I was a top student in America.

It was a home game day. Half of the ceiling lights at Wyndham Arena were broken, and a small section of the wooden floor near the sideline was warped. Before the game, they just used some duct tape to patch it up and called it a day.

There were about three or four hundred students from our school scattered in the stands, some eating snacks, some chatting, and some doing whatever else.

Compared to the proper gymnasium at Simon High School last week, this place felt as casual as if we were just going through the motions of a physical education class.

Today's opponent is Morgan Park High School, a top 16 team in the South Division last year.

They are indeed stronger than Wyndham, but only by a limited margin.

The two sides played an extremely close game, and midway through the second quarter, Wyndham trailed by five points.

Li Ao remained seated on the far side of the bench, his eyes fixed on the basketball on the court.

Although he scored 18 points off the bench in the last game, a newcomer is still a newcomer, and he will have to start from the bench again today.

However, this time he didn't ponder the math problem.

He has already mastered the basic knowledge points of the competition, so there is little point in using spare time to look at example problems.

His attention is now entirely focused on Morgan Park's offensive strategies.

He noticed a detail: as soon as Morgan Park crossed half-court, the two big men would stand on either side of the free-throw line in the elbow area, while the point guard would issue the free throws from the top of the key.

The fixed starting stance without exception.

However, the moves after the initial move are different each time.

In the last possession, the point guard passed the ball to the left elbow area, and the big man immediately handed it to the shooter who came around from the weak side.

With the Wyndham defenders still tightly pinned behind the screener, the shooter received the ball, volleyed it into the net.

Two rounds later, they were in the same positions again.

But this time the point guard went to the right side.

After using the screen from the big man on the right to drive into the paint, he swiftly flicked the ball towards the corner.

The shooter lurking on the outside caught the ball and hit another three-pointer.

One was a handoff, the other a screen to split the perimeter – on the surface, they were two completely different tactics.

But the basic principle remains the same: the starting position is always a big man positioned in the elbow area.

These rounds played out in Li Ao's mind in slow motion, being dissected and analyzed.

He gradually figured it out: regardless of whether the final shot was a three-pointer or a drive to the basket, the opponent's first two steps on offense seemed to follow the same formula—

The elbow area is positioned, and the cards are dealt from the top of the arc; this part is fixed.

Whether to go left or right afterwards depends entirely on where Wyndham's defensive focus shifts.

Just like solving math problems, even if the question and numbers change, the core solution method remains the same.

【learn by analogy】.

During this period of time, when working on competition problems, he had long been accustomed to this method of dissecting and breaking down problems: ignoring fancy tricks and focusing directly on the underlying logic.

Surprisingly, the same principle applies to the basketball court.

Following this line of thought, if the opponent continues to use this formation in the second half, as long as you can accurately predict the direction of the point guard's first pass, you can guess the entire subsequent tactical movement with a high degree of accuracy.

Pass to the left, pass the ball to the left, and finish at the top of the arc or the wing;

Pass to the right, run a pick-and-roll, and finish in the corner or under the basket.

The halftime whistle blew.

Wyndham trailed by 5 points, 22-27.

The team members silently wrapped towels around their shoulders and slowly walked towards the locker room.

In the locker room, head coach Durant stood in front of the whiteboard:

"The defense in the first half was barely passable, but the reaction time was too slow!"

"Every time the other team sets up their formation, you guys just stand there like idiots, only thinking to chase after them after the ball is passed out. By the time you catch up, they've already shot."

He paused, then drew two heavy crosses on the whiteboard with a marker.

"Substitution for the second half. Jaylen, play the three. Stick close to them, don't let them get the ball so easily!"

"Leo, you go up too, play shooting guard. Use your brain more on the court."

Jamal, who was huddled in the back row, lit up when he heard the name and leaned over to whisper:

"Leo, go up and take them down."

Li Ao didn't reply. He ripped the towel off his knees, threw it on the chair, and got up to follow the group that was about to enter the arena.

At the start of the second half, Li Ao and Jaylen were substituted onto the court.

As soon as he took his position, he noticed the change on the other side.

Morgan Park had clearly studied his four unreasonable three-pointers from the last game and came prepared today.

Not only did the defensive focus on the perimeter shift significantly towards him, with his markers never leaving his side, but there was also a guard on the weak side ready to help defend.

Li Ao knew what he was doing and didn't intend to play the hero, so he just toughed it out despite the defense.

The opposing defense is wide open, the perimeter is tightly marked, and the interior is vulnerable.

Tayshaun has the height and weight to hold his own in the low post, and Morgan Park's power forward simply can't handle him.

Tayshaun is the main offensive threat in this game.

Li Ao was happy to have some free time, so he kept moving around the perimeter to stretch the defense and used his three-point threat to create space for the inside.

The score gradually narrowed. 27 to 29, only two points behind.

At the entrance to the stands, two girls in track and field training uniforms bent down and squeezed in from the back row.

Latoya wiped the sweat from his brow, glanced at the field, and froze:

"Wait a minute, is that Li Ao? He's on the field too?"

Lin Jinni found a seat nearby, nodded slightly, and her eyes were already fixed on the court.

Morgan Park took the inbounds pass and reorganized their attack.

The two big men are still positioned in the elbow area, with the point guard holding the ball at the top of the key.

It's the "horn tactic" again.

Li Ao narrowed his eyes.

The point guard passed the ball to the right elbow area.

Pass to the right, go for a pick and roll, and go to the baseline corner.

The conclusion that came to mind was almost an instinctive reaction.

Li Ao didn't run with his defender.

Taking advantage of the opening when the big man on the right received the ball and set a screen, Li Ao left his opponent wide open and suddenly cut two big steps to the baseline.

"Leo, you missed someone!"

When Jaylen saw that he had suddenly lost his defender, he yelled in frustration.

At the same time, Morgan Park's outside shooter was positioned at the bottom corner, reaching out for the ball.

The ball is here.

But in mid-air, a hand suddenly appeared from the side.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the ball was intercepted halfway through the game.

The shooter was still frozen in his receiving position when a dark shadow flashed past him.

He was a beat slow to react, and a big question mark popped into his mind: How did he know the ball would be passed here?

Li Ao scooped up the basketball, landed, turned around, and strode straight to the frontcourt.

The land is flat and level.

Morgan Park's five players were all locked in positional warfare, and there was no time to retreat.

But Li Ao wasn't planning on a comfortable layup. Just a step past the three-point line, he slammed on the brakes.

He jumped, drew his gun, and fired—all in one fluid motion.

The basketball left my fingertips at its highest point, tracing an extremely high arc.

"Whoosh."

Arrow through the heart.

30-29! Wyndham takes the lead!

The entire stadium was silent for a full two seconds.

Then, the Wyndham bench erupted.

Jamal was the first to spring up from the bench, waving the towel in his hand like a helicopter propeller, and yelling in a hoarse voice, "Leo is awesome!"

On the court, Jaylen was still in an awkward position, his front foot just out, ready to go and help defend.

Hearing the crisp sound of the net being swished, he slowly straightened up, turned his head to look at Li Ao who was already running back, opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

The center, TySean, turned around, still with that cool, expressionless look, but silently raised his right hand and made a three-pointer gesture towards Li Ao.

On the sidelines, Durant stood with his arms crossed, not moving an inch.

But his gaze remained fixed on Li Ao.

The stern coach only raised an eyebrow slightly after watching him retreat to his own half and reposition himself defensively.

In the back row of the stands, Latoya had half his body leaning over the railing, his eyes wide open:

"Holy crap, he actually knows how to play basketball?! That last shot, the other team hadn't even passed it to him yet, and he was already—"

She hurriedly gestured with her hands to describe the scene that had just occurred, but because she didn't understand tactics, she was stuck and didn't know how to describe it.

Lin Jinni, who was standing next to her, did not respond.

She stared at the unhurried retreating figure on the field, sat quietly amidst the noisy crowd, and after a long while, murmured to herself:

"...When did he become so amazing?"

……