"Hahahaha! You mortals of Takeishi, I, Sakuragi Hanamichi, will defeat all of you!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi stood at the gate of the stadium, with his hands on his hips, and shouted loudly.
Yohei Mito stared blankly at Sakuragi Hanamichi who had already entered the stadium, his eyes almost popping out, and quickly retracted his head, fearing that Takeishi's people would see him and think he was in cahoots with Sakuragi Hanamichi.
At the same time, the players from Takeishi Junior High School stopped at the same time and looked towards Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Sakuragi seemed to enjoy the feeling of being the center of attention. He put his hands on his hips and had a somewhat smug expression on his face.
"Who is this? Is he also a junior high school student?"
"Red hair, is that a bad thing?"
"I feel like a fool. Let's just ignore him. The coach will be here soon."
Takeishi's teammates looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi and started talking.
"This big fool..."
The current captain of the Takeishi basketball team is Rukawa Kaede, and it was he who led the players in warm-up. Looking in the direction where the voice came from, Rukawa Kaede recognized Sakuragi Hanamichi at a glance and was speechless.
He ignored Sakuragi's thoughts, clapped his hands, and took another step to start running. The other players saw their captain's reaction and didn't say anything. They ignored Sakuragi and followed Rukawa.
"... ..."
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was left aside, felt insulted and was about to take action when Yohei suddenly grabbed Sakuragi Hanamichi's arm and wanted to pull Sakuragi aside, but Sakuragi stood very steadily and was not pulled.
"Hey, Hanamichi, wait for Brother Budou to come!"
"Don't make trouble!"
Mito Yohei persuaded in a low voice, but as soon as he finished speaking, Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly shook off Yohei's arm, sat down on the floor and started changing his shoes.
Although Rukawa Kaede did not intend to pay attention to Sakuragi Hanamichi, some of Takeishi's teammates were not focusing on training and their attention was always on Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"Hey, did you see that guy changing his shoes?"
"What is this for?"
"That guy isn't really a junior high school student, is he? Is he from another school's basketball team? Is he here to challenge the school?"
Seeing Sakuragi Hanamichi sitting on the ground to change his shoes, discussions broke out in the queue again.
The discussions in the queue were getting louder and louder, and Takeishi's players' minds began to become active. Rukawa Kaede, who was at the front of the team, knew that the players were beginning to be distracted, and was just about to remind them to focus on training, when he saw Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had changed his shoes, walk into the gym.
Sakuragi Hanamichi scanned the entire court, then walked to the sidelines, picked up a basketball, dribbled it twice to test the feel, and then ran towards the court with the ball.
The confused Takeishi player finally stopped warming up and looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi again.
Sakuragi Hanamichi dribbled the ball and quickly entered the court and crossed the three-point line. The next second, Sakuragi Hanamichi passed the ball near the free throw line. After two steps, he held the basketball high in his right hand and jumped up.
"So high!" Sakuragi Hanamichi's jump was quite high, and in the sight of Takeishi and the others, his head was already level with the basket. Cries of surprise were heard from the queue, and even Rukawa Kaede shrank his eyes and looked surprised when he saw this scene.
"Bang!
"With a loud bang, Sakuragi Hanamichi dunked the basketball into the basket with one hand, and the huge sound echoed in the empty basketball hall.
After the dunk, Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed the basket with one hand, and his body swayed slightly as the basket went up and down. After a few seconds, Sakuragi Hanamichi fell back to the ground, bent down to pick up the basketball on the ground, and looked at the Takeishi players led by Rukawa with a relaxed look.
“Say hello!”
"Now, are you willing to accept my challenge?"
As Sakuragi Hanamichi was talking, he casually threw the basketball in his hand towards Rukawa Kaede. Rukawa Kaede subconsciously caught the basketball thrown by Sakuragi Hanamichi, and his expression became cold.
Fighting! Rukawa Kaede's favorite thing is fighting!
Rukawa took the ball and took a step forward, preparing to teach Sakuragi Hanamichi a lesson, when a player wearing a white No. 9 jersey grabbed him from behind.
"Ryukawa-senpai, why do you need to get involved in such a trivial matter? I'll go chase him away!"
Ichiro Mizusawa walked out of the queue, stopped in front of Rukawa, took the basketball from Rukawa's hand without saying a word, and walked towards Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"Mizusawa..." Rukawa saw that it was Mizusawa Ichiro who walked out of the line, and was about to stop him, but the third-year student, Katsume Ichiro, patted Rukawa on the shoulder and persuaded him:
"Let Mizusawa compete with that red-haired kid. This guy is very capable and he won't lose to that kind of person!"
Hearing his teammates say this, Rukawa Kaede didn't say much, but just reminded Mizusawa Ichiro: "Be serious, don't take it lightly."
Ichiro Mizusawa nodded, walked in front of Sakuragi Hanamichi, threw the ball to Sakuragi, and said, "I'll accept your challenge!"
"You? Who are you?"
Sakuragi Hanamichi looked at Mizusawa Ichiro, who was half a head shorter than him, and raised his head slightly, asking with a disdainful tone. In Sakuragi Hanamichi's eyes, the only player who could be his opponent in Takeishi Junior High School was Rukawa Kaede, the captain of the team wearing the No. 4 jersey. How could this unknown little character in front of him be qualified to fight him? !
"Nonsense!"
"If you want to fight, then fight. If you don't want to fight, then get out! We don't have time to waste on people like you!"
Ichiro Mizusawa felt that he was looked down upon by Hanamichi Sakuragi, and he immediately became angry. He didn't care about the evil look on Hanamichi Sakuragi's face, and he just shouted at him angrily.
Hearing this, Sakuragi Hanamichi also grinned: "In that case, then let me defeat you first."
When Ichiro Mizusawa saw that Sakuragi Hanamichi had agreed, he immediately said, "One-on-one, bullfight, three goals!"
"Let you go first!"
Ichiro Mizusawa was thinking of a quick victory, so he walked directly to the three-point line and let Hanamichi Sakuragi take the ball and attack first.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi was actually a little arrogant at this time. He threw the ball in front of Mizusawa Ichiro and said calmly:
"You attack first! Otherwise, you won't stand a chance!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi said this shamelessly, as if he didn't take the other person seriously at all.
"This bastard! I'll drive if I want!"
Mizusawa Ichiro cursed, picked up the basketball and walked towards the center circle. He was also irritated by Sakuragi Hanamichi's attitude and wanted to get rid of Sakuragi quickly. At the same time, the other players of Takeishi Junior High School also stopped warming up and gathered around the court, cheering Mizusawa Ichiro loudly.
And Mito Yohei quietly blended into the crowd of onlookers and looked at Sakuragi with some worry.
Sakuragi Hanamichi has only been in contact with basketball for a few months. At first, he practiced with Akagi Takenori and Jinguji Budou. Akagi Takenori taught Sakuragi Hanamichi the basic knowledge of basketball, as well as dribbling, basket skills, as well as positioning, rebounding and defense. As for offense, Akagi never taught him.
As for Jinguji Budo, he appeared relatively less frequently. He taught Sakuragi the basic three-threat layups and slam dunks, as well as some training methods to improve his ball skills. Most of the time, he was left alone.
Sakuragi would go to Haruko whenever he had something to do, under the pretext of practicing basketball, but what he really wanted was to spend time alone with Haruko. God knows whether Sakuragi Hanamichi really puts his mind into practicing basketball, and we don't know what his current basketball level is.
Although Yohei followed Sakuragi Hanamichi every day, his knowledge of basketball was quite shallow. Yohei also watched some of Shohoku's games, but he felt that there was a huge gap between Sakuragi Hanamichi and Jinguji Budou. Therefore, in Yohei's mind, Sakuragi's level was not up to par.
While Yohei was thinking, Ichiro Mizusawa had already walked with the ball to a position more than one meter outside the three-point line, bent down slightly, and threw the ball to Hanamichi Sakuragi.
The starting position of the bullfight between the two was not far from the three-point line. Sakuragi, who had the ball, also spread his legs and bent down, passing the ball to Ichiro Mizusawa, while taking a defensive stance.
Ichiro Mizusawa, who had the ball, raised his head slightly and glanced at Hanamichi Sakuragi. Without further ado, he crossed his right foot, held the ball with both hands and moved to the right. This simple three-threat tentative move instantly attracted the attention of Hanamichi Sakuragi. The defending Sakuragi Hanamichi followed the ball and moved sideways, completely clearing his right side position.
“?!”
Ichiro Mizusawa obviously did not expect that such a simple probing action would give him a chance to break through. Although he was surprised, his hands were not slow. He directly dropped the ball to break through from his left side, which was the right side of Sakuragi Hanamichi. His speed was not slow and his position quickly surpassed Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"What the hell... You're so arrogant, but you were easily defeated by Mizusawa."
"Well, don't say that. Mizusawa is our Takeishi's third-highest scorer. It's not shameful to be broken through by him."
The Takeishi players who were watching the game saw Ichiro Mizusawa easily break through Hanamichi Sakuragi, and they finally let go of their worries and started to joke with him in a relaxed manner.
"not yet!"
On the contrary, Rukawa Kaede, who had been silent all the time, whispered and cast his eyes on Sakuragi Hanamichi. At the moment when Mizusawa Ichiro broke through, Sakuragi Hanamichi had already turned around, but he did not chase him immediately. Instead, he deliberately let Mizusawa Ichiro and him have a certain distance, and then he pushed the ground with both feet, and in the blink of an eye, he ran directly behind Mizusawa Ichiro.
After the breakthrough, Mizusawa deliberately looked back at Sakuragi, and when he found that he and his opponent had already opened up a certain distance, he completely relaxed. He quickly entered the basket with the ball, and without any extra movements, he jumped lightly, lifted the ball to the backboard, and tried to pass the ball off the backboard.
But the next second, a dark shadow enveloped him from behind.
At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi actually jumped out from behind Mizusawa Ichiro and slapped the ball directly into the backboard with a "pop" sound.
"What?! How is this possible?!" Mizusawa Ichiro saw Sakuragi Hanamichi from the side and exclaimed. He had just seen that he had gotten rid of Sakuragi Hanamichi, how could the opponent catch up so quickly and even block his shot
One second after Mizusawa Ichiro fell back to the ground, Sakuragi Hanamichi fell back to the ground and easily caught the falling basketball. Such a block was too easy for Sakuragi, just as easy as swatting a fly.
"Actually..."
"This red-haired guy's jumping ability is really amazing. Mizusawa underestimated him!"
After a brief silence, Takeishi's teammates began to help Mizusawa. However, Rukawa knew clearly that Mizusawa Ichiro was blocked not because he underestimated the enemy.
In terms of explosive power, jumping ability, and speed, Ichiro Mizusawa is not as good as Hanamichi Sakuragi, and Ichiro Mizusawa obviously fell into the defensive trap of Hanamichi Sakuragi. No matter from which aspect, Mizusawa was suppressed by Hanamichi Sakuragi. Underestimating the enemy? What would happen if he didn't underestimate the enemy
"Hey, kid, you don't think you can get past me like this, do you?"
Sakuragi grabbed the ball with one hand and spoke to Ichiro Mizusawa while walking towards the three-point line with a smile on his face.
"whispering sound!"
"It's just defending the next ball. It's your turn to attack!"
"I won't give you a chance to score!"
It was obvious that Ichiro Mizusawa would not lose his fighting spirit because of this block. He spat lightly and followed Sakuragi to the three-point line.
Just as the two were about to continue the game, Takeishi Junior High School coach Anzai Zhengyi walked into the gym in a neat suit and noticed the court surrounded by the players. He walked into the gym quietly without making a sound, stood behind the spectators, and looked at the court.
"Hmm? Is it a bullfight? Who is this red-haired boy?"
Anzai Masayoshi looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who was holding the ball, and said to himself.
At the same time, Ichiro Mizusawa checked the ball and passed it back to Hanamichi Sakuragi. Sakuragi held the ball with his front and back feet slightly staggered, suddenly raised the ball and made a shooting gesture, and the next second, he pushed the ground with his right foot and started to break through from his right side.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's breakthrough speed was very fast. He didn't care whether the fake shot of raising the ball to shoot fooled the opponent. He rushed forward quickly after raising the ball. Sakuragi's body was directly attached to Mizusawa Ichiro, and the huge force actually made Mizusawa unable to return to defense in the first time.
In the blink of an eye, Sakuragi Hanamichi had already distanced himself from him and successfully entered the basket.
Sakuragi, who was holding the ball, didn't even bother to look back at Ichiro Mizusawa. He had already completed the pass when he stepped on the free throw line. After two steps, he took the ball with both hands and jumped directly, then slammed the ball into the basket.
The force of the two-handed slam dunk was much stronger than the one-handed slam dunk just now. The entire basketball hoop was shaken by Sakuragi Hanamichi's slam dunk. The steel structures rubbed against each other, making a harsh "squeaking" sound.
The players of Takeishi Junior High School all looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi who held the basket with both hands, and were all shocked by his slam dunk. However, the coach Anzai Zhengyi saw a familiar shadow in Sakuragi Hanamichi's breakthrough action.
"That weird triple threat move... .. is from that Jinguji Budou guy..."
Coach Anzai murmured in his heart, noticing the "unusualness" in Sakuragi's breakthrough movement.
Normally, the triple threat refers to dribbling, breaking through, and passing. When most people perform the triple threat with the ball, the pivot foot does not move, and the other foot will choose to move horizontally, and the basketball in the hand will also sweep in the direction of the horizontal movement of the foot. This is to mobilize the defender's position to the greatest extent, so as to find a gap for breakthrough or passing.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi's movements were different. He stood with his front and back feet slightly staggered so that his back foot could push off the ground when breaking through. At the beginning of this movement, he had actually already made the plan to break through.
This is a way of breakthrough that makes the most of one's own explosive power and speed. Anzai Zhengyi has only seen the same technique in Jinguji Budou, a junior high school student of this level.
The former triple threat method tests the offensive players' skills, vision, and timing. However, Sakuragi Hanamichi's method is a way to maximize his own advantages. In simple terms, it is a way to make the strong eat more violent.
If the defensive players' strength, speed and explosiveness cannot keep up with the offensive players, then it will be impossible to defend!
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