terrifying...
Fortunately, He Ximeng was very familiar with Da Yao! The rookie Da Yao had average stamina, an unstable base, and weaker physical confrontation ability. His mid-to-long-range shooting was also not that stable... Therefore, to defeat Nanmo Middle School, controlling Da Yao's scoring was key! To control Da Yao's scoring, first, they had to increase the pace of offense to consume Da Yao's stamina as much as possible...
Second, they had to use back-pressure defense to push Da Yao out of the paint as much as possible.
Third, if they couldn't push him out of the paint, they had to use fronting defense to deny Da Yao the ball.
Fourth, if the previous tactics didn't work, they could only resort to double-teaming, one in front and one behind. The person behind would apply back-pressure, and the person in front would contest the catch... Of course, this was a last resort.
He Ximeng believed that Da Yao, in his first year, shouldn't be that invincible, right?
His teammates listened quietly to He Ximeng's detailed analysis and countermeasures, showing no surprise. They had implicitly accepted He Ximeng's "professional status" in this regard, and had even forgotten to question: as high school students, where did He Ximeng learn all this knowledge?
However, the players were unaware of the invaluable nature of He Ximeng's tactical analysis and countermeasures. As the only "professional" on the team, Zhang Yide certainly knew how brilliant what He Ximeng was saying was. If their positions were swapped now, and Zhang Yide had to break down the tactics for the whole team... Zhang Yide would honestly admit that he might not be as good as He Ximeng...
In private, Zhang Yide had also asked He Ximeng where he learned so many "advanced concepts."
He Ximeng lied and said that his family had a full English basketball tactics book... It was a gift sent by a friend of his mother from across the ocean, very precious...
He Ximeng emphasized "very precious," hinting that he couldn't lend it to Zhang Yide. But what truly stopped Zhang Yide wasn't the word "precious," but "full English"...
As a former "wind-chasing youth" on the basketball court, Zhang Yide's performance in class was difficult to describe... Especially in English, he was basically at a level of "daunted"... So, as soon as he heard it was a book in full English, Zhang Yide immediately gave up the idea of borrowing it to take a look...
On November 16th, the finals of the national tournament's various divisions kicked off simultaneously across the country. The Eastern Conference finals venue was the Shanghai Indoor Stadium.
As usual, the opening ceremony began with speeches from leaders and an opening address.
And the player representative who took the oath was Hu Weidong from Nanjing No. 9 Middle School!
Last year's Eastern Conference Best Lineup included Liu Wei from Nanmo Middle School as the Best Point Guard, Hu Weidong from Nanjing No. 9 Middle School as the Best Shooting Guard, Zheng Wu from Huipu Middle School as the Best Small Forward, Liu Yudong from Hangzhou No. 4 Middle School as the Best Power Forward, and Gong Xiaobin from Weifang No. 1 Middle School as the Best Center.
In reality, Gong Xiaobin's primary position was power forward, the same as Liu Yudong. However, Weifang No. 1 Middle School's starting center was not strong. Due to tactical needs, Gong Xiaobin was often pushed to the center position by his head coach, so in the final selection, Gong Xiaobin was named the Best Center...
Of course, these were the official explanations. From He Ximeng's perspective, both Liu Yudong and Gong Xiaobin performed exceptionally well at the power forward position, making it difficult to distinguish between them. And in last year's Eastern Conference finals, there were no particularly outstanding players at the center position... Therefore, Gong Xiaobin was selected as the Best Center...
The reason why Hu Weidong could stand out among so many strong players was, on one hand, his performance was indeed outstanding and not inferior to the other four. On the other hand, it was because last year's Eastern Conference champion was Nanjing No. 9 Middle School!
When Hu Weidong, wearing thick glasses, walked onto the stage with his speech draft, Zhang Zhenpeng was stunned and asked He Ximeng with an incredulous expression, "This four-eyed guy is the strongest player in the Eastern Conference last year?"