"Well, let me defeat you first!"
Rukawa Kaede's confident words instantly made the junior high school students like Sakuragi excited. Facing the Xiangbei players led by Akagi Takenori, Sakuragi Hanamichi showed no fear at all, and even when he knew that his opponent was Akagi, his whole face was full of smiles.
"Oh wow~ My opponent is a gorilla? As long as I can beat the gorilla in the competition, Haruko will definitely look at me with new eyes."
Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed and turned to look at Akagi Haruko on the sidelines. Noticing Sakuragi's gaze, Akagi Haruko also smiled and waved to Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Nango Koichiro, who was not far away, also saw Haruko waving, and thought that she was greeting him, so he straightened his face and said to Sakuragi and the others in a serious tone: "Hey, you guys, don't let me back off!"
Upon hearing this, Katsumi Ichiro glanced coldly at Nango Koichiro and said to Akagi and the others, "Now that we have decided on our opponents, let's get started!"
"I don't want to see the faces of some idiots again. After the competition, some people will always be more restrained!"
As soon as Ichiro Katsumi said this, the originally harmonious atmosphere suddenly became tense again. Nango Kouichiro frowned and was about to argue with Ichiro Katsumi about what a "fool" was, but Takenori Akagi interrupted him:
"Alright, alright, let's start the game. Someone, jump ball!"
Akagi Takenori didn't want to see these junior high school students quarreling anymore, so he walked directly into the court after saying that. Miyagi Ryouta and others also hurriedly followed Akagi into the court and each took their position in the center circle.
"Humph! I'll let you know right away who the fools are!"
Nango Koichiro snorted, controlled his temper, walked into the court with his splayed steps, walked straight to the center circle, and stood in front of Akagi Takenori. At this time, Sakuragi Hanamichi was also thinking about going to the center circle to jump the ball with Akagi Takenori, but he didn't expect that Nango Koichiro actually got to the center circle before him.
Seeing this scene, Sakuragi Hanamichi was also stunned. He did not intend to compete with Nango Koichiro for the jump ball. Instead, he changed direction and stood next to Chiba Daishi.
“Hehehe, let this idiot go to the gorilla and learn a lesson first! After that, I, the genius, will take action to defeat the gorilla.”
"This way, everyone will know that I'm better than the bleached and dyed monkey! Hahaha."
Sakuragi Hanamichi thought darkly, and a bright smile appeared on his face. Chiba Daishi saw the smile on Sakuragi's face and got a little angry: "This kid, you smile so brightly, I will make you stop smiling soon!"
Outside the court, the other players of Shohoku who did not play spontaneously gathered at the edge of the court. Mitsui Hisashi and Jinguji Budou stood in the center of the court, watching the junior high school students who were in their positions.
Nango Koichiro stood in the center circle and faced Akagi Takenori, Sakuragi Hanamichi faced Chiba Daiishi, in front of Kogure Kimiyasu stood Katsumi Ichiro, and Rukawa Kaede stood in front of Kadota Satoru. As for the shortest player, Miyagi Ryouta, he faced Miyagi Ryouta, the shortest player in the high school team.
"Akagi, Miyagi, and Chiba are all starters for Shohoku. Mugure and Kadota can also be included in the standard rotation."
"Normally speaking, these five people are not considered weak, but now facing these middle school students, they are outnumbered in terms of height."
"And it can be seen that the junior high school students are quite energetic!"
"Martial Arts, which side do you think will have the advantage?"
Mitsui Shou looked at the players in the field and analyzed the abilities of the players on both sides. He wanted to support his teammates from the bottom of his heart, but from what he saw, Mitsui Shou was actually not optimistic about his teammates. At this time, Mitsui Shou asked Wu Dao, and he also wanted to hear Wu Dao's opinion.
"Isn't this obvious?"
"In the short term, Akagi and his team will be able to take advantage. After all, they have been working together for quite some time. Our Xiangbei players are not weaklings who can be slaughtered at will."
"But... the junior high school students have great personal abilities and potential. If they can get along well, Akagi and the others will soon be unstoppable."
"Of course, in my opinion, these middle school students need to finish their running-in period... ..hehe."
Wu Dao did not elaborate on this, but laughed instead. Wu Dao's meaning was also very clear. His view was completely opposite to Mitsui Shou. He did not think that the junior high school students could beat Akagi and his team. The problem with the junior high school students was not that their individual abilities were worse than those of the junior high school students, but that the strength of these players could not be used together.
"Oh? You mean..." Mitsui Shou exclaimed lightly, then turned his head to look at the field.
At this moment in the court, Tetsushi Shiozaki was acting as the referee of the game. He blew the whistle to start the game, and the basketball was quickly thrown into the air from his hands.
A moment.
Akagi Takenori and Minamigo Koichiro both jumped up and reached out to hit the basketball. Akagi Takenori's barefoot height reached 196cm, and his jumping power was quite good. In terms of height, he directly crushed Minamigo Koichiro, who was 187cm tall, and hit the basketball first, and steadily hit the ball into Miyagi Ryouta's hands.
"Quick break!" After receiving the ball, Ryouta Miyagi faked a drop shot and instantly deceived Kiyota Nobunaga who was defending him, and then quickly advanced to the front court with the ball. Akagi and others quickly broke through the midline and entered the inside line at the call of Ryouta Miyagi.
However, what surprised him was that his intention seemed to be noticed by Sakuragi Hanamichi. He did not let down his guard during the jump ball stage. At this time, Chiba had already entered the frontcourt early, and Sakuragi Hanamichi followed him closely without relaxing at all. He did not look like a novice who had only played basketball for a few months.
"This kid..."
Chiba Daishi glanced at Sakuragi Hanamichi, and was surprised, and realized that he had no chance of a fast break, so he decisively turned around and left the paint area, dragging Sakuragi's defense along the baseline and walking toward the three-point line. But Sakuragi Hanamichi was not stupid, and gave up halfway and turned his head to look inside, actually taking care of the defense inside.
At the same time, the Xiangbei players pressed to the frontcourt. Akagi Takenori and Kakuta Satoru moved into the inside, while Miyagi, who had the ball, stood in the direction of Hu Ding. Murasaki and Chiba stood on the left and right sides of the 45° three-point line respectively, providing passing fulcrums.
The junior high school students also returned to defense very quickly. Rukawa Kaede and Nango Koichiro followed the offensive players to the inside, while Katsumi Ichiro and Kiyota Nobunaga closely guarded Kogure Konobu and Miyagi Ryouta. On the other hand, Sakuragi Hanamichi gave Chiba Oishi enough freedom, and there was a defensive gap of about 2 meters between the two.
Unlike Kiyota and others, Sakuragi Hanamichi has watched several games of Shohoku High School and is very familiar with the technical characteristics of Chiba Daishi!
"Chiba!" Miyagi Ryouta didn't want to hold the ball for too long, so he shouted and quickly passed the ball to Chiba Oishi.
Chiba, who had the ball, was in a wide open position and had a chance to take a three-point shot, but he was not good at long shots. After receiving the ball, he quickly dropped the ball and increased his speed, trying to break through Sakuragi Hanamichi's defense.
But the distance between him and Sakuragi was too big. When Chiba broke through with the ball, Sakuragi was already prepared to defend. When Chiba approached with the ball, Sakuragi Hanamichi quickly slid and blocked Chiba in front of him.
The two bodies collided directly, but what surprised everyone was that after such a physical collision, Sakuragi Hanamichi, the junior high school student, did not move at all, without any loss of position. Instead, Chiba Daishi, the sophomore player, was shaken, leaned back, and actually lost control of the basketball.
"How is this possible?!" Mitsui Shou exclaimed in his heart when he saw this, and looked at the court with wide eyes.
When Jinguji Takeshi saw this, his eyebrows slightly raised and his eyes lit up.
On the court, Sakuragi Hanamichi seized the opportunity to steal the ball, lunged forward, and actually pushed away Chiba Daiishi, who was trying to regain control of the ball. He slapped the basketball, then reached out and quickly controlled the rebounding basketball in his hand, and ran towards the front court with the ball.
"Nice steal!" Coach Anxi held a cup of hot tea, sighed in his heart, took a sip of tea, and watched the scene with a smile.
Sakuragi Hanamichi steals the ball from Chiba Oishi, which surprises everyone else in Xiangbei. Sakuragi's dribbling speed is very fast. After stealing the ball, he takes the lead and crosses the center line. Chiba Oishi, who is chasing after him, can't catch up with Sakuragi at all, but he doesn't give up and speeds up to catch up.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Mortals, please witness the first goal scored by this genius!"
Facing an empty basket, Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed wildly as he stepped on the free throw line to collect the ball and prepared to dunk. However, after he jumped up, he realized that he jumped too early and was still some distance away from the basket. He grabbed the ball with one hand and prepared to change his posture for a layup, but he was not familiar with the layup in the air, and when he flipped his wrist, he used too much force for the layup... ..
With a light "pop" sound, the basketball hit the backboard and bounced straight back.
"... ... ... "
This scene not only stunned the Xiangbei players who were watching the game, but also the junior high school students on the court. Xiangbei's special recruits missed the dunk, which was too... .
Rukawa had seen Sakuragi Hanamichi play. After all, he was a player who could easily crush their potential rising star Mizusawa Ichiro from Takeishi. Rukawa didn't think that Sakuragi Hanamichi's layup would miss, so he didn't assist in the offense from the beginning.
Seeing this scene, Rukawa Kaede couldn't help but murmur: "This big idiot..."
“Ahhh!
You idiot, can't you even shoot an empty basket? ! "
“Rebound quickly and pass the ball!
Pass the ball to me!
”
Rukawa did not assist in the offense, but Kiyota Nobunaga quickly chased Sakuragi Hanamichi and Chiba back to the backcourt. Seeing that Sakuragi Hanamichi missed the layup, he waved his hands anxiously and shouted at Sakuragi.
The basketball bounced back and Sakuragi Hanamichi's face froze, but he quickly adjusted his posture, glanced at Kiyota Nobunaga, and turned back to grab the basketball.
However, at this time, the basketball was held in the hands of Chiba Daishi who came over. Chiba, who was holding the rebound, was just about to pass the ball when Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly appeared in front of him and hit the basketball directly from bottom to top.
Chiba's grip loosened and the basketball was right in front of him, but was once again intercepted by Sakuragi Hanamichi.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
“I succeeded!”
Sakuragi Hanamichi jumped up with a loud laugh, and slapped the basketball hard when he jumped high. The basketball in the air was hit by Sakuragi and quickly flew towards the direction of Kiyota Nobunaga.
The ball is high and the speed is fast...
"Damn it! It's too high! Who can catch a ball like this?!"
In the blink of an eye, a red light flew over Nobunaga Kiyota's head, flew out of the court, and hit the floor. The Xiangbei players were surprised that Sakuragi Hanamichi's shot didn't go in, and now there was another pass like this, and everyone looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi with a strange look in their eyes.
“Ahhh!
Wild monkey, how come you can't even catch a ball like this? You're useless! You wasted my genius passing skill."
When Sakuragi Hanamichi saw the basketball go out of bounds, he did not feel any guilt, but instead turned the tables and blamed Kiyota Nobunaga. Kiyota Nobunaga was also touched by Sakuragi's move, and looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi with his mouth open, forgetting to refute for a moment.
"... ..."
"Is this person...really a special recruit of our Xiangbei? Isn't this too unreliable?"
"The layup didn't go in....the pass was terrible, this... ..."
The Xiangbei players who were watching the game were talking about it for a while, but the player involved, Chiba Daiishi, turned his head and looked intently at Sakuragi Hanamichi.
“This guy… ”
Chiba Oishi is the person who can most directly feel Sakuragi Hanamichi's ability. Although Sakuragi Hanamichi made two mistakes within less than a minute of playing, Chiba Oishi did not underestimate Sakuragi Hanamichi. The opponent's strength, speed, bounce when making a layup, and sharpness on the defensive end are all quite good.
Although he is just a junior high school student, it is enough for Chiba to be fully prepared to deal with Sakuragi Hanamichi. Chiba Oishi's mentality has been adjusted at this time, and he will no longer underestimate this red-haired junior high school student!
"If he performs like this in a formal competition, he'll probably have to work the water dispenser for the rest of his high school career..."
"I don't think this boy Sakuragi Hanamichi is very reliable!"
Mitsui looked at Sakuragi's performance and said worriedly.
"Well... ."
"After all, he has only been playing basketball for a short time. This is his first time participating in a practice match like this."
"It's my first time playing in a game like this, so I'm bound to be excited..."
Wudao's face was livid. Sakuragi Hanamichi had been playing basketball for a short time, but if we were to deduce Sakuragi's ability based on the time, his personal ability should be almost the same as in the original timeline, during the national competition. The only difference between the two periods should be shooting ability, on-court experience, and physical fitness.
His breakthrough and defensive abilities should be much stronger than the original timeline. As for layups...
"Hanamichi! If your ability is only this level, I will be humiliated."
"Come on, idiot!"
Jinguji Budou didn't want Sakuragi Hanamichi to continue to make a fool of himself on the court. The more stupid Hanamichi acted, the hotter his face became. Jinguji Budou, who was a little embarrassed, yelled directly at the court.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was arguing with Kiyota Nobunaga, felt his scalp tingle when he heard this. He turned his head and saw Jinguji Budou with a livid face on the sidelines. He stopped talking decisively, had no intention of arguing with Kiyota, and lowered his head to return to the court to defend.
"Haha, you deserve it, red-haired monkey."
Kiyota didn't expect that he would win the argument so easily. Seeing Sakuragi Hanamichi leaving in dejection, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Idiots are unreliable. As expected, I have to rely on myself!"
Rukawa Kaede watched Chiba Daishi serve from the backcourt, whispered something in his heart, and his expression became solemn and sharp.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .