"So cool! It's Fujima, just as expected! That pass, so sharp!"
From the stands, Zhang Tian'ai couldn't help but shake her brother's arm, exclaiming loudly, which gave Zhang Zhenpeng a bit of a headache.
However, even Zhang Zhenpeng, who had studied abroad, had to admit that He Ximeng's offensive and defensive organization in these past few plays was brilliant! He perfectly played to his team's strengths, curbed the opponent's performance, and simultaneously motivated his teammates' offensive enthusiasm... As an organizer, He Ximeng had initially earned Zhang Zhenpeng's approval... But this level was not enough to change his mind about returning to Pu, unless...
After the timeout, Caota Middle School intensified their team play, with players constantly moving. Chen Qiudao no longer held the ball, and the targeted defense from Zhuzhong began to decline in effectiveness... Amidst the chaos, Yu Chu started to replace Chen Qiudao as the offensive focal point for Caota Middle School.
Yu Chu first received the ball inside the paint, and before Zhuzhong's double-team could close in, he executed a post-up move against Yan Hui, turning and sinking a jump shot!
Immediately after, Yu Chu grabbed the rebound from Chen Qiudao's missed three-pointer, faked out Yan Hui, and forced up a shot, hitting an offensive board for a second-chance basket.
Yu Chu helped Caota Middle School stop the bleeding and temporarily stabilize their footing.
However, Zhuzhong's He Ximeng was not idle either!
On the first possession, He Ximeng attempted an alley-oop with Yan Hui under the basket, but He Ximeng overestimated Yan Hui's initial burst of speed, and the ball sailed out of bounds... He Ximeng committed his first turnover of the game.
"My bad, my bad!" After the turnover, He Ximeng took responsibility. As the point guard, failing to anticipate a teammate's speed and vertical leap, and failing to deliver a precise pass tailored to them, was undoubtedly the point guard's fault...
On the second offensive play, He Ximeng tried the same tactic, intending to pass to Yan Hui again! This time, Yan Hui's speed kept up, but Yu Chu was prepared. He deliberately lagged half a step behind Yan Hui, pretending to reach for the ball before cutting it off midway...
He Ximeng smiled slightly; such a small trick couldn't fool his eyes.
Although Yan Hui had a good opportunity under the basket, Feng Chen, near the free-throw line, was simultaneously open!
As Caota Middle School's defense increasingly focused on Yan Hui and Tang Chenfeng, Feng Chen at power forward and Wang Xian at small forward began to find more opportunities.
He Ximeng certainly wouldn't miss this chance to motivate these two teammates!
"Playing the right way" was not just a coaching philosophy, but also a playing philosophy.
Basketball, as a team sport, valued individual ability, but the strength of the team was the true meaning and essence of the sport.
Even the mighty Jordan only began his dynasty on the road to championship glory after the Bulls perfected their roster, hired Phil Jackson as coach, and established the triangle offense. Before that, Jordan was merely a scoring champion and dunk champion, not a champion or an FMVP...
On this play, He Ximeng mimicked Paul's common deceptive pass, appearing to feed Yan Hui under the basket, but with a flick of his wrist, the ball changed direction, heading straight for Feng Chen near the free-throw line!
Feng Chen, unguarded, caught the ball and sank a jump shot for two points.
After assisting Feng Chen, He Ximeng also found an opportunity to assist Wang Xian on a three-pointer and Yan Hui on an uncontested two-handed dunk...
By halftime, under He Ximeng's leadership, Zhuji Middle School had successfully reversed the score to 36:34!
In this quarter, Zhuzhong had effectively outscored Caota Middle School 24:14! That's incredibly high offensive efficiency!
But for Caota Middle School, what was even more terrifying was that He Ximeng had dished out 7 assists in this quarter but scored zero points!
Was it He Ximeng's poor shooting touch, or did he not have opportunities to shoot?
Of course not! He Ximeng's shooting attempts in this quarter were zero, so there was no issue of shooting touch. While orchestrating the offense, He Ximeng had several opportunities for direct layups, but he voluntarily gave them up, showing no greed for points and passing the opportunities entirely to his teammates...
Giving up scoring opportunities when he could score himself? What kind of spirit was this?
He Ximeng's play was truly spectacular! The spectators in the stands were stunned.
"Could this number 4 just not know how to shoot?" Zhang Zhenpeng muttered to himself.
"Are you crazy? How could Fujima not know how to shoot?" Zhang Tian'ai rolled her eyes at Zhang Zhenpeng.
Zhang Zhenpeng was speechless: "Can you stop saying Fujima this and Fujima that... That's a manga, this is reality..."
"I like it, what's it to you?"
...
During halftime, Cui Tianci also raised the same question: why wasn't He Ximeng scoring himself?
After all, the former He Ximeng had been incredibly fierce in scoring against Chen Qiudao, essentially engaging in a scoring duel. Yet, after playing the entire second quarter today, he had racked up an impressive 7 assists but remained at zero points. This wasn't logical and didn't fit He Ximeng's playing style?!
Cui Tianci's question was also shared by all the players on Zhuzhong. He Ximeng was indeed a bit strange today.
His playing style had changed significantly, his desire to score was remarkably weak, and he was particularly fond of organizing... or more precisely, he was fond of teaching...