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We finally managed to shake off those fans and entered the gym. "You two really have a way of attracting attention, it's a bit enviable!" Ouyang nudged me with his shoulder. Just then, we saw the students from City No. 2 Middle School warming up in the gym. The students from City No. 2 rushed in as well. I walked up to Chu Yuetao and asked, "Yuetao, don't the students at your school worry about being late for class?" Chu Yuetao smiled and said, "You have no idea how crazy our school's fans are. They would skip class just to watch this game, so the teachers have no choice but to free up a class period for them to watch the match and make it up during self-study time."
"Ah?..." I was completely stunned. No wonder City No. 2 Middle School made it to the top eight in the City High League for the first time this year; this attitude towards basketball and the atmosphere among the students played a huge role. With such a broad base of support, how could they not achieve good results? We entered the Locker Room, and Teacher Qiu clapped his hands: "Everyone, we need to continue competing fiercely against our opponents. If we win this match, we'll make it to the semifinals. We've already beaten them once; let's go for it!" We felt a bit of pressure coming into this match, but considering that we were leading our opponents by one win, even if we lost by three points or less, we would still advance. So we just needed to play freely!
After a while, we came out. After a brief warm-up and familiarization with the court, our match officially began. Our starting lineup remained me, Ouyang, A Fei, Tu Lei, and Li Kanglin. Ouyang and Jia Yu jumped for the tip-off at center court. When the whistle blew, both jumped simultaneously; Jia Yu tapped the ball to Chu Yuetao, who started our first offensive play. After running to the front court, he suddenly made a long-range three-pointer from beyond the arc—what an impact! After we inbounded the ball, I dribbled slowly toward the front court when Chu Yuetao dashed over and snatched the ball from my hands. By the time I reacted and chased after him, he passed to Hu Yue for a slam dunk. "City No. 2 is awesome! Chu Yuetao MVP!" The crowd erupted in cheers. I stood there feeling quite unbalanced—hmpf! We had beaten him last year in the Street Basketball Championship; he was nothing but a defeated opponent to me! My record against him was glorious: two wins with no losses. And now just because he made one assist they were calling him MVP? We'll see about that!
After we inbounded again, I slowly brought the ball past half court and made a long pass to A Fei for a mid-range shot from the baseline that went in. The opposing team continued their fast break after inbounding; I felt like I was back at Yulin High School's gym again as we both launched into fast breaks with reckless abandon. Both teams called very few timeouts; our two young coaches had one simple idea: let us play freely. However, since we were technically the away team, it felt somewhat uncomfortable. At the end of the first quarter, we were trailing 0-4.
"Role reversal; today City No. 2 has become what we used to be," Teacher Qiu said after we came off the court. "Team members, don’t rush or panic; whatever tactics they use against us, we'll counter with our own!" Teacher Qiu's words were full of vigor. "In the second quarter, Liu Xiao will replace Jie, Zhi Kai will replace Ouyang, Zhang Jun will replace A Fei, and Wei Wei will replace Tu Lei; Kang Lin will stay on for now..." He made four substitutions all at once. After they got on the court, I curiously asked Teacher Qiu why he was substituting our main players when we were behind. Teacher Qiu smiled without answering; I sat down feeling particularly puzzled. What was Teacher Qiu trying to do? If we let them widen their lead in the first half, we'd be at a disadvantage in the second half!
The second quarter began with City No. 2 having possession of the ball again. After they inbounded it, Chu Yuetao quickly ran toward Liu Xiao for a one-on-one matchup. Liu Xiao was full of energy and tried hard to block Chu Yuetao's drive with his body. Suddenly, Chu Yuetao spun around using a crossover step to shake off Liu Xiao and charged toward the basket for a layup after taking three steps—Wei Wei rushed up trying to block him but ended up being scored on by Chu Yuetao's scoop shot from under his arm while almost committing a foul himself.
I was getting anxious on the sidelines as I scratched my head in frustration when we inbounded again; Liu Xiao also initiated a fast break and jumped from just inside the free-throw line for a shot but got blocked cleanly by Pei Xinliang. Jia Yu caught the rebound and passed it to Chu Yuetao who sprinted downcourt and made an alley-oop pass to Land Route who slammed it home—80! Just over a minute into the second quarter and we'd already lost four points consecutively! The three musketeers couldn't sit still anymore; Ouyang stood up and said to Teacher Qiu: "Coach, let us go in! Otherwise, if they keep widening their lead it'll be hard for us to catch up!"
Teacher Qiu frowned slightly: "I originally wanted you guys to rest while Liu Xiao and his crew wore down City No. 2's trident strategy; it seems I've substituted too early—get ready to go back in!" Teacher Qiu signaled for a timeout with the referee as we three musketeers stepped back onto the court after our timeout ended. After inbounding again, I organized our offense while facing Chu Yuetao—I used my signature move "Lingbo Microstep" to get past him and made a long-range layup that went in! After City No. 2 inbounded again, Chu Yuetao rushed forward using crossovers against me while I defended with back crossovers until he suddenly executed a beautiful turnaround jumper—A Fei leaped up two steps for a successful block! After catching the ball, I sprinted downcourt and passed it directly to Ouyang at the top of the arc; Ouyang took control of it and made an immediate jump shot that went in! A Fei and I walked over to high-five Ouyang in celebration—our Jade Unicorn Three Swordsmen combination is unbeatable!
58! The gap was instantly narrowed down to just three points! Our performance had an immediate effect after entering—the score was now 50-50 against City No. 2! This forced their young coach to call a timeout as we stepped off the court where Teacher Qiu personally handed us towels and water while our morale soared as we happily drank water together. "Jie, Ouyang and A Fei—you three worked well together; keep it up! Tu Lei will replace Wei Wei for now; Wei Wei can take a break while Kang Lin rests too—Zhang Jun will team up with Tu Lei inside..." We had to show our dominance in this game!
After some quick adjustments during timeout ended, we stepped back onto the court where City No. 2 also made personnel changes—Hu Yue was substituted out for another player wearing a headband who looked quite muscular at about 1 meter 88 tall; his name seemed to be Wei Bingxin. It was my first time seeing him play; after he inbounded it Chu Yuetao started organizing their offense again—he brought it close to the paint where Wei Bingxin cut underneath for an easy basket attempt but Tu Lei anticipated his move and moved over to defend him well enough that when Wei Bingxin jumped up for his shot he got blocked hard by Tu Chuanfeng who was lurking nearby sending it out of bounds! After landing back on his feet Wei Bingxin glanced back at Tu Lei before running back along the sideline readying himself for another inbound... Tu Chuanfeng's explosiveness really is something else!
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