Chapter Twenty-Three: A Man's Decision

The game between Antlers and Jaguar has come to the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, and the two sides have come and gone, especially Amu, showing strong attacking power, but the tenacious Jaguar team still clung to the score, and 12 seconds before the end of the game, relying on Mitsui's 3-pointer to tie the score again.

"97 draws! Antlers asks for a timeout!"

Just when even the audience wondered how Sakuragi passed the ball, the slow motion on the big screen made everyone stupid.

After Sakuragi jumped to the highest point, he did not fall, but stopped in the air for more than a second as if he was weightless, and it was this second or so that he saw Mitsui in the distance, and Sakuragi's athletic talent was unimaginable.

Timeout back, last attack, antlers serve!

The audience stood up to create an impact for the antlers, and Nobunaga was pressing the time after winning the ball, who would be the last attack!

There are still six seconds left, Nobunaga accelerates!Use Amu's block to kill the past!!It didn't pass to Amu, and the mirror killed it directly!!Akagi is still entangled with Amu, and the basket is empty!

"Goodbye, Jaguar!" Nobunaga tossed the ball.

"I was the first to say no!" Sakuragi struck out from the flank again, but it was a throw, and Sakuragi skewered up like a rocket, and his right hand reached hard.

"Da!" was a very small sound, and Sakuragi's fingertips seemed to touch the ball.

Sakuragi did touch the ball, which was no longer rising and was about to fall.

Sakuragi, who was preparing to land in the air, seemed to feel that something was wrong, and glanced at the ground, Nobunaga was lying there!! Nobunaga's eyes widened, and he looked at Sakuragi in fear. If it lands like this, it will directly step on Nobunaga's body, and with the impact of Sakuragi, it will fall and step on people, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

There was not much time left for Sakuragi to think, Sakuragi subconsciously grabbed the basket with his left hand, and after holding the inertia of the descent hard, he also grabbed the basket with his right hand. The body finally hung in the air.

"Bell!" the falling basketball smashed on the basket, but it smashed Sakuragi in a daze.

Seeing this, the referee immediately stopped the game, because according to the rules, when the basketball is still on the basket, the arm is not allowed to pull the basket, and if it is pulled, it should be counted as an interference ball, and the penalty goal is valid.

Everyone on the field stayed there, and the two sides who had fought for each other a few seconds ago were completely disrupted by what was happening in front of them.

Nobunaga was pulled up by his teammates, and Sakuragi also got off the frame, and the two didn't say anything and silently returned to their respective benches.

The benches on both sides are also quiet, because both sides know what Sakuragi's series of practices will bring.

The referee team watched the video repeatedly, and this goal decided the victory tonight.

The referees seemed to be unanimous.

"Defender No. 6, interfere with the ball, two points are effective!"

These eleven words hurt Sakuragi's heart. Sakuragi sat weakly on the bench again.

The antlers weren't cheering at the result, they knew how it came about, and the atmosphere in the arena was quite strange, some of the spectators shook their heads, some of the spectators looked at the scoreboard, and some of the spectators had already left.

In the end, the referee still gave Jaguar 0.9 seconds, but everyone's thoughts should have stopped not being in the game.

Rukawa Kaede reluctantly made a shot, in exchange for the third three non-sticks of the game, and also in exchange for Jaguar's first defeat of the season.

The final score was fixed at 99:97, with Antlers winning.

"Sakuragi, don't do this, it's just a regular season, it's okay to lose!" Seeing Sakuragi sitting on the chair and looking a little crying, Akagi comforted.

"Gorilla! I'm sorry everyone,,,," Sakuragi did begin to feel guilty.

"You didn't do anything wrong, it's just a little bit of bad luck, remember! luck is also part of the team's strength, stand up!" Akagi continued to encourage Sakuragi.

"Sakuragi! you're my pride!"

Haruko came to the venue and comforted Sakuragi.

"Haruko,,, I ,,," Although Haruko said such words, Sakuragi was still a little depressed.

"Sakuragi, if you hadn't chosen to protect Nobunaga at the time, then I was going to ignore you again, but this is you, Sakuragi, you didn't let me down!!" Haruko was still comforting Sakuragi.

"Really, Haruko!?" Sakuragi finally stood up.

"Of course, Sakuragi, you performed so well tonight, completely beyond my expectations~!" Haruko's words finally made Sakuragi recover.

"Thank you ,,, just now!" Nobunaga walked over.

"Little monkey, it's you who broke the genius debut of the day! It's so hateful to you!" Judging from the tone, Sakuragi should have eased up a lot.

"I won this time, and I look forward to fighting you next time!" Nobunaga's tone changed a lot.

"Hmph, I'll never give you another chance when the time comes!" Sakuragi sucked louder and louder.

"Okay, then I'm looking forward to it!" Nobunaga said and turned to leave. ”

Sakuragi and the others also gradually left the arena and returned to the locker room.

In the end, Jaguar lost the focus battle with Sakuragi protecting Nobunaga and causing interference with the ball, and the result may be guessed by many people, but who did not expect that it would be such a process.

In terms of statistics after the whole game, Rukawa Kaede is still outstanding, playing 38 minutes, cutting 32 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks of amazing statistics. Sakuragi scored five points in a row in the opening game and finally scored 12 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks, and won a double-double in the first game of his career!

"Bang bang!"

"Everyone," Sakuragi was the last to walk into the locker room, and as soon as he entered the room, all the players and coaches and even Rukawa Kaede applauded Sakuragi!

"Sakuragi, look up, you're a man, tonight, you've made the decision a man should make!" Oki stepped forward and hugged Sakuragi.

"Instructor ,,,," Sakuragi hugged Oki like a child.

"Okay, Sakuragi, including all the players present, don't think about what has happened, our new season has just begun, we still have a long way to go, it's a good thing to lose, let's sum up well and play the next game well, your performance today is very good, it's really beyond my imagination!" Oki also encouraged the whole team by the way, after such a fierce battle, although the game was lost, Daki still wants to encourage these young players, because Oki also knows that with tonight's performance, the Jaguar team will definitely make a difference this season.

"The coach is right, our young team, what we need is such a tough battle, even if we lose, it doesn't matter, finding problems is the most important thing, if we show this state every night, this year, oh no, the future is really hopeful!" Akagi also sighed in his heart.

Basketball games are like this, there is no draw in the competition is destined to make the game every second counts, however, the core essence of sports is to show the spirit of hard work, the result is important, but, underneath the result, there is morality, no one can break this moral bottom line, otherwise it is not sports, it is war! Sakuragi did make a decision that a man should make, as Coach Ohki said.

There is no time left for Sakuragi to regret, because there are more opponents waiting to be challenged in front of him, and Jaguar's new season has really just begun.

"Mu Dui, I didn't expect your old teammates to be really good, you almost forced the antlers into overtime, how about it, do you miss those guys!" A handsome-looking, brown-haired, over-eyed boy asked about the old acquaintance of the current Jaguar players, the glasses brother - Mu Dui Gongyan.

"That's for sure, I've only called Akagi a few times before, and I really miss everyone, Sakuragi shouldn't know I'm here!"

"Well, look at the schedule, it's approaching!" The big-eyed boy glanced at the schedule, and the three words of Jaguar Team came into view.