Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 153 Rebounding King vs. Rebounding King

"If Huang Lai fails to come up with any countermeasures in the middle of the second quarter, the remaining time of this game will be nothing more than a countdown to Kaijo's elimination." Genze Kede commented firmly.

"Kaneki Ken hasn't even shown his full strength yet, but Kaijo High School is already unable to hold on..." Moroboshi Dai said solemnly while looking at the game on the screen, "Kise Ryouta is from the Generation of Miracles..."

"The Generation of Miracles is the Generation of Miracles, and Kaneki Ken is Kaneki Ken." Imayoshi said with a smile, "I have a very deep impression of Kaneki Ken... Rather than being puzzled by Kaijo High School's struggle to hold on, it is more surprising that Kaneki Ken is willing to let his opponent hold out for such a long time... His domineering attitude has weakened a lot compared to when he was in junior high school..."

"Ha? Idiot, are you kidding me?" Qingfeng Daiki sneered and pushed open the door. "In my eyes, his tyranny is so heavy that it is unbearable... Students who can't defeat him don't even have the qualifications to face him... He is worthy of being the guy I want to defeat so much..."

……

"Beep beep~"

Amid the attention and discussions of the crowd, the referee blew the whistle to end the timeout, and players from both sides stood up.

"There's nothing else to say. I don't want to hear you say how difficult it is. I just want to hold on until Kise is ready!" Kasamatsu Yukio shouted, "Everyone! Play this game as if it were your last!"

"Yes!" Everyone at Haichang High School shouted in unison.

Compared to Kasamatsu Yukio's lengthy speech, Kaneki Ken's words were much more concise.

"Go on stage and crush them." Although Kaneki Ken's voice was soft, it revealed a confidence as strong as a mountain.

"Yes!" Shonan High School responded even louder.

"Hello, audience friends! Welcome back to the game between Shonan High School and Kaijo High School. The current score is 20:9, with Shonan High School leading by 11 points." Tashiro Heihachi's high-pitched voice was still full of passion. "We noticed that in the previous game, although Kaneki faced a double-team pursuit and interception from Kaijo High School, he still made 4 of 4 shots and scored 12 points. All of them were directly scored against Kise. On the other hand, Kise's performance today was a bit sluggish. He only made 3 of 1 shots, and that was with the help of his teammates' catch-and-shoot after the pick-and-roll. The gap between the two sides is still quite obvious."

"Yes, but there are still three minutes left in the first quarter, and Kaijo High School is not trailing by too much, so there is still hope for a comeback." Oka Naoya added, "And the fact that Kaijo High School can hold its own against Shonan until now is largely due to the contribution of Hayakawa Mitsuo, a sophomore at Kaijo High School. In the previous game, he grabbed four rebounds in just three minutes, all of which were offensive rebounds. What's even more rare is that all four rebounds were grabbed over Sakuragi, the rebounding champion of the Kanagawa Prefecture tournament."

"Yes." Tashiro Heihachi picked up the statistics at hand and said, "You know, so far, Sakuragi-san can average 21.4 points, 23.3 rebounds and 6.1 blocks per game, and Shonan High School's Karachi-san also averages 26.2 points, 16 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game. Grabbing so many rebounds against such an opponent is enough to show that Hayakawa-san is extraordinary."

"In short, the game is not over yet, and the result is still unknown." Oka Naoya concluded, "Next, let's turn the screen back to the game."

……

"I saw your performance, Kise." Kaneki Ken said to Kise Ryota who was guarding him tightly, "Hayakawa's rebounding was very good, Naito's defense was also very strong, and even Kasamatsu's passing and control were also very good - but how long are you going to hide behind them?"

"Shut up, Kise has his own rhythm." Naito Tetsuya said in a muffled voice.

"Haha, fine, I'll shut up." Kaneki Ken seemed to be amused by Naito Tetsuya, "By the way, let me remind you one last thing, Hayakawa will never be able to grab rebounds from now on."

"Using such low-level tricks to disrupt my mentality is not like your style, Kaneki." Kise Ryouta suddenly spoke.

"Since you know my style, you should know that I never lie." Kaneki Ken responded with a smile.

"Click!" Ryouta Kise's heart suddenly trembled, and he turned around to look at the basket.

Just at this moment, Kasamatsu Yukio used Hayakawa Mitsui's pick-and-roll to break through Izawa Shuji and shot out of space. However, perhaps due to excessive fatigue or insufficient dodge, the moment he shot, Kasamatsu Yukio knew that his shot was short, and what was worse was that Rukawa Kaede touched the bottom of the ball at the moment he shot.

"Rebound!" Kasamatsu Yukio shouted at the top of his lungs. This was the nth time in the game that he had asked his teammates inside for help.

"Leave it to me, Captain Kasamatsu!" Mitsunari Hayakawa pressed his hands tightly on Sakuragi Hanamichi's waist, his eyes fixed on the trajectory of the basketball.

"Bang!" As expected, the basketball hit the front of the basket and bounced high.

"My rebound!" Hayakawa Mitsuo used the same trick again, and once again moved back to block Sakuragi Hanamichi's position. ...

"I don't want to learn anymore, I don't want to learn anymore!" One night when Sakuragi Hanamichi had just joined the club, he threw the ball to the ground angrily during basic rebounding training. "Gorilla, what you taught me is not as cool as what Jin Shanshan taught me!"

"Asshole!" Akagi Takenori scolded Sakuragi Hanamichi while looking at him on strike, "I admit that your talent is indeed outstanding, and Kaneki has trained you very well. But Kaneki is too strong, there are some things he simply won't care about, and won't teach you."

"Tsk, for example? Do you mean that Gilgamesh is not as strong as you?" Sakuragi Hanamichi said with a sneer of disapproval.

"For example, how to make small moves and respond to other people's small moves." Akagi Takenori said seriously, "He is too strong, and you are too talented. He relies on strength, and you rely on talent to crush many players. So he won't think of teaching you, but you can't not learn it."

"Tsk, these are just low-level tricks. I, the basketball genius Sakuragi Hanamichi, don't need these things." Sakuragi Hanamichi sat cross-legged on the ground angrily and turned his head away, not wanting to look at Akagi Takenori.

"But when we were fighting for the rebound just now, you didn't get the ball from me, did you?" The usually hot-tempered Akagi Takenori now calmly sat down next to Sakuragi Hanamichi and said, "Kaneki doesn't have to learn, because he is an eagle in the sky, but you are a fledgling now, your wings are not strong enough, you don't have the qualifications to be as proud as Kaneki. You have to be prepared to fall into the mud and roll around from time to time."

"..." Sakuragi Hanamichi listened to what Akagi Takenori said, lowered his head silently, but his face was still full of dissatisfaction.

"Compete with me again. As long as you win, you don't have to learn." Akagi Takenori said as he supported himself on the ground with one hand and stood up.

"Let's compete, gorilla!" Sakuragi Hanamichi stood up unwilling to admit defeat.

"Come again!"

"Come again!!"

“Come again!!!”

Sakuragi Hanamichi didn’t know how many times he lost, he only remembered that Akagi Takenori was angry.

"Idiot! How many times do you want me to teach you?" Akagi Takenori shouted angrily, "First, pretend to casually slap away the other person's hand on you..."

"First, slap away the hands that are on me..." Sakuragi Hanamichi turned sideways and slapped away Hayakawa Mitsuo's arm in the blind spot of the referee.

"If you suddenly move the stool again..." Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly stepped back. Hayakawa Mitsuo staggered and turned back to look at Sakuragi Hanamichi belatedly.

"When you can't grab the rebound, just pick the rebound away..." Sakuragi Hanamichi jumped up and kicked the basketball in the air across Hayakawa Mitsuo.

"Damn, this guy!" Hayakawa Mitsuo's eyes were full of unwillingness. He steadied himself and jumped up, "This rebound is mine!"

Due to the interference of Mitsuo Hayakawa, the basketball was picked up again.

"Good shot, as long as I can jump before him..." Hayakawa Mitsuo was thinking, when he suddenly found a figure rising into the sky blocking his way.

"How is it possible... this guy... jumped higher and faster than me!" Hayakawa Mitsuru's eyes were red with anger, but his instinct as a rebounder still made him jump up.

"Don't waste your energy, short flat-headed baboon!" Sakuragi Hanamichi laughed silently, and his laughter became happier and happier. "I won this game."

"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" Mitsui Hayakawa ignored Sakuragi Hanamichi and desperately reached for the basketball with his arms.

"I said, I won, flat-headed baboon!" Sakuragi Hanamichi suddenly exerted force on his waist and abdomen in the air, and caught the ball in his arms. The force he burst out bounced Hayakawa Mitsuo far away, "Because... I am the rebounding king Sakuragi Hanamichi!!!"

(End of this chapter)