Black Basketball: A false start

Chapter 30: First Battle (Part )

"If we really have to say it, whoever scores more points will win." The middle-aged man wearing sunglasses said jokingly.

"Dad!" The short-haired girl was speechless, "Aren't you talking nonsense?"

"Then isn't your question nonsense? I just arrived too, how should I know?" the middle-aged man said as a matter of course.

"Hmph!" The speechless girl crossed her arms angrily and turned her attention to the field, no longer paying attention to her eccentric father.

At this moment on the court, Teiko Junior High School had defended against Masakō Middle School for two consecutive rounds, while Masakō Middle School lost repeatedly and was scored two goals in a row by Aomine Daiki and Kaneki Ken. The score on the field had reached 11 to 2. Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the coach of Masakō Middle School quickly called a timeout.

"Damn it!" As soon as Tomoki Tsukawa came off the court, he angrily slammed the bench, "That big golden retriever is too arrogant!"

It turned out that just now, Tomonori Tsukawa came to Kaneki Ken with full confidence to defend him. The young and energetic Tomonori Tsukawa naturally said some harsh words such as "I will defend you to death" and "You can't score a single goal over my head". But Kaneki Ken's expression was calm, as if he just ignored Tomonori Tsukawa's harsh words. He just silently took the basketball from Nijimura Shuzo, made him lose his balance with a flash step breakthrough, and then completely knocked him down with a crossover to the left.

But this was not what made Tomoki Tsugawa angry the most. What made him angry the most was that after he was completely knocked down, Kaneki Ken did not shoot immediately, but slowly stepped back two steps, came to the three-point line before shooting, and after shooting, he turned around and celebrated without even looking at the ball, as if he was sure that the ball would go in - of course, the ball did go in.

This almost humiliating behavior made Tsukawa Tomonori very angry, and he turned around and wanted to single out Kaneki Ken. Unfortunately, before he could shoot the ball, he was blocked by Kaneki Ken, and Aomine Daiki picked up the rebound and scored a fast break.

"Alright, Tomoki, don't be so impulsive in the future. Don't think about fighting them alone. That won't work." Iwamura Tsutomu criticized after gulping down a few mouthfuls of water, "If you don't play according to the tactics, I will ask the coach to replace you!"

"I'm sorry, senior!" Tomonori Tsugawa apologized.

"Okay, I won't waste my words. In the next game, the only thing we can do is to strengthen our defense. Even if we don't score, we can't let the opponent score easily!" concluded the coach of Zhengbang High School.

"Yes!" everyone from Zhengbang High School responded.

"Wow, the momentum is very high." Kaneki Ken said while looking at the bench of Masakuni Junior High School.

"Should we also shout a few words or something?" Qingfeng Daihui looked at the enthusiastic Zhengbang High School and became a little excited.

"No, it's so embarrassing."

"No, I'm so tired."

Midorima Shintaro and Murasakibara Atsushi said in unison.

"Alright, alright, stop messing around. Let's adjust the lineup next." Shirogane Kozo said with a smile, "Nijimura, you come down and take a rest first. Haizaki, you take over Nijimura's place."

"Coach, do you want to play a run-and-gun game?" Kaneki Ken thought for a moment and understood Shirogane Kozo's intention to make the substitution. "Yes." Shirogane Kozo squatted down and looked at Kaneki Ken and said slowly, "The core of the next lineup is you. You move to the first position, and Haizaki will take over your position at the fourth position. Use speed and strength to perform pressure defense, forcing them to keep switching offense and defense."

"Yes, coach." Kaneki Ken nodded, wiped his face with a towel, and responded calmly.

"Beep, beep~The timeout is over!" Just when Shirogane Kozo was about to give some instructions to Kaneki Ken, the referee blew the whistle.

"Don't worry, coach. Leave it to me." Kaneki Ken threw the towel on the chair, looked at Shirogane Kozo with a bright smile and said, "I will lead them to victory."

Shirogane Kozo, who was originally a little worried, looked at Kaneki Ken's confident expression and immediately relaxed. He patted Kaneki Ken on the back without saying anything.

"Everyone, come on together!" Kaneki Ken clapped his hands and roared as he walked onto the court. Everyone from Teiko Junior High School responded in unison: "Yes!"

"Wow, this kid is quite impressive!" said the middle-aged man on the sidelines, looking at Kaneki Ken with interest.

"Are you talking about the blond-haired kid? He's really strong. He scored seven of Teiko Junior High School's first points." A young man next to him introduced him to the middle-aged man in a familiar manner, "Especially the dunk at the beginning. He was so strong that he didn't look like a junior high school student."

"Dunk?" The middle-aged man looked thoughtfully at Ken Kaneki on the court. At this time, he was defending Koichi Sakamoto at the top of the arc.

As the starting point guard of a team that ranked in the top four of the prefectural tournament, Koichi Sakamoto certainly had the ability. However, after Kaneki Ken took the initiative to defend him and raised the defensive intensity by one level, Koichi Sakamoto still showed obvious discomfort. Seeing this, Iwamura Tsutomu continued to come to the top of the arc to prepare for a screen for Koichi Sakamoto.

"It's useless. I've seen it." Just as Koichi Sakamoto was about to break through with the help of Iwamura Tsutomu's pick-and-roll, Kaneki Ken's figure seemed to disappear into thin air. The two men only felt a flash before their eyes. The two who were originally preparing for a pick-and-roll unexpectedly collided with each other, and Kaneki Ken on the side easily completed a steal.

"Quick break!" Kaneki Ken's voice was like the starting gun of a 100-meter race. The people of Teiko Junior High School passed through the audience's field of vision like meteors. Kaneki Ken observed the positions of the people for a moment, and with a no-look pass, he stuffed the ball directly into the hands of Midorima Shintaro. After receiving the ball, Midorima Shintaro did not delay and shot a three-pointer on the spot. It was not until the basketball reached the highest point of the arc that the players of Masakuni Junior High School who were returning to defense just rushed to Midorima Shintaro's side. The basketball fell to the ground in their desperate eyes and went into the net.

"Let's go home, Reiko." The middle-aged man took off his sunglasses and said with a little boredom.

"Hey? Dad, don't you want to watch it anymore?" The girl called Reiko quickly stood up and followed the middle-aged man and asked curiously.

"The game is over, Zhengbang is doomed to lose." The middle-aged man said confidently, "Zhengbang is a defensive team, and their offense is not strong, which means that if they can't defend against the opponent's offense, they will definitely lose."

The middle-aged man seemed to have thought of something, so he stopped and looked at Kaneki Ken on the field and said, "But with that boy here, Masakuni can only score a few goals here and there, and it's impossible for him to launch a counterattack. There's no need to pay attention to this game. We just need to see how many points Teiko can beat Masakuni in tomorrow's newspaper."

Kaneki Ken, mentioned by the father and daughter, seemed to have sensed something at this moment and looked in the direction of the middle-aged man.

"This kid has a very sharp intuition!" Looking at Kaneki Ken who was looking at him, the middle-aged man sighed inwardly, "It's really unfortunate for a basketball player to be born in the same era as this kid..."

(End of this chapter)