Basketball miracles

Chapter 199 [Crows Zero! Man!]

On August 2, the Japanese National High School Basketball Tournament officially kicked off, with no seeded teams playing on the first day.

The match between Toyotama and Shohoku is the most anticipated, as Toyotama reached the quarterfinals of the last tournament and is an A-level team. Shohoku, on the other hand, performed impressively in the Kanagawa Prefecture tournament, winning the championship and being the biggest dark horse with their American import player.

When the players entered the game, the thugs from Toyotama High School remained confident. Because Minami Ryo was a highly respected and notorious troublemaker on the team, they hadn't watched any of Shohoku's game footage and had effectively sidelined their coach.

Coach Toyotama has absolutely no control over the players; he seems more like a team manager and is on the verge of losing his job. No one listens to his tactics; the players just play haphazardly, insisting on run-and-gun offense and fast-paced transitions.

Birds of a feather flock together, and Toyotama's fans were a bunch of hooligans from Osaka. Before the game even started, they were already swearing and cursing in the stands, their style resembling something out of "Crows Zero," with rather abstract appearances.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's striking red hair and pompadour made him an instant enemy of the thugs upon his first appearance.

Sakuragi made a few provocative remarks, which prompted the thugs in the stands to shout, "Kill that redhead!" and "That redhead won't get out of here alive!"

Haruko Akagi was furious when she saw a group of people targeting Sakuragi, and she loudly cheered him on. Haruko's cheers alone were more powerful than the support of 50,000 people, and Sakuragi was moved to tears.

After the match started, Toyotama's players couldn't be arrogant anymore.

Shohoku combined inside and outside attacks, scoring 17-2 in just 3 minutes.

Toyotama employs a small-ball strategy, with their tallest player only reaching 190cm. They even need to double-team Akagi Takenori to defend against them, leaving open spaces everywhere on the perimeter.

The awkward thing is that Toyotama's players are just short, their offensive and defensive transition speed is not as fast as Shohoku's, and their breakthrough ability is also average.

Even though he was clearly outmatched, Nan Lie, who couldn't even stop Fujima Kenji last year, was still acting all high and mighty. He said to Xiao Tu with a cold expression, "I see, you really are the ace."

Xiao Tu blew a breath, too lazy to reply.

Nan Lie's meaning was clear—"I'm going to make my move."

In the next round, Nan Lie indeed received the ball on the outside of the middle, first feinted, and when Xiao Tu got close, he elbowed him hard in the left eye socket with his right arm.

With a loud thud, Xiao Tu slightly turned his body and raised his left arm, blocking the elbow strike.

Xiao Tu's waist and stance were perfectly synchronized, and his movements were extremely exaggerated. It was a standard fighting defense, looking just like how Sun Wukong blocked Vegeta's elbow strike.

Xiao Tu was confident he could defend against Nan Lie's elbow strike, let alone his speed, even if he unleashed a full set of Prince's Fighting Techniques. Xiao Tu knew without even trying that his physical abilities far surpassed this weakling's.

Xiao Tu wasn't a stubborn person, and he never understood why Fujima Kenji and Rukawa Kaede didn't dodge or defend against elbow strikes. The book called it "toughness," but did they think drawing an offensive foul was more important than getting beaten bloody?

The one who elbowed the other was clearly the tough guy, okay?!

If this match were to take place 30 years from now, and were broadcast online, Nan Lie's actions would absolutely thrill the audience, with countless "man"s flooding the chat.

In the manga, Sakuragi's iron fist and repeated headbutts, as well as the iron part of the mop hitting Rukawa's head, can only bleed Rukawa, but cannot cause him to faint.

Nan Lie knocked Liu Chuan unconscious with a single elbow strike, leaving him dazed for over ten minutes until he returned in the second half. This demonstrates just how ruthless he is; the referee only issued him a regular foul.

Today, Nan Lie chose the wrong opponent, and it's a tragedy. The middle-aged referee was blowing his whistle frantically, looking extremely flustered, and pointed at Nan Lie, yelling, "Number 4! You! You've committed a malicious foul and are ejected!"

Nan Lie was stunned for a moment, unable to believe what he had just heard.

He lost control of his emotions and rushed up to the referee, yelling, "Where did I commit a malicious foul? I didn't even elbow him!"

Toyotama's other troublemakers rushed up, all dissatisfied with the call, forming a siege of the referee. Toyotama's coach also came onto the field to plead for leniency; only three minutes into the game, how could they possibly come back to win if their star player was sent off?

The referee looked at Nan Lie and the others like they were idiots. Is this about winning or losing? This is courting death!
The referee loudly reiterated, this time using profanity. "I'll say it again, number 4 fouled and is out. Everyone else get out of here, and if you say another word, you're all out!"

This referee's first game was conducted with an official mission: to protect "America's daddy."

Toyotama High School was notorious last season for its rough defense and Minami's malicious injuries. The referees must keep a close eye on Toyotama to prevent any trouble from happening during their match against Shohoku.

Nan Lie definitely didn't elbow Xiao Tu. If he had, the referee thought Fengyu High School should be shut down immediately. The school can only reopen after the school leaders kneel in apology and change their name!

The organizers of the national competition need to sponsor the event and advertise; otherwise, they wouldn't fund a high school competition that wouldn't be profitable. This company has some dealings with Robert Shaw, and the person in charge knows that Shaw has a special background. The co-organizer is the Asahi Shimbun, and the newspaper's负责人 (person in charge) also knows that a well-connected American exchange student is participating in the competition, which is a key point of publicity for this competition.

Only the people of Fengyu knew nothing.

Nan Lie was kicked off the field in a daze, his face contorted with rage and full of resentment. The thugs from Osaka were hurling insults at the referee, displaying extremely low manners.

Nan Lie felt no remorse; he only felt that today's game was extremely unfair and the referee was biased. His wickedness grew, and he planned to gather his thugs to cause trouble for the Shohoku team after the game, making them regret their actions.

Toyotama's goal this year is the championship, to defeat Sannoh Industrial. Nanlie had worked so hard, only to play for 3 minutes in the national tournament. He was so angry he wanted to kill someone, completely losing his mind.

The other Toyotama players were also angry, and their defensive actions became increasingly aggressive. They weren't good at basketball, so they resorted to dirty tricks out of habit.

The referee reacted quickly, and the second-highest scorer, Minori Kishimoto, and the third-highest scorer, Daijiro Itakura, were ejected from the game one after another.

You're committing fouls because of your American daddy, huh? Get out of here, all of you!
Xiao Tu never expected this to happen; he had never seen a "celebrity referee" of this caliber before.

Today, Xiao Tu truly understood what it meant to say, "If they want to please someone, they will stop at nothing." He was a privileged class in Japan, and the same applied to participating in basketball games.

In the eyes of the organizers, Nan Lie, Kishimoto, and others are probably worse than pigs and dogs. They don't need to think before dealing with these lowly people, and they don't care even if it causes controversy.

It's absolutely impossible to offend Robert Shaw in order to protect the commoners.

With three key players sent off in the first half, Toyotama's morale completely collapsed, turning them into a minnow team.

The game turned into an exhibition match between Xiao Tu and Xiangbei, with their fast-paced offense being incredibly sharp and featuring a constant stream of dunks.

The final score was 174-33, with Shohoku winning by a whopping 141 points.

Shohoku broke multiple national tournament records in their match: the biggest point differential in a single game, the highest team score in a single game, Sakuragi Hanamichi grabbed 31 rebounds, and Xiao Tu dished out 38 assists…

Rukawa Kaede was the top scorer for Shohoku, and despite facing a weak defense, he scored 52 points on almost every shot he took.

Six players from Shohoku scored in double figures, with Kogure Kiminobu scoring 14 points, all from open catch-and-shoot opportunities. Kogure had been practicing his shooting for four months, only taking shots from two high-percentage spots, which proved somewhat effective.

The Toyotama players were all in tears. Being eliminated in the first game was already a disaster, but now they were being branded as humiliated. Seeds of hatred began to sprout, and many returned to the locker room believing that Nan Lie's idea of ​​taking revenge on Shohoku was justified.

Toyotama's former coach, Kitano, was also there, watching the match from the stands. He didn't bring his group of elementary school students down to the field to greet Minami, as if he was afraid others would find out that he was the one who had trained Toyotama's unruly kids.

Kitano had heard of the nickname "Ace Assassin" before.

In the comic, a reporter tries to clear Nan Lie's name, saying a lot, but the key sentence is—"He's just a child!"

Nan Lie is beyond redemption today; he's not only rotten but also brain-dead. The matter could have ended there, but he felt it wasn't big enough and wanted to continue courting disaster.

As the Shohoku players left the court, the regular spectators gave them a warm round of applause. They didn't care how many Toyotama players were fouled out; they just wanted to see a spectacular dunking performance.

The coaches and players of Sannoh Industrial watched the game, looked at each other, and all felt that Sannoh was doomed.

What's the point of even playing? Shohoku is the undisputed champion this year, and Xiao Tu is terrifyingly powerful; they're simply untouchable!
If Xiao Tu knew what others were thinking, he would also feel helpless.

He has no rivals in the national competition, so why would he need the referee's help? The way the Japanese are doing this makes him look bad, like they're bullying a young Japanese person.

This is not the Slam Dunk I wanted to see.

It's chaos, it's all chaos.

However, I couldn't possibly lay a hand on those trash like Fengyu. Let alone fighting them, even trash-talking them would be beneath me. Who do they think they are?
Ugh, what a terrible gaming experience, it completely ruined a classic.

Fortunately, I've already mastered the combination of driving, passing, and shooting. How Japanese high school basketball is is none of my business; let them do whatever they want.

(End of this chapter)