Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

The players went back to their respective benches, with the Daxue Dolphins appearing to be frustrated. Meanwhile, the Shizi Dogs excitedly spoke to each other as they drank some water and wiped their sweat.

"Did you see that, Lina?" Zeren asked, bouncing excitedly as he flexed all of the points he scored.

"I scored six points in total. Six!" he boasted. "Yuze managed to get eight in, so that means that I'm almost as good as Yuze."

Yuze shook his head as he heard the first-year students' ambitious statement.

Lina, also finding Zeren's activity quite impressive, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," she said. "You did a great job."

Zeren's eyes widened, and he froze on the spot, his heart feeling like it was beating a hundred miles per hour. Then, he looked at Jinping, who could care less about what was happening.

"I did a great job," he absent-mindedly muttered.

Meanwhile, Kai pursed his lips after Lina complimented Zeren.

He also wanted to hear that he did a great job!

Kai glanced at the timer and saw that there were still two minutes left in the first quarter. Then, he slumped and leaned against the wall, already wanting to play.

Meanwhile, there seemed to be a heated conversation going on at the Dolphins' bench.

"What happened?" Coach P asked.

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Jade breathed heavily as he gulped his sports drink, feeling exhausted despite being one of the three members who guarded Yuze.

"Yuze has improved a lot," Shanlong said. "He can even surpass three guards."

"We are limiting his movement, though," Jade chimed. "So, he's not able to play to his fullest capacity. However, with three people guarding him, we are creating a lot of openings for the other players."

"I see," Coach P said. "It seemed like my strategy failed this time then."

Runchu nodded in agreement. "Their players aren't the same as before. Those that have graduated are now gone and have been replaced with fresh new faces. Fortunately, it seems like Jet and Kun are still the same. However, they do have better teamwork this time around."

Coach P nodded once again. Then, he turned to their team captain, Chuyi, who appeared more relaxed than he thought.

"You already know what to do," Coach P said.

Chuyi nodded with a smirk. He knew one information that not a lot of people were aware of—and he was going to exploit that fact to his advantage.

"Got it," he said. "Let me handle Yuze."

"Claim a player of your own. We're going with a man-on-man defense technique," he instructed the team.

Back to the Shizi High's bench, Lina was discussing how they would be able to maintain their lead until the end of the first quarter.

"Do you think they're going with the same strategy?" Kun asked.

"Well, knowing the Daxue Dolphins, they'll continue to do the same strategy to suppress Yuze. He is the reason why we almost beat them last year," Jet responded.

Lina nodded, although unsure of the answer.

However, Kai's sudden interruption made her even more confused.

"I don't think so," Kai said, observing the Dolphins' expressions.

Jet frowned in confusion as he turned to Kai. "What do you mean? They're going to implement a different strategy this time?"

Kai nodded. He had been silently observing their team since the start of the game, and as brainless as they may seem, it also appeared that their coach and their team captain had a lot of experience with basketball.

"Why would they call a time-out in the first place then?" Kai asked.

The team turned silent as Kai continued analyzing the situation.

"I bet they came here with the mindset that they were definitely going to win. So, they must have strategized to suppress the person whom they think is the sole threat to the team—which is Yuze."

"However," he continued. "Now that they see that Yuze's not the only source of the score within the team, they're most likely going to employ another strategy."

Jet pursed his lips, still not convinced.

"Every time we played against the Dolphins, they always placed at least two people against Yuze. This is the first time they've used three people, so they might go back to their previous strategies."

Kai tilted his head to the side. "I don't think it's that, though," he muttered.

"I think they're going with a man-to-man defense," he said, making the team silent with speculation.

"That's a huge assumption," Jet said. "If that happens, then Yuze's going to be open. None of their players have the ability to stop Yuze."

"Yeah," Kai said. "But they have the ability to stop the other players of this team."

Jet shook his head before turning to Lina.

"I think we should stick to what we were doing a while ago. We're leading by four points for a reason. That must mean that we're doing something right," he said.

Kai pursed his lips since he couldn't argue any further. He doesn't know the Dolphins well enough to assume that everything he said was right.

Lina alternately looked at Jet and Kai before nodding.

"Alright," she sighed. "Let's go with the usual strategy. Make sure that you guys capitalize on Zeren's shooting skills. Jinping, try to get more rebounds. Yuze will be the distractor, while Jet and Kun will lead the plays."

The starting players nodded. Then, the referee blew the whistle, signifying the end of the time-out.

The players took their positions, with Zeren possessing the ball before passing it inbound to Jet. A while ago, Jet wasn't guarded by anyone, so he was confident he was going to get the pass.

However, his eyebrows raised in surprise when Runchu emerged in front of him and dribbled the ball toward their court.

The players on the bench watched the game intently. Yuze frowned when he saw the players of the Daxue Dolphins assuming different positions compared to their previous strategy.

Now, only one person stood before Yuze—Chuyi, who had a smug smirk painted across his lips.

Runchu was able to make the shot as he surpassed Jet. Then, he made his way to the other side of the court, ready to defend his assigned player.

19-17.

Lina gasped and watched the scene before her with wide eyes.

"What's this?" she asked, noticing their positions.

Then, she glanced at Kai from behind her back, realizing that what he said was right.

"It's man-to-man," she whispered.