Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 290 I am able to have my current strength entirely because of my own hard work and struggle!
After the game, the Shohoku team did not leave, but prepared to watch the next game.

Sannoh Industrial vs. Shohoku!

This match is the highlight of this round because the two sides are more evenly matched.

Among the top four in the country, Aihe Academy is undoubtedly the weakest.

Furthermore, Shohoku rose to power by stepping over one of the two powerhouse teams, Hakata.

This has generated a lot of anticipation among viewers, since Shoyo was able to rise to the top by defeating Hakata, it also means they have a chance to defeat Sannoh Industrial.

Kogure was not optimistic about this.

Shoyo was able to defeat Hakata mainly because Hakata messed up; otherwise, Shoyo would likely have lost.

Compared to Hakata, Sannoh Industrial is even stronger.

Unless Shohoku has an exceptionally hot hand throughout the game, the final winner is very likely to be Sannoh Industrial.

The two sides took to the field shortly afterward.

"That chubby kid has grown up way too fast! Last year he was a point guard, and now he's a center!"

Mitsui's gaze unconsciously fell on Kawada, his eyes filled with envy.

This talent was truly visible to the naked eye, filling him with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Last year, Kawada was half a head shorter than him, but this year it's the other way around.

Mitsui also wanted to be that tall, but unfortunately he didn't have that talent.

Mitsui's current height is similar to that of the character in the story. He may continue to grow taller in the future, but whether he can reach 190 centimeters is unknown.

If Mitsui can grow to over 190 cm tall and improve his physical strength, he really has a chance to enter the NBA.

Beside him, Akagi said in a deep voice, "That's talent, something we can't envy!"

For basketball, being tall is the most important talent.

"Speaking of exceptionally talented individuals, whose talent can compare to Kogure's?"

Mitsui sighed. He had tried his best, but instead of catching up with Kogure, he had fallen further and further behind, and now he could only look up to him from behind.

Perhaps in another year or two, he won't even be able to see Kogure anymore.

That's true talent!
Kogure shamelessly replied, "I owe my current strength entirely to my own hard work and struggle!"

At that moment, Akagi and Mitsui extended an international hand gesture to Kogure as if in tacit agreement!

"Alright, the match is about to begin!"

The three giants of Shohoku stopped talking and focused their attention on the court.

After the game started, Kawada and Hanagata both dribbled the basketball.

Taking advantage of his strength, Kawata overpowered Hanagata and slapped the ball towards his own player.

Despite his large and stout build, Kawada has an impressive jumping ability, ranking among the top in Slam Dunk.

Sannoh Industrial immediately launched an attack. Fukatsu passed the ball to Sawakita, who turned and made a jump shot despite Hasegawa's defense.

Judging from the fact that the first ball was given to Sawakita for a one-on-one match, Sawakita has become a true ace of the team.

Before Shoyo served, Sannoh Industrial quickly returned to defense, clearly prepared for Shoyo's run-and-gun offense.

Using Hanagata's screen, Fujima failed to break through and instead swiftly launched a three-pointer.

shuh~
Fujima seized the opportunity and hit a three-pointer.

He waved his arm vigorously, greatly excited.

Initially, both sides mainly engaged in probing.

With the players from Shohoku in hot form, they seem to be gaining the upper hand over Sannoh Industrial.

However, their good fortune didn't last long. After adapting to Shoyo's style of play, Sannoh Industrial significantly strengthened their defense, forcing Shoyo players to shoot from positions far from the basket.

In addition, Sannoh Industrial has intensified its efforts in rebounding.

Shohoku's weakness is obvious: their rebounding problem.

Neither Hanagata nor Kishimoto were particularly adept at rebounding.

Sannoh Industrial quickly took the lead.

However, Xiangyang was not without the ability to fight back.

With their hot shooting touch, Xiangyang managed to keep the score close in the first half, with the difference between the two sides remaining in single digits.

During halftime, Coach Domoto made a decision.

"We must finish this game quickly, otherwise it will be detrimental to our game against Shohoku tomorrow."

"Yes, Coach!"

The Sannoh players understood Coach Domoto's intention: to apply tight defense.

They also did not object to defense.

Because Shohoku is Sannoh Industrial's hypothetical enemy!

On the other side, the experienced and prudent Coach Kitano seemed to have seen through Coach Domoto's plan and began to make corresponding arrangements for Sannoh Industrial's tight defense.

Shoyo had naturally prepared countermeasures against Sannoh Industrial's tight defense.

Whether it is effective depends mainly on the results.

The second half of the game began shortly afterward!
During the jump ball, Kawata once again outmaneuvered Hanagata and passed the ball to Fukatsu.

Soon, Fukatsu and Kawata started a pick-and-roll, with Fukatsu passing the ball to Kawata who cut to the basket, and the latter finished with a dunk.

Shohoku began their routine serve, but instead of returning to defense, the Sannoh players employed a tight defensive strategy.

Under Sannoh Industrial's tight defense, Hanagata was unable to serve the ball for a time.

"Hanagata, over here!"

Seeing that a service violation was imminent, Fujima stepped forward to receive the serve.

Hanagata immediately passed the ball to Fujima, but at that moment, Sawakita rushed up and, together with Fukatsu, double-teamed Fujima.

In addition to marking the Shoyo players, the other Sannoh players also cut off Fujima's passing lanes.

beep~
Under pressure from Sawakita and Fukatsu, Fujima was eventually forced out of bounds.

The referee immediately blew his whistle and signaled to switch possession of the ball.

shuh~
In Sannoh Industrial's attack, Sawakita once again broke through Hasegawa and made a jump shot.

Hasegawa looked quite disheveled when facing Sawakita's one-on-one attack.

Even though he tried his best, he still couldn't stop Zebei from scoring, and his heart was filled with deep despair.

In the first half, Zebei easily scored more than 20 points over him, with a shooting percentage as high as 60%.

Shohoku served again, and this time, they were in much better shape, but they still couldn't get the ball into the frontcourt smoothly.

Soon, the basketball was stolen again by Sannoh Industrial.

Seeing that Fujima was not paying attention, Fukatsu immediately took a three-pointer.

shuh~
The basketball pierced straight through the net.

beep~
At this moment, Coach Kitano immediately requested a timeout.

When the timeout ended, Ito Taku replaced Hasegawa.

Shohoku has started using a dual point guard strategy!
However, Coach Kitano seems to have overestimated Ito Taku's abilities and mental fortitude.

Sannoh Industrial has a clear 'home advantage', and Ito Taku is surrounded by voices supporting Sannoh Industrial, which makes him particularly nervous.

Despite Coach Kitano giving him a lot of pep talks before he went on stage, Ito Taku still couldn't help feeling nervous.

He was still a freshman, a substitute, and especially facing a national powerhouse like Sannoh Industrial. How could he possibly shoulder the responsibility of saving the team?

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was reading a script from Benboerba.

After the game resumed, Ito Taku quickly received a pass from his teammate.

He was too nervous and failed to pass the ball in time, which was stolen by Minoru Matsumoto.

Soon, Matsumoto Minoru drew the defense, assisting Kawata to make a mid-range jumper. Clearly, the situation on the court was very favorable for Sannoh Kogyo.

With Ito Taku's link failing, Shohoku was unable to break through Sannoh Industrial's tight defense and was completely suppressed by Sannoh Industrial.

Most of the time, Xiangyang couldn't even get the ball past half-court.

Even if they cross the halfway line, the chances of scoring are extremely slim.

Coach Kitano quickly called another timeout, but it was to no avail.

At this moment, the Shohoku players experienced the despair of Ryonan and the power of Kogure.

Last year in the Winter Tournament, Shohoku was able to break through Sannoh Kogyo's tight defense thanks to Kogure's strong individual ability.

Soon, five minutes passed.

Sannoh Industrial has extended its lead to more than 20 points.

In five minutes, Xiangyang scored a total of 6 points.

This is slightly better than the Hainan Affiliated High School in the original novel, after all, the Hainan Affiliated High School only scored 4 points.

To avoid excessive physical exertion, Sannoh Industrial did not continue their tight defensive press.

Nevertheless, after this wave of attacks, the morale of the Xiangyang team has plummeted to rock bottom.

At this point, the situation had become clear.

Sannoh Industrial has further expanded its leading advantage by pressing forward.

Ten minutes into the second half, Xiangyang had completely lost any chance of taking the lead.

Without hesitation, Coach Domoto immediately substituted the key players off the field, saving their energy for tomorrow's game.

Even though Shohoku is still putting up a stubborn fight, Coach Domoto has full confidence in the team's bench lineup.

As the largest powerhouse in the country, Sannoh Industrial receives countless outstanding players every year who voluntarily join the club.

Therefore, Sannoh Industrial's substitute lineup is not much inferior to the main lineup of many strong teams.

Ultimately, despite Xiangyang recovering a significant number of points, they were eliminated in the national semifinals.

Even so, this is still a new record for the Xiangyang team, and it can be considered a further step forward.

Previously, Xiangyang had made it to the national competition many times, but at most they had only achieved the honor of being among the top eight in the country.

For Coach Kitano, he has finally established himself at Shohoku and has done right by the Shohoku management.

Given Toyotama's experience, unless Coach Kitano's performance is too poor in the future, the Shohoku management should not dismiss him again.

Toyotama's performance this year has been dismal, as two of their key players joined Shohoku with Coach Kitano.

After the game ended, it meant that Shohoku and Sannoh would successfully meet in the finals.

Zebei scored 40+ points in two consecutive games, and his popularity has surpassed that of Moroboshi Dai, showing a trend of becoming the 'second best in the country'.

Aside from Sawakita, Kawada was the best performing company among Sannoh Industrial.

In this game, Kawata scored 30 points and 15 rebounds, along with 5 blocks and 4 steals, clearly outperforming Hanagata.

As for Minoru Matsumoto, who performed exceptionally well last year, he had a very difficult time playing.

It's clear that he's not suited to playing off the ball; the core-based style is what truly suits him!

Unfortunately, Sannoh Industrial's ball possession was mostly concentrated on Sawakita and Kawada, leaving Matsumoto Minoru to play off-the-ball, a skill he wasn't particularly good at.

Kogure expressed his regret, believing that this was a waste of Matsumoto Minoru's talent.

Just as the three giants of Shohoku were about to leave, Kogure suddenly noticed that Akagi's gait was a little abnormal.

"Akagi, what happened to your foot?"

Akagi waved his hand dismissively and said, "I bumped into Moroboshi during the match and accidentally bruised my knee. Don't worry, I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

"It seems that Moroboshi Dai's injury is not only related to Emperor Kakuta, but may also be related to Akagi."

Kogure muttered to himself.

However, Kogure still said with concern, "Akagi, why don't you go to the hospital for a check-up?"

"It's nothing serious, it's just a minor injury."

Akagi didn't care at all and turned to lead the way away.

Kogure was helpless in the face of this.

……

The next morning, Kogure was awakened by faint cries of pain.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and found Akagi sitting on the bed with a pained expression on his face.

"Damn it!"

Akagi rubbed his left knee with one hand, his voice carrying a hint of suppressed pain.

Kogure realized something was wrong and quickly got up to check. He found that Akagi's left knee was visibly swollen and had a bruise.

Although the injury doesn't seem too serious, Akagi is clearly unable to play.

Although Akagi could play despite his injury, Kogure did not support him doing so.

"Akagi, didn't you say you were fine yesterday?"

Akagi gave a wry smile and said, "I thought it was just a common minor injury that would be fine after a good night's sleep, but I didn't expect it to hurt even more today."

Seeing Akagi's pained expression, Kogure knew that this was not just a simple hard injury; it was very likely that soft tissue had been damaged.

He immediately suggested, "Akagi, for your future, you shouldn't play today. I'll go to the hospital with you now."

The national finals were scheduled for 2 p.m., which was plenty of time.

"But……"

Akagi hesitated, feeling that Shohoku couldn't do without him and wanted to play despite his injury.

"Don't you believe in our strength? Don't worry, I guarantee we'll win the championship!"

Kogure interrupted Akagi, patting his chest in assurance.

Even without Akagi, as long as he is there, Shohoku will not be weaker than Sannoh Industrial.

"Ok, I trust you!"

Akagi hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded reluctantly.

He believed in Kogure, but he was a little disappointed that he probably wouldn't be able to attend the awards ceremony.

Not long after, Kogure found Coach Anzai and told him the truth about Akagi's situation.

"Kogure-kun, let's do as you say."

Coach Anzai waved his hand, indicating his agreement with Kogure's arrangement.

As a coach, he naturally didn't want Akagi to play with an injury.

After Kogure left, Coach Anzai began to consider who could replace Akagi.

Akagi is the cornerstone of Shohoku's interior defense, and his absence will inevitably have a significant impact on the team.

Therefore, the selection of a replacement must be done with utmost care.

Soon, Kogure, Mitsui, Ayako, and others accompanied Akagi to the hospital for further examination and treatment.

It took the doctor quite a while to conduct a thorough examination of Akagi's knee.

Fortunately, Akagi's knee was not seriously injured; it was just a soft tissue contusion.

Upon hearing this news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; it was a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune!
Knee soft tissue contusions typically present with symptoms such as pain, swelling, bruising, and limited mobility.

This injury is very similar to Mitsui's first injury. According to the doctor's advice, Akagi will need about 2-6 weeks to fully recover.

During this period, he needs to rest and receive treatment to avoid further injury and prevent more serious consequences like those suffered by Mitsui in the original story.

Unexpectedly, Akagi followed in Mitsui's footsteps.

(End of this chapter)