Finals: #3
Finals: #3
The score was 26-25 in Tokiwadai's favor, but Shun didn't like the score one bit.
Shun: 'Half-way through the quarter, we were at least five points up, and now we are only one point up.'
Shun looked at the players on the court. All players from both teams were sweating considerably. They looked like that all of them had gone through an intense workout.
Even Shun himself was in a similar situation to them.
All of this was the result of the last few minutes of the game.
Shun recalled the situation on the court in the last minutes.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Teiko began targetting the other players as they were easier to block and steal.
Shun was making plays such that he would score by himself every other time, and between his scores, he would pass the ball to his teammates to score.
Teiko was able to block and steal almost of Shun's teammates' balls, and then they were able to convert most of them into scores.
Kaitani and Yuki were not able to score once in this game, they were blocked all the time, even when Shun got them the ball they missed or were blocked.
Aone had only scored once in this game, and that was when Shun passed him the ball to evade Murasakibara. Other than that, he had some success with rebounding.
Mibuchi was the only one who was consistent in scoring and was able to score nine-points with three three-pointers.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Kaitani ran to the basket with the ball with him.
Just when he thought that his path was clear, Murasakibara appeared in front of him like a looming wall.
Kaitani didn't stop and thought of one move that he had practiced the most.
Kaitani stopped half-way through the paint and jumped on one foot, and released the ball in a high-arc.
The commentator commented on Kaitani's move.
Commentator B: "Kaitani-kun chooses an excellent choice to score over a big player like Murasakibara-kun. A floater is a popular move used by short players to score over tall players."
But then, Murasakibara wasn't just any tall player. He was THE tall player of middle school basketball.
Murasakibara jumped and got his hand on his ball.
Murasakibara: "Arere~, that is so low. You need to shoot a lot higher to get around me."
Kaitani was shocked that Murasakibara blocked his floater shot.
Kaitani: 'He can reach that high! I can't shoot higher than that.'
The crowd was in awe of Murasakibara's height.
Person A: "He caught the ball so high in the air."
Person B: "I didn't notice it before, but his hands are so long. They are like long poles."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shun passed the ball to Yuki. Yuki charged to the basket.
From the side, Akashi saw him dribble to the basket and decided to follow him for a block.
Mibuchi was behind and set up a screen in case Akashi decided to follow Yuki.
Mibuchi got into a screen posture a step behind Akashi.
Akashi turned to follow Yuki, and effortlessly bypassed Mibuchi's screen with a simple sidestep and then chased behind Yuki.
Mibuchi wasn't expecting Akashi to evade him at all.
Mibuchi: 'It can't be. I was in a blind spot.'
Shun narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue.
Shun: 'His perfect court vision makes him invincible to screens.'
Commentator A: "That was a skillful evasion of a screen by Akashi-kun. It is like he has eyes behind his head."
Akashi caught up to Yuki, and when he raised the ball before the jump, Akashi tipped the ball out of Yuki's hand exactly when it was at its most vulnerable.
Yuki tried to grab the ball, but the ball went out of bounds.
Yuki clicked his tongue as he looked back at Akashi.
Commentator A: "Akashi-kun chased down Yuki-kun and successfully tipped the ball out of his hands. That was a great effort on defense by Teiko's captain."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The only reason why Teiko wasn't far ahead of Tokiwadai was that Shun was scoring consistently.
Shun ran with Aomine on his tail. They entered the three-point arc from the right side, and Shun came to an immediate stop and then retreated one step.
Aomine, who had excellent control over his speed, stopped and changed his direction in an instant and moved towards Shun to close the distance between them.
But making space between them wasn't Shun's objective. His objective was to make sure Aomine didn't interfere with him in this play.
As Aomine came towards him, Shun exploded towards him.
Aomine was so shocked at the sudden charge and decided to stop and go back so that he would be in a position to follow him, but because of the hurry in the execution of the move, Aomine slipped and fell.
Aomine used his hands to avoid falling directly to the ground, and instead, he slid on the ground.
Aomine: "Dammit!"
-*-*-*-
A Tokiwadai student behind Shun's friends stood up and said.
Student A: "Oo! Ankles!"
Inuzuka stood up, turned around, and raised his hand for a high-five. The student was all for it, and both of them high-fived.
Student A & Inuzuka: "Yeah!"
-*-*-*-
Shun did a base-line drive to the basket, and Murasakibara was there to block him.
Murasakibara stood there just outside Dee with his hands spread wide.
Shun smiled as he looked at Murasakibara.
Shun: 'Whoa. I can feel his desire to stop me.'
Shun stopped in front of and dribbled the ball from his front-hand to his back-hand and then jumped the instant the ball switched hands.
Commentator A: "That was a quick switch!"
Shun kept an eye trained on Murasakibara, and with the ball in his hand away from Murasakibara and basket, he performed the infamous sky-hook shot.
Commentator B: "Look at that high-arc in that hook shot."
Kise looked at the ball following a high-arc from a hook shot, but his attention was somewhere else.
He recalled Shun switching the ball between his hands.
Kise: 'He moved the ball away from Murasakibara-cchi to evade his reach. The hook was also so high.'
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Shun's offense was not the only thing keeping Tokiwadai falling behind Teiko. He was also keeping Teiko at bay with his defense.
Akashi had just stolen a pass from Tokiwadai and then had passed the ball to Kise, who ran to the basket with no one near him.
Akashi was pleased with himself when the steal and turnover completed successfully.
Then his eyes widened as he saw a figure flash past him chasing Kise.
Akashi saw Shun running full speed towards Kise.
Ahead on the other half of the court, Kise arrived at the basket and jumped up for a layup.
Then a hand entered his vision and smacked the ball out of his hand into the backboard.
Kise was so shocked that he yelled out full force.
Kise: "WHAT!"
The crowd made the loudest noise in the game, and even the commentators spoke in an excited voice.
Commentator A: "What a ridiculous block! Kageyama-kun chased after Kise-kun from one side of the court to the other, and then successfully blocked him right at the end movement."
Kise looked behind him to see Shun looming there with his head turned back to search for the ball.
The ball bounced off the backboard and went back towards the other side.
Shun didn't have the time to take it easy as he saw the ball, and from the other side, he could see Midorima closing on the ball.
Shun got down to the floor and sprinted towards Midorima and the ball.
Shun: 'Not a long-range shot! Not a long-range shot! Not a long-range shot!'
Shun was lucky that the ball and Midorima met right at the three-point arc.
Midorima caught the ball, but he was startled when he saw Shun right in front of him.
Midorima tried to shot the ball in a hurry, and that was a mistake.
Aomine was following him from behind, and if he had taken it slowly, he could have passed the ball to Aomine, and Shun wouldn't have been able to catch up to Aomine.
Shun was on a roll from the blocking Kise. The run from the basket to Midorima and the dislodging the ball out of Midorima's hands went like clockwork.
He tipped the ball out of Midorima's hands, grabbed the ball and ran to the basket.
Midorima and Kise tried to catch up to Shun, but they were too slow.
Shun looked to his side to see Aomine on his tail.
Shun formulated a plan to evade Aomine and got to work.
At the three-point arc, he came to a stop and let Aomine arrive in front of him.
Shun moved the ball behind his back and did a behind-the-back crossover.
He leaned towards the right but moved to the left, that wasn't enough to fool Aomine, but it was enough to give Shun enough space to work.
Shun immediately used one of his favorite moves; The 'Heaven' shot.
With the space between Aomine and Shun and the additional space provided by the 'Heaven' shot, Shun had all the space he needed to work.
You had to give it to Aomine, he with great hustle gave his best jump to block Shun and got close to get a finger on the ball, but he didn't and saw the ball leaving Shun's hands.
The ball ended up swirling in the basket once and then dropping in the basket.
The commentator sighed in relief and gave his analysis.
Commentator B: "The shot had a proper back-spin, and that was what allowed the ball fall into the net after that swirl. Kageyama-kun is showing that behind every spectacular move, there are always fundamental aspects that you can't forget."
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The pace of the game in the last few minutes had increased a lot. Players were doing a lot running up and down on the court.
Teiko tried to increase their score to leave behind Tokiwadai, and Shun tried to make sure that Tokiwadai was in the lead.
Like a cycle, the speed of the game increased. It had been a while since Tokiwadai and Teiko exerted this much in the first quarter.
Shun was able to keep Tokiwadai from falling behind while trying to play with the team play.
Now a little with thirty seconds left in the first quarter, Tokiwadai was just a single point ahead of Teiko.
Shun loathed it, but the thoughts began to emerge in his mind.
Shun: 'Will it be better if I played by myself? Should I stop passing in the offense?'
Shun loved to play with team play, and even if it was only against Generation Of Miracles and Teiko, he felt that if he didn't play offense on his own, they would lose badly.
Shun was not comfortable with abandoning his team for solo offense.
Shun decided that he would choose his second-quarter strategy with the outcome of the next play.
Shun: 'If they can make the score in the next play, then I would play with teamwork, if not then...'
-*-*-*-
Shun got the inbounded ball from Yuki and then made his way to Teiko's side of the court.
Shun didn't like the idea to play without and subconsciously hedged his bet with the most talented players on the team. He decided to go with Mibuchi on this play.
Shun gave the signal for an off-the-ball screen for Mibuchi, and Aone got to work.
Aone set up a screen for Kise, and Mibuchi ran around him to a free space.
Shun passed the ball directly to Mibuchi, and his part of the play was over.
Shun: 'Please make the shot.'
Mibuchi got into position and shot from the three-point line.
As Mibuchi was mid-air, a hand came in front of him. It was Midorima, who had left his mark to block Mibuchi.
Midorima was the second tallest of Teiko's members. He stood at 184 centimeters tall.
He was late for the block, but his height gave him the advantage, and he was able to put one joint of a single finger on the ball.
Shun closed his eyes. He didn't want to see the shot miss.
Everybody on the court watched the ball fly to the court. It met the rim and bounced off it.
Murasakibara and Yuki jumped for the rebound, and as expected, Murasakibara won by a huge margin.
Murasakibara got the ball and landed on the floor. The moment he turned away from the basket, he felt a hit on the ball, and it was out of his grasp.
Murasakibara was startled when he felt the ball leave his hands. His eyes followed the ball.
The ball went straight to Yuki, but before he could do anything, the buzzer indicating the end of first-quarter went off.
Murasakibara looked in front of him to see who smacked the ball out of his hands.
He saw Shun turning back and walking in the direction of Tokiwadai's bench.
Everybody's eyes followed Shun as he silently made his way to the bench.
Tokiwadai led the first quarter with a one-point lead.
The situation of the game was going to change drastically in the second quarter.