Chapter 522 It's Your Turn, Sakuragi!

Looking at Rukawa Kaede's determined eyes and listening to his calm tone, all the Sonics were stunned.

He is only the sixth man of the team, not the main starter, and he does not even have a tactical position in front of the five main players.

His performance in the Sonics this season is actually quite good, and he has been called the best sixth man by Seattle fans. Although he only played in the second half of today's game, he also made two three-pointers, and his three-point shooting rate was 66%. Although he could not defend Odom alone on the defensive end, Iguodala could not defend him either. He did not make any mistakes in his support and replacement, and even served as a pass transfer between Lin Dong and the team at a critical moment, allowing the Sonics to play the ball quite smoothly in the second half.

It can be said that compared to the sixth man and a substitute, this guy's performance is good enough. He perfectly filled the gap after Payton left the court and allowed the Sonics to maximize their combat power.

And more importantly, he still has a two-year minimum salary contract after being promoted from a lower-level team to the main team last year. With this season's performance as a foundation, as long as he stays stable, his value will definitely rise sharply next year.

When the team faced such a desperate moment, no one would count on him, and no one would put pressure on him, when Lin Dong had no better solution, when Sakuragi Hanamichi, Chandler, Iguodala and others were all playing poorly, and when the Lakers were so brave.

At this time, he only needed to quietly continue to do what the coach arranged for him, and he would be the winner no matter whether the team won or lost.

If the team won, people would only give praise to Lin Dong. After all, Rukawa Kaede was still a role player. At most, he would have one more championship ring that he had won by lying down, and his value would not increase much; and if the team lost, people would not blame him, but would only blame Lin Dong for not being strong enough, blame Iguodala for missing the key ball, blame Sakuragi Hanamichi for not being able to defend Kobe... But for Rukawa Kaede, they would say: Look, the sixth man actually played quite well, he did what he should do, what a pity.

The team's win or loss has the least impact on him.

But if he chooses to stand up at this time, it's okay if he makes the shot, but what if he doesn't? Then he will become the sinner of the Supersonics, and even the target of criticism from all the fans of the Supersonics!

If a superstar missed such a shot, people would say that he was in a bad state today; but if it was Rukawa Kaede who missed such a shot, people would only say: Hey! Look, that idiot thought he was the savior! That idiot didn't know how much he weighed! That idiot would ruin a team!

Such efforts and benefits are completely disproportionate...

If there were a hundred players in his current position, ninety-nine would definitely choose to be invisible.

But he chose the only "one".

Those present were no longer children, and everyone knew what the consequences of his choice would mean.

Sakuragi Hanamichi couldn't help but have a strange look in his eyes, while Iguodala and others were grateful and worried, and also had a little shame after luck.

Only Lin Dong...

He was going to say a few more words, but seeing the strangeness in Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes, Lin Dong shut up.

He just smiled at Rukawa: "Go!"

The ball belongs to the Sonics.

Iguodala threw the ball from the baseline, and the moment Lin Dong received the ball, Kobe, Nash and Doug Christie immediately rushed to the center line.

It was already three-on-one. There was actually not much difference between going to the frontcourt and the center line. If all three people really pressed to the frontcourt, then the back would be like giving the opponent a four-on-two defense. When defending near the center line, after Lin Dong passed the ball, they could also choose to fill in the outside line.

Facing the three-man double team, Lin Dong did not choose to find an opportunity to force a breakthrough. In fact, before the opponent's encirclement was fully formed, if he really wanted to burn his boats, there was still a little chance.

But it was unnecessary.

First of all, the probability of that was not high, and there was a possibility of mistakes. Second, even if there was such an opportunity, it had to be based on the opponent's relaxation of vigilance after continuous double-teaming and passing the ball.

And Rukawa and Iguodala in front had already been in position outside the three-point line.

Kobe Bryant knew that Lin Dong would not break through at this time, and while he was double-teaming him, he was also keeping an eye on the positions of other people on the court.

At this time, Iguodala was on the strong side of the Lakers' defense, and Rukawa was on the weak side. In addition, Iguodala had just missed a 3-pointer, so the intention of the pass seemed quite obvious.

Will it be passed to that sixth man?

"Odom!"

Kobe shouted, wanting to remind Odom to defend against Rukawa. Although the Lakers' tactic was to bet on the Sonics' inaccurate outside shots, if they could guess the target of the shot, they would still have to defend it if they could.

But before he could say it, Lin Dong made a fake strong breakthrough on the left to deceive Nash and Doug Christie's center of gravity, and his left hand had completed a back pass with the help of the illusion of a change of direction, and the ball flew straight into Rukawa's hands like lightning.

Fortunately, Odom in front of him also realized the same problem, and he and Kobe thought of the same thing. At this time, he immediately rushed towards Rukawa from the free throw area with his hands raised high, but Rukawa stood up without hesitation.

Pressure?

It would be a lie to say there was no pressure.

In the two years of hard training in the Supersonics, Rukawa was definitely not training to go home, and even less to make a fool of himself at a critical moment.

It's just that compared to other people in the Supersonics now, he knows more about giving up and how to regulate his emotional breakdown.

But compared to those stiff guys in the Supersonics who had just seen the darkness, I knew the darkness better, because before coming to the Supersonics, I had always lived in darkness and curses!

Ning, Shen, Jing, Yi... The four-character mantra given to him by the master in the Asama Shrine has been shining and supporting him in the darkness, and at this moment, it has been constantly purifying his anxiety and tension that is no less than Iguodala's half a point.

Zone!

The moment the ball was in hand, Rukawa Kaede's whole world became quiet.

He directly ignored Odom in front of him, and only the basket in front of him was left in his eyes, which turned into the light in his eyes that symbolized the future and dreams, becoming clear and shining!

Bend your knees, lower your waist, and jump!

Support the ball with your left hand and push with your right hand. All the movements have reached perfection at this moment, especially when the right hand pushes the ball out, the broken little finger touches the basketball that is about to fall out of your hand.

The touch at that moment is really familiar...

Huh!

The basketball flew out, and at this time Odom's defense just arrived.

At this moment, he stretched out his 208cm height and 226cm wingspan to the utmost, trying to block the ball thrown by Rukawa.

But... it seemed to be a hair's breadth away.

The basketball flew over Odom's fingers and flew towards the basket without changing its direction.

Got it!

A faint smile appeared on the corner of Rukawa's mouth, but the next second...

Bang!

The basketball bounced out of the frame again.

Rukawa's eyes condensed slightly, and he couldn't help but look at Odom. Was he touched by him?

Odom just smiled evilly, he could see Rukawa's intention to ask.

The fact is that he did touch it... Although Rukawa's shot just now was natural and standard enough, the result of over-emphasizing standards and hit rate was that it was not fast enough. This guy was originally known for his fast shot, but the pressure and tension still affected him after all.

This made Odom's finger barely touch the basketball. Maybe it couldn't change the trajectory of the ball, but it did make it deviate a little bit. The basketball was very hard, and Odom still felt a little pain in his fingertips.

However, Odom didn't intend to answer. Let the guy fall into self-doubt and guilt, and let him bear the abuse of the already extremely anxious fans in the God Arena. That would be the best result for the Lakers!

It seems that because Rukawa Kaede took the initiative to stand up and take responsibility, Sakuragi Hanamichi under the basket seemed to have recovered two points of vitality compared to before. At this time, he was struggling with Yao Ming under the basket. Although he was at a disadvantage, he was obviously different from before. He also suppressed Yao Ming so that he couldn't jump up. He was creating a chance for Chandler to grab a rebound. Odom rushed out. Now he didn't believe that he couldn't grab it with a double-team under the basket!

But luck didn't seem to be on the side of the Supersonics. The high-bounced basketball actually fell straight in the direction of Yao Ming.

The Lakers got this rebound.

Phil Jackson on the sidelines breathed a sigh of relief. When he saw Rukawa Kaede laugh after shooting the ball, he almost thought that he had scored.

This is stable!

Such open three-pointers missed one after another, and the pressure tactics were successful!

Iguodala had been destroyed by the pressure before, so that Lin Dong didn't dare to shoot the ball to him, and now Rukawa Kaede is the same.

He is just a substitute, and the fans' tolerance for him will be much lower than Iguodala. If he misses such a key ball, this guy will be useless.

And now that the Sonics' outside line has been solved, victory is at hand!

Phil Jackson clenched his fists excitedly, and his mind was racing. The Lakers on the court had completed a counterattack fast break. Kobe and Nash cooperated under the basket and used a light pass to force Lin Dong to layup.

103:105, the Lakers overtook!

Without waiting for the Lakers to celebrate... Wow!

There was already an uproar at the scene, and the crowd was indignant.

——Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

——Don't shoot randomly if you are not sure! What is No. 11 doing!

——Just now, Iguodala was also wide open, and Odom clearly jumped on him, why didn't he pass? Why did he force the shot!

——This season, Andre's 3-pointers are more accurate than yours! He just missed one shot, and you dare not pass the ball? Why don't you pass it?

——If you don't have that ability, don't think about earning performance, you bastard who is just slacking off for salary!

——You didn't play well in the Bobcats, and the Supersonics took you in. Is this how you repay them? You ungrateful wolf deserves to die!

When Iguodala missed that 3-pointer before, the God Arena was quiet.

First, it was just the first ball he missed, and the Supersonics were still leading at the time. Second, the target was Andre Iguodala after all. As the absolute main force and core player of the Supersonics' previous three consecutive championships, although Iguodala's value is now just a blue-collar worker, he is still a mainstay in the hearts of Supersonics fans.

But you, Rukawa Kaede, are not like that. As a substitute who won the championship last season, the fans of the Sonics have no feelings for him, and he has no credit for the team. You dare to waste the ball at a critical moment. Who else should I blame?

The whole court was filled with curses. Phil Jackson smiled on the sidelines. Iguodala, Chandler and others looked at Rukawa Kaede with some concern.

Sakuragi Hanamichi could no longer hold back.

Rukawa Kaede's previous words, 'I have nothing to lose, I am not afraid of losing anything', were just to comfort the other players of the Supersonics. After all, in everyone's eyes, he was just a substitute with a minimum salary, and he really had nothing to lose. So it seemed that it would not be so difficult to accept him to bear this pressure that no one could bear.

However, he and Rukawa Kaede came all the way from Japan, played together in the NSAA, and lived together in the school apartment of Brother Gaoren.

And after Rukawa Kaede fell in the Bobcats and came to the lower-level team of the Supersonics, it was Sakuragi Hanamichi who took him in, let him live in his home, and lived with him day and night, and practiced with him...

If there is anyone in the world who knows Rukawa Kaede best, it is neither Coach Anzai nor Brother Gaoren, but him - Sakuragi Hanamichi!

"Shut up! Shut up!" Sakuragi Hanamichi roared at the Supersonics fans in the stands for the first time with red eyes.

The hoarse voice not only surprised the other players on the court, but also gradually calmed down the already excited fans through the big screen.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes had turned red at this time.

It was not only a way to vent his self-blame for his performance today, but also to speak up for Rukawa Kaede, for this guy who has been working hard but has never been rewarded!

Brother Gaoren often said that he has a pure heart, but Sakuragi felt that the person who really has a pure heart is Rukawa Kaede!

The destruction in the Lloyd training base and the destruction in the Bobcats... To be fair, Sakuragi felt that if he were Rukawa Kaede, he might not be able to survive, but that guy survived.

No matter what kind of blow he suffered, even if he was disabled, that guy always loved basketball and never gave up!

In addition to basketball, he also had marriage and happiness.

But that guy had nothing, he only had basketball!

What is "not afraid of losing anything, nothing to lose"?

It's not!

Basketball and this court are the things he cares about most, and the last and most precious things. In the eyes of that fox, they are far better than his life and everything else!

Because of love, he persists!

Because he cares about and appreciates the Supersonics, he will choose to stand up at this time, use his own future as a bet, and take on the responsibility and pressure that should be borne by the main players and him, Sakuragi Hanamichi!

But such a person was scolded as a "white-eyed wolf" and a "salary-sucking" by the fans in the stands.

Sakuragi Hanamichi felt that it was not worth it for Rukawa Kaede. He even hated the fans who spoke recklessly at the scene for the first time. They knew nothing and understood nothing!

"Rukawa is not what you said. He is helping the team. He gambled everything he has! You don't understand anything! You bastards!"

The scene gradually quieted down amid Sakuragi Hanamichi's roar.

There were more than 20,000 people at the scene. People might not be able to hear his roar. Even if they heard it, they basically couldn't understand it, because this guy spoke in Japanese when he was angry.

But everyone could see Sakuragi Hanamichi's flushed face through the big screen, feel his surging anger and the tears in his eyes.

Rukawa Kaede also fell silent, looking at the brother in front of him who was originally chasing him, but later became the one chasing him... There had been estrangements, unhappiness, competition and even hostility between the two.

But in the past few years in the United States, the two guys who were stranded in a foreign land had already thrown away all their previous prejudices. When Sakuragi helped him in the draft, the two had already untied all their knots and became real brothers.

Sakuragi accompanied him through his darkest moment, and now this guy is crying for himself and scolding the fans in the stadium!

This big idiot... What's the point of scolding the fans...

Rukawa Kaede couldn't help but want to laugh, but he felt his eyes were inexplicably wet.

Everyone was looking at him.

Sakuragi Hanamichi wiped his tears fiercely, and was about to take advantage of this quiet scene to seek justice for Rukawa Kaede.

"Hey!" A voice interrupted him in time.

"Everyone on the court knows what Rukawa has paid, and we all know what he is carrying."

Sakuragi Hanamichi turned around, it was Lin Dong!

"Don't argue with the fans."

Lin Dong laughed, and when Sakuragi roared, he knew that the game had come alive again.

This simple guy emptied his originally messy, timid and guilty brain because he spoke up for Rukawa.

No matter how clean a guy is, he will be stained with dust, but he is pure. As long as he washes away the dust and polishes his eyes again, he will still be the world's number one defender!

"The only way to shut them up is to defeat the Lakers!"

"It's your turn, Sakuragi, do something, don't let Rukawa carry it alone!"