Basketball miracles

Chapter 186 [What the hell? Showing off?]

Xiao Tu silently observed Uozumi Jun. This guy looked way too old. He had a diamond-shaped face with distinct angles, and there was a noticeable forehead wrinkle when he spoke. The most outrageous thing was that he had some white hair.

He also has thick lips, a high nose, and thick eyebrows, and looks a lot like Akagi, but he's Asian and a bit fairer. Sakuragi Hanamichi gave him the nickname "Boss Monkey," which is very apt.

Is this guy really a high school student? Did he start school late and is he already an adult?

What an exceptional couple must be to produce such a son?
In the manga, Uozumi goes to watch the national tournament. Shohoku is trailing by a large margin, and in his excitement, he runs onto the court to encourage Akagi Takenori. A strange thing happens: Kawata Masashi, who also looks old, sees Uozumi and mistakes him for Akagi's father.

Yuzhu gives off the same vibe as Oden when he was in the NBA draft – you could easily believe he's 40 and should be retiring.

The awkward thing is, Uozumi only looks like a veteran, but he doesn't have a good mentality.

He has a fiery temper and is prone to losing control during matches. In two crucial games in the manga, Uozumi couldn't control his emotions and got into foul trouble. Against Hainan, he was directly fouled out, which cost Ryonan the team from making it to the national tournament.

As the captain and core player of Ryonan, his performance was completely unacceptable.

Xiao Tu then observed Ryonan's coach, Taoka Shigeichi. He was not tall, had thick hair, but was already wrinkled despite being only in his early forties.

When Xiao Tu was reading the manga, he felt that Taoka Shigeichi was the best coach in "Slam Dunk," but he was just too unlucky.

He was dedicated and disciplined, and the Ryonan players never experienced a lack of stamina. Moreover, he not only devoted himself to player recruitment, daily training, and team building, but also had a keen eye for talent, recruiting Ryonan's two core players, Sendoh and Uozumi.

Unfortunately, Ryonan's players lacked talent, and they ultimately lost to Hainan and Shohoku.

In addition, Taoka is a person who is willing to take responsibility.

Fukuda Kichou was indefinitely banned from participating in basketball team activities by the school, and under normal circumstances, he would not be able to return to the team because he assaulted the coach. Fukuda's return to the team was most likely due to Taoka pleading with the school authorities and taking the main responsibility upon himself.

In the manga, Sakuragi ambushed Taoka and delivered a "Thousand Years of Death" attack. Taoka's ability to endure that shows he has a truly good temper.

Taoka Shigeichi also noticed Xiao Tu; a handsome foreign guy standing out in the Shohoku team.

Taoka asked curiously, "Coach Anzai, is this foreign friend also a player from Shohoku?"

“Sebastian Shaw is an American exchange student who will be representing Shohoku this semester,” Anzai explained with a smile.

Taoka's heart skipped a beat, and he pressed, "Then how strong is he?"

"He's the point guard, the team's primary core player," Coach Anzai directly pointed out to Taoka. "He's much stronger than Akagi, far beyond the level any Japanese high school student could reach."

Xiao Tu smiled slightly at Tian Gang without saying anything, tacitly agreeing.

Coach Anzai explained it this way for the good of Taoka and Ryonan, to prepare them mentally for a tough time.

Xiao Tu could sense that Anzai didn't like him; he was just being polite on the surface. After all, Ryuji Tanizawa's death was largely due to the superior basketball skills of American players; Japanese talents would only get thrashed if they went there.

Anzai didn't want to see Xiao Tu dominate the Japanese players, but Xiao Tu was very kind to the players of Shohoku, so he couldn't voice his opinions and simply continued to slack off.

Taoka swallowed hard, a bad feeling creeping over him.

The statement "completely beyond the reach of Japanese high school students" implies that Coach Anzai believes Xiao Tu is stronger than Maki Shinichi of Hainan. Taoka feels that even if Xiao Tu and Maki Shinichi are similar in ability, Shohoku would still become a super team, possessing stars both inside and outside the paint.

If Coach Anzai hadn't said anything, Taoka would probably have matched up the 170cm starting point guard, Tomoyuki Uekusa, against Xiao Tu. Now, he's decided to have Sendoh guard Xiao Tu from the start, to test his strength.

Wait, where's our team's Sendoh?

Holy crap, this kid's late again?!
Taoka believes that Sendoh is a talented player who is no less than Maki Shinichi and is one of the strongest high school players in Japan. He believes that Sendoh can compete even against American exchange students.

Xiao Tu didn't think so. He felt it didn't matter who was primarily guarding him, and the same went for Sendoh. To limit his breakthroughs, they had to double-team him, but that wouldn't be very effective since he would pass the ball.

He found the Ryonan players quite agreeable; they were a free group of sparring partners.

To improve his skills and practice dribbling and passing, Xiao Tu consistently advised Shohoku to adopt a zone defense strategy instead of man-to-man defense. This involved four players collapsing into the area near the paint to form a zone defense, leaving only one player on the perimeter to closely guard the scorer—a tactic used against Maki Shinichi in the manga.

This strategy is very effective; it's less strenuous than man-to-man defense and still protects the paint. This is because high school teams lack reliable three-point shooters. Hainan has two accurate shooters who spread their formation the widest, but their 160cm guard, Gong Yifan, is a defensive liability and can't play for long.

After exchanging pleasantries, the Shohoku team went to the locker room to change into their new jerseys. As if it were fate, Sakuragi Hanamichi ended up wearing the number 10 jersey. Given his current performance on the team, Akagi Takenori wouldn't let him wear number 16; he'd just stick a number on with tape.

Xiao Tu was disappointed that he missed the famous scene of Sakuragi tearing off his sleeveless vest and snatching Rukawa's jersey.

Sakuragi and Rukawa don't talk much now, but they're always on the same team for practice games. They don't seem to hate each other, often cooperating with off-ball screens, and their relationship is fairly good.

Rukawa Kaede is number 11; he doesn't have any preference for numbers.

Xiao Tu chose the number 8 jersey, a number that should have belonged to Tetsushi Shiozaki.

Coach Anzai wanted Xiao Tu to wear number 6, the number representing point guard, but Xiao Tu refused. That number would remind him of "Six-Wa" (a nickname implying he would disappear on the court), and he didn't want to become a "six-step wonder" when going for a layup.

Mitsui Hisashi is number 14, and Akagi Takenori is number 4.

After both teams' players warmed up, the match was about to begin when Akira Sendoh finally arrived, covered in sweat.

Taoka Shigeichi was always very tolerant of Sendoh; he would stop being angry after being scolded once.

Ryonan players surrounded Sendoh, who took off his school uniform and put on a number 7 jersey on the sidelines.

Uozumi said, "There's no time for you to warm up, the competition is about to start."

Sendoh said coolly, "Uozumi, don't worry, I ran here."

His voice was loud enough that everyone on the Shohoku team heard it.

In the manga, the Shohoku players were all taken aback by Sendoh's outburst, and he seemed very relaxed and had an extraordinary presence.

Xiao Tu sighed inwardly: What a pity, even the top five players in Slam Dunk couldn't compete in the national tournament.

Your spiky hair looks tough, but if you had blond hair, I'd be a little wary of you, afraid you'd unleash a lightning punch. Black hair? You're nothing but a pushover.

If Sendoh can lead his team to victory today, then he truly possesses the qualities of a star player. However, with Xiao Tu on the team, everyone at Shohoku is brimming with confidence, and they are certain that Sendoh's expression will be quite a sight once the game begins.

Xiao Tu had already arranged a very targeted tactic, and everyone felt that Lingnan would definitely not be able to defend against it.

Why was Xiao Tu in charge of tactical arrangements? Because Coach Anzai didn't arrange anything; he just stood by and chuckled.

Coach Anzai has always been like this, so no one finds it strange.

Lingnan starts with five players: Tomoyuki Uekusa, Hiroaki Tsuguo, Akira Sendō, Ryoji Ikegami, and Jun Uobashira.

Sakuragi Hanamichi and Uozumi stood in the center circle, ready for a jump ball, a move that surprised Uozumi. Sakuragi leaped high and easily won, leaving Uozumi completely stunned.

What the hell is this? !
Xiao Tu knew how to boost Sakuragi's confidence: let him shine on the court.

Sakuragi is someone who loves to show off, and he likes to boast even when he doesn't have the ability. In the manga, he won an unofficial one-on-one match against Akagi Takenori, and he always says "I beat Akagi" all the time.

Sakuragi dislikes Rukawa not only because of Haruko, but also because he's jealous that Rukawa steals all the limelight. Chasing after Rukawa is Sakuragi's biggest motivation to become stronger, and he also wants to attract Haruko with his basketball skills.

Showing off makes Sakuragi forget his nervousness and become incredibly excited.

Sakuragi, who is 188cm tall, wore ordinary sports shoes during the game today, but he beat Uozumi Jun, who is 202cm tall, in the jump ball. His performance left everyone at Ryonan High School speechless.

This is actually quite normal. Uozumi's jumping ability is very average, and his talent is not even as good as Akagi Takenori's.

Sakuragi continued to dribble the ball forward like he was blocking a shot, just like he practiced in training. Xiao Tu used his speed to get past Sendoh without the ball, picked up the basketball, took three steps, ignored the trailing defender Uekusa Tomoyuki, and slammed it home with both hands! 2-0.

Sendoh stared wide-eyed at Xiao Tu, whose speed was simply too fast for him to keep up with. Xiao Tu also jumped very high, and Uekusa didn't dare to jump to defend.

The entire audience erupted in commotion, but the Shohoku players were used to it. During regular training, Shohoku's four starters frequently dunked, except for Mitsui Hisashi, who always waited on the perimeter for a chance to shoot and catch the ball.

(End of this chapter)