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墨書 Inktalez
On the second morning, we woke up early. For some reason, before a big match, we always slept late and woke up early, which led to Shuai Dong and the others complaining again. After a while, the supervisor uncle arrived, "Kids, are you ready?" We nodded. "Let's go!" With a command from the supervisor, the five of us set off in high spirits. On the way, the supervisor informed us that today's opening match was against the Taiyuan champions, Wuzun Team. I saw A Fei take out his Eagle necklace again and give it a kiss, hoping that Eagle would bless us with victory.
When we arrived at Kuda Square, the members of Wuzun Team were already practicing. They had four players and one substitute, so it seemed like today was not going to be an easy match. "Wuzun Team has four players! Aren't we at a disadvantage?" Shuai Dong exclaimed upon seeing them. Jiang Lingfeng replied, "According to the rules, each team is allowed four players. As for being at a disadvantage... it shouldn't be too bad; after all, the entire match is only ten minutes long, so fatigue shouldn't be an issue." A Fei nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and the person who gets substituted can't come back on." Pang Hao also understood and nodded, "Oh, so they only have one substitution opportunity for the whole game. If they just got used to playing together and then switch someone out, isn't that a good thing for us?" Pang Hao's comment made us all laugh, but he did have a point.
I carefully observed the members of Wuzun Team. The four players were of similar height; the tallest player number 7 was about five or six centimeters taller than the shortest player number 11. I estimated him to be around 1.88 meters tall. The other two were about 1.85 meters tall. Sigh! It seemed we were at a height disadvantage again this time; we would have to fully utilize our agility.
Both teams stepped onto the court, and as per tradition, the referee took out a coin and tossed it high into the air... it was heads; Wuzun Team got possession. This was our first time wearing our team's exclusive jerseys for a match. The numbers on our chests were 1 (Jiang Lingfeng), 2 (A Fei), and 5 (me). I originally wanted number 2 but was beaten to it by A Fei, so I had no choice but to pick another number.
After Wuzun Team initiated play, their Point Guard attacked with the ball while Jiang Lingfeng defended against him. The Wuzun Team Point Guard passed the ball to their Center. A Fei rushed in to steal the ball and passed it directly to me. I took my familiar mid-range shot and scored! We took the lead first; clearly, Wuzun Team was not pleased with this start. Their Center shook his head as he went off to inbound the ball. The Point Guard received it and quickly moved from left wing to right wing before suddenly making a stylish turnaround jump shot that hit the backboard and went in! It seemed that Wuzun Team had a strong sense of timing and perception when it came to shooting.
After we inbounded the ball, Jiang Lingfeng controlled it and made a bounce pass to A Fei. A Fei caught it under the basket and executed a hook shot that swished through the net. Throughout this opening phase, both teams kept scoring evenly! After their inbound play, their Point Guard passed directly to their Center. The Center received it and dunked over A Fei, almost knocking him down with his knee hitting A Fei's abdomen due to his immense force. When we prepared to inbound from beyond the three-point line, Jiang Lingfeng quietly said, "Combine inside and outside." We nodded in agreement as he went to inbound the ball.
I received it back from Jiang Lingfeng, who maneuvered near the corner three-point area. Based on our long-standing chemistry, I knew he intended to shoot a three-pointer. I dashed over to set a screen and blocked their Point Guard; sure enough, Jiang Lingfeng jumped up for his shot and scored! Remarkably, neither team had missed any shots since the beginning!
After their inbound play, they slowed down their pace; their Point Guard dribbled outside the three-point line while their forward actively moved without the ball. I stayed close behind him as much as possible to prevent him from breaking free from my defense. Suddenly, their Point Guard shot from beyond the arc at the top of the key; under Jiang Lingfeng's interference, his shot veered off course. A Fei ran over to catch it as it fell and then made a long pass to me. After receiving it, I charged towards the basket for a strong drive; their forward stood in my way. I executed my version of "Lingbo Microstep," which I learned from watching Fantasy Team's forward, evading my defender before making a floating shot that went in! The audience erupted into scattered applause; both Shuai Dong and Pang Hao stood up clapping enthusiastically. Since there was no match for Beijing P today, there were slightly fewer spectators than yesterday—around two hundred people—most of whom were students enjoying their summer vacation.
The forward from Wuzun Team clenched his fists with furrowed brows as their Center returned to sit on the bench and patted him on the shoulder in encouragement not to get discouraged. It seemed that this forward matched up against me was their youngest player on the team. At this moment in time, there were five minutes and forty-two seconds left in the game with a score of 16-13; we were leading by three points. Just as we were about to resume play, one of their substitutes on the bench signaled for a substitution with the referee. Suddenly realizing: so that substitute player was actually the captain of Wuzun Team! This was my first time hearing that captains could sit on the bench instead of starting.
The captain came in replacing my defending forward; he walked onto the court wearing jersey number 96 while his teammate walked off looking dejectedly downwards. When they exchanged high-fives during their handoff, I noticed that he whispered something into his teammate's ear before giving him a pat on his shoulder—probably comforting him or something similar. Once he entered play, he began by inbounding; after receiving it back from his Point Guard at free-throw line position, he charged straight towards the basket without hesitation while I couldn't react fast enough—he dunked powerfully! So substitutes aren't necessarily role players after all! Alright then; today I'm going to learn firsthand what this so-called captain is all about!
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