The Jaguar team's first game after the All-Star break, and also the first game after Rukawa Kaede's return, was a big victory over the Lavender team away from home.

To put it bluntly, Rukawa Kaede's physical confrontation ability is already at the top of the JBA league, and even if he wins the NBA, Rukawa Kaede is enough to deal with it.

At the end of the regular season, the Jaguar team was unable to go any further, but still held on to the fifth place. finally reached the playoffs and achieved the goal of "protecting six and fighting for four".

After all the games of the regular season, the teams that have advanced to the playoffs and the specific matchups have also been released.

There are eight teams participating in the restructured playoffs, and the first round is 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, still a best-of-five system, with a 2-2-1 format. The teams at the top of the table have home advantage.

So, the first round of this year's playoffs is: Kagoshima Antlers (1) - Tokyo Jaws (8), Sendai Rover (2) - Hokkaido Lavender (7), Fukuyama Flying Wave (3) - Osaka Iron Horse (6), Nagoya Ninja (4) - Kobe Jaguar (5).

The playoffs are about to kick off, and Sakuragi and Kaede Rukawa and others are about to make their playoff debut!!

"The Jaguar team has maintained a good combat effectiveness since the reimbursement of Akagi's injury season, and with the return of Rukawa Kaede, the Jaguar team also has a certain combat effectiveness, but the Jaguar team's inside line is still their biggest weakness, and only one Sakuragi is far from enough!!"

The opponent of the first round of the Jaguar playoffs, the head coach of the Nagoya Ninja team~~ The old man Minamimori, analyzing the situation of the Jaguar team, it is not difficult to hear from the old man's words that he is still quite sure about this round of the series!!

The old man's self-confidence is well-founded, the ninja team can play the fourth place, not only with shooters like Takeuchi Rihei, Ishii Nobukaze, and Hirano Sorashima, but compared with the Jaguar team, the ninja team also has a more obvious advantage on the inside. Also, the Ninja have more playoff experience that the Jaguar rookies don't have.

If you only rely on one Sakuragi Hanamichi, it is indeed difficult to fight against the combination of the opponent's Takano Thunder and foreign aid Ojed.

But the game is played, not spoken, and this round of the series will become the most intense matchup in the first round.

Because it was a 2-2-1 format, the two sides fought fiercely in Nagoya first.

In the first game, the Jaguar team still let Mitsui retreat to the sixth man position to replenish the firepower of the bench, while there was no change on the ninja side.

"The playoffs are coming!!Are you ready??!!

"Oh~~~!!!"

The DJ at the home of the ninja team mobilized the audience, and the advantages and disadvantages of the home and away games in the playoffs were even more obvious, because the main colors of the ninja team were white and orange, so the entire audience wore orange T-shirts distributed by the stadium, and the home of the entire ninja team became a sea of orange, not to mention playing, even standing in the middle of the court felt that it became quite difficult to breathe, and an inexplicable sense of oppression made people feel very uncomfortable.

And these are unique to the playoffs, and I don't know if Sakuragi and others, who have never experienced such a game, will be able to adapt.

"It's like a concert, really, and when you lose, you're still not so excited. ”

Sakuragi sat on the sidelines and said disdainfully.

Sakuragi may not have experienced the playoffs, but he should have seen it!!

The noisy home field, the tension between the two sides, the smell of gunpowder in the air, this is another stage, this is the playoffs.

After the start of the first game between the two sides, the Jaguar team was a little too "calm", in fact, it can be said that it was too conservative, and they were always hesitating after some offensive opportunities, always wanting to be able to create an offensive state without defense under the basket, which was obviously impossible in the playoffs, so the Jaguar team never played its own rhythm, and 24-second violations frequently appeared.

On the other hand, the ninja team is playing at its own pace, both inside and outside, and it is obvious that compared to the Jaguar team, the ninja team is the team with more playoff experience, and Sakuragi at this point, Takano Thunder is also completely suppressed, the two have the same height, the same weight, the same physical fitness, maybe Sakuragi is better.

But Takano's experience is something Sakuragi doesn't have, and every time Sakuragi faces Takano, he will think of the ban storm in his rookie season, and the reason is caused by Takano's provocation, so when facing Takano, you may be able to say that Sakuragi is mentally unbalanced most of the time!!

At 118:96, the Jaguar team lost to the ninja team by 22 points in the first game of the playoffs, and only Rukawa Kaede scored 26 points in his playoff debut, and the performance was normal, although Sakuragi grabbed 16 rebounds, but only a pitiful 8 points, such a playoff debut can hardly be called a passing grade!

This kind of tuition is a bit extravagant.

The same is true in the second game, although the Jaguar team has improved somewhat, but the state of the ninja team is too strong, and the firepower on the outside continues, which is to beat the Jaguar team to lose their fighting spirit.

At 109:97, the Jaguar team lost again, falling behind 0:2, and was already standing on the edge of the cliff.

The next step is to return to the pump center, can the Jaguar team turn the tide!!

"Come on!!Raise your hands and cheer for our team, you are the best!!"

The DJ at the pump center encouraged the fans to cheer up, although it was already 0:2 behind, but after all, this was the Jaguar team's second playoff after many years, and the atmosphere naturally did not need to worry.

It's just that the fans are not wearing uniform T-shirts, which may have something to do with the fact that the main colors of the Jaguar team are white and dark yellow!

"Winning the game, that's the only thing we have to do tonight!!We have no way back, don't leave yourself with regrets!!"

Coach Oki stimulated the players with words before coming out on the field.

"3, 2, 1, Jaguar!!"

Everyone didn't say much, but there was a thick murderous aura in their eyes, and even Simmons, who rarely high-fived and cheered, joined in. This should be the state of affairs.

“Duang！！！”

"Yay!!"

Sure enough, after the opening, the Jaguar team's offense was wide open, and after Miyagi and Sakuragi's blocking, Sakuragi received Miyagi's pass and directly completed a two-handed heavy dunk against Ojed!!

Back at home, the Jaguar team felt like a different team.

Back the ninja team's attack was also launched from Ishii and Takano's blocking, but compared to before, everyone in the Jaguar team seemed to change their guard faster, and the ninja team didn't find any good opportunities, and Takano distributed the ball again to Hirano Sorashima on the outside.

Hirano faced Simmons and watched the posture of his teammates, this ball Hirano must single!!

For Hirano, a 3D player who defends + three-pointers, it is indeed too difficult to play Simmons alone, but Hirano doesn't seem to be afraid, dribbling with his right hand to lower the center of gravity, trying to get rid of Simmons, all this motivation may come from 2:0!!

When Hirano bursts into the hinterland, he is caught by Sakuragi and Simmons.

"Oops!!"

Sakuragi may have been too excited and was shaken by Hirano's feints, Simmons was also a little deceived, but the jump was not high, fortunately Sakuragi's control was good, and he didn't press on Hirano's body, and Hirano was ready to take advantage of the time difference to make a layup.

"Smack!!

Hirano thought that he could avoid the blockade of the two and make a layup with peace of mind, but he only dodged Sakuragi's block, and his focused Simmons fanned Hirano's layup with one hand!!

"Wow!!"

The timer went off as the ball flew off the pitch and the Jaguar team managed to defend it.

"Even Simmons, who is usually very sloppy in defense, has become serious, and the Jaguar team is really not hopeless!!"

“nice.job！！“

Sakuragi also encouraged Simmons, and the two high-fived each other.

The Jaguar team took advantage of the home advantage to play a good start, perhaps, only by letting go of unnecessary worries and devoting themselves to the game will they make themselves competitive!!