The match against Weifang No. 1 High School, Zhuji Middle School indeed held a surprise advantage. During rotation, He Ximeng seized the opportunity when Weifang No. 1 High School relaxed their guard and surged ahead, denying Weifang No. 1 High School a fair contest...
He Ximeng pulled Zhang Zhenpeng back and apologized to Gong Xiaobin, but Gong Xiaobin did not accept it and left the court without looking back.
Although Gong Xiaobin also knew that Zhuji Middle School was not to blame for the loss. Since Zhuji Middle School could defeat Nanmo Middle School, it meant they had the strength to defeat Weifang No. 1 High School... Gong Xiaobin was not a sore loser, but he was upset that Zhuji Middle School, despite clearly lacking the strength, still played the role of a weaker opponent, making him feel like a fool who had been tricked by He Ximeng. This was the most unacceptable part for Gong Xiaobin...
However, regardless of whether Gong Xiaobin accepted the apology or not, all five matches in the group stage of the Eastern Finals had concluded.
Zhuji Middle School secured the first place in the group with a perfect record of five wins in five games.
Nanmo Middle School took second place in the group with four wins in five games.
These two teams represented Group A and advanced to the next round.
In Group B, Nanjing No. 9 High School and Huipu Middle School had won their previous four matches. Before the final match began, both teams had already secured their advancement to the next round, making the outcome of the game less important.
However, once the match started, Huipu Middle School displayed their strongest performance, appearing determined to win the first place in the group...
"Zheng Wu, are you crazy? Playing this fiercely in the group stage? Is it necessary?"
On Nanjing No. 9 High School's side, Hu Weidong had played with an aggravated injury during last year's Eastern Finals to compete for the divisional championship against Huipu Middle School. Although he led the team to win the Eastern Finals championship, he was unable to perform at his best in the national finals, and was eliminated in the group stage... In contrast, Huipu Middle School, who finished second, played steadily in the national finals, successfully advanced from the group stage, and reached the top four.
This year's Eastern Finals, Hu Weidong decided to learn from last year's lesson, play conservatively, and minimize the risk of injury, in order to showcase his prowess on the national finals stage...
As a result, Huipu Middle School seemed possessed, exerting themselves in the group stage, which was completely out of character for them.
Zheng Wu did not directly answer Hu Weidong's question but kindly reminded him, "You'd better bring your A-game to this match. Don't blame me if you lose..."
"You're insane! Going all out in the group stage... I'm not going to fight you on this..."
Hu Weidong refused to engage in a fierce battle with Huipu Middle School in the group stage. He didn't want to increase his risk of injury...
Zheng Wu hesitated, wanting to say more, but ultimately chose to prioritize his own team's interests and did not inform Hu Weidong about the troublesome nature of Zhuji Middle School.
The final group match in Group B concluded. Huipu Middle School, despite having already secured their advancement, fought with all their might and defeated Nanjing No. 9 High School, taking the top spot in the group and thus avoiding a direct confrontation with Zhuji Middle School.
Ultimately, Huipu Middle School and Nanjing No. 9 High School, together, advanced from Group B to the semifinals.
Thus, the group stage of this year's Eastern Finals was entirely completed. The Zhejiang region emerged as the biggest winner. Both participating teams advanced to the semifinals, occupying half the spots. Moreover, both teams advanced with the top ranking in their respective groups, theoretically even having the possibility of jointly advancing to the national finals. However, such a scenario was unprecedented in past Eastern Finals.
Now, all attention was focused on these four teams.
Huipu Middle School was the highest-ranked team in last year's national competition. Could they continue their glorious journey and withstand the challenge from this year's Nanmo Middle School?
Nanjing No. 9 High School was the champion of last year's Eastern Finals, but Zhuji Middle School had a record of defeating Huipu Middle School in the Zhejiang regional qualifiers. And Huipu Middle School had defeated Nanjing No. 9 High School in their last match... Therefore, although most people believed that Nanjing No. 9 High School's overall strength was superior to Zhuji Middle School's, no one dared to confidently claim that Nanjing No. 9 High School could definitively defeat Zhuji Middle School...
At least, Gong Xiaobin of Weifang No. 1 High School firmly believed that Zhuji Middle School was still playing coy, and that Hu's Nanjing No. 9 High School was very likely to stumble this year...
The last day of the Eastern Finals matches was held in Arena A. The other 10 eliminated teams, not a single one had left, all sat neatly in the stands, wanting to see who would be the ultimate king of this year's Eastern Finals.
The first to compete were Nanmo Middle School, second in Group A, challenging Huipu Middle School, first in Group B.
Before this match began, He Ximeng wanted to have Sanye find the old coach and remind him about Nanmo Middle School's true strength and Zhuji Middle School's experience in defeating Nanmo Middle School, to prevent the old coach from losing due to overconfidence.
However, after Sanye went, he learned that the old coach was unwell and had not accompanied the team on this Eastern Finals trip.
Sanye conveyed He Ximeng's advice to the assistant coach in charge of leading Huipu Middle School this time. However, the assistant coach's response was perfunctory and did not attach importance to the counsel provided by Zhuji Middle School.
Huipu Middle School had indirectly learned that this year's Nanmo Middle School was indeed different from last year's. With the addition of Yao Ming, who was 2.20 meters tall, Nanmo Middle School's strength had significantly improved. However, the outcome of Nanmo Middle School's loss to Zhuji Middle School made Huipu Middle School complacent.
Huipu Middle School believed that their team's strength was comparable to Zhuji Middle School's. Since Zhuji Middle School could defeat Nanmo Middle School, then theoretically, Huipu Middle School could also defeat Nanmo Middle School. This was because, according to the intelligence gathered, the tactic Zhuji Middle School used to defeat Nanmo Middle School was fast counter-attacks, which Huipu Middle School excelled at.
Little did they know, the fast counter-attack tactic was only the first condition for Zhuji Middle School to defeat Nanmo Middle School.
The second condition was Yan Hui and Feng Chen enduring Yao Ming in the paint at all costs.
The third condition was He Ximeng containing Liu Wei on the guard line, paralyzing the opponent's organizational hub.
Only when these three conditions were organically unified did Zhuji Middle School manage to defeat Nanmo Middle School...
Of course, there was also a hidden factor: Zhuji Middle School was no longer the Zhuji Middle School of a month ago...
Huipu Middle School using the Zhuji Middle School from a month ago as a benchmark to measure Nanmo Middle School's strength was unreliable.
However, He Ximeng had already conveyed the necessary reminders to Huipu Middle School's coaching staff through Sanye. If they themselves did not take it seriously, then Zhuji Middle School could do nothing more.