Slam Dunk: Sakuragi learned from Kawamura Eiki's experience

The referee blew his whistle as Sakuragi Hanamichi landed off the rim.

The referee's voice then rang out: "Blocking foul, goal stands, one penalty."

Hanagata Toru got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and looked like he had swallowed a mouthful of bitter melon juice. He had actually been blocked by a first-year student. How embarrassing!

Mitsui Hisashi was the first to pounce on Sakuragi, pressing his hands down on Sakuragi's red hair and rubbing it hard, making Sakuragi's head shake back and forth several times.

Mitsui's grin widened even more than when he sank the three-pointer, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "Well done! Two dunks over me, you're something else!"

Miyagi ran over from the side and slapped Sakuragi on the back.

"Great shot! A few more!" Miyagi was also incredibly excited.

Akagi walked over from under the basket, his expression still stern. He didn't say much, but just punched Sakuragi on the shoulder, the punch not too hard, not too light: "Well done."

The audience was completely captivated by that dunk. It wasn't just sporadic applause; it was a thunderous roar as the entire stands rose to their feet.

Some people stood up from their seats, some cupped their hands to their mouths and shouted at the top of their lungs, and some clapped until their palms were red. The sounds went from scattered to unified.

"Sakuragi... Sakuragi... Sakuragi...!"

The entire audience chanted the same name, the pace quickening and the volume increasing.

Sakuragi stood behind the free-throw line, listening to the crowd chanting his name, and felt his heart begin to race.

His ears were ringing, his temples were throbbing, and his palms were sweating.

He had seen this scene in his dreams before, but dreams are dreams. Standing on the field and hearing thousands of people chanting his name at the same time was a completely different feeling.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement and quickly calming himself down.

The referee passed the ball to him, he caught it, patted it twice, bent his knees slightly, and flicked his wrist.

The ball traced a soft arc and swished through the net.

16-10, then another 3 points.

Sakuragi clenched his fist, then turned and ran back to the backcourt.

After running a couple of steps, he looked up at the stands. The people who had stood up and cheered hadn't sat down yet, and his name was still echoing in the stadium.

He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, and couldn't help but show off his smugness.

Seeing that Xiangyang's morale was somewhat low at halftime, Kenji Fujima clapped his hands: "Cheer up, everyone!"

Fujima's gaze swept over Hanagata, Takano, and Nagano, finally settling on Hasegawa. "Remember our goal, our goal is the championship. Don't let one or two goals ruin a year's hard work."

The Shohoku team quickly perked up, and the atmosphere that had been dampened by Sakuragi's dunk was swept away by Fujima's lead.

Fujima dribbled the ball past half-court, stood at the top of the arc, facing Miyagi's defense, protecting the ball with his left hand and gently patting it with his right. His expression remained calm, as if the one who had just been dunked on wasn't his teammate.

This time, instead of attacking himself or lobbing the ball to Hanagata, he beckoned to the inside. Hanagata understood and quickly pulled out from under the basket, his tall body moving like a moving wall towards Fujima and Miyagi.

Akagi stood under the basket, his brow furrowed. Should he follow them out or not?

If you follow him out, the area under the basket will be open. If you don't follow him out, Hanagata's screens will definitely trap Miyagi, who is a smaller player.

Akagi gritted his teeth and ultimately chose to defend the basket.

Hanagata's tall figure blocked Miyagi's path, like a door closing the gap between Miyagi and Fujima. Miyagi's body collided with Hanagata's chest, and he was bounced back a step.

Fujima easily shook off the defense, dribbled towards the right baseline to create an open shot.

He gathered the ball and jumped.

After being trapped by Hanagata, Miyagi desperately tried to get around and lunged towards Fujima, but it was too late.

"Swish." The needle went into the net.

Shohoku narrowed the gap to 19-10, winning by three points.

The Xiangyang student contingent erupted in deafening cheers, flags waved in the air, and slogans were shouted even louder than before.

The chants of "Fujima, Fujima, Fujima" blended together, colliding with the earlier chants of "Sakuragi" and bouncing back and forth several times in the arena.

Shohoku is on offense. Miyagi dribbles the ball across half-court and, facing Fujima's defense, instinctively glances to the right at a 45-degree angle, looking for Mitsui Hisashi. But this time, Mitsui is tightly marked by Hasegawa.

This time, Hasegawa Kazushi stuck to Mitsui like glue, his hand always out in front of Mitsui's line of sight, making it impossible to pass the ball in.

Miyagi turned his gaze away and looked to the other side.

Rukawa cut out from the baseline, his off-ball movement was very clever. He first took a step towards the basket, drawing Nagano Mitsuru's weight in, and then suddenly turned back, pulling out along the three-point line.

Nagano was forced to move half a body distance, creating an opening for Rukawa.

Miyagi passed the ball immediately, slipping it past Fujima's side and landing precisely in Rukawa's hands.

When Rukawa received the ball, he had already stepped into the three-point line, dribbled once, and then stepped into the free-throw line.

Shohoku's zone defense collapsed so quickly it was like a reflex. As soon as he stepped into the free throw line, Hasegawa pounced from the weak side, and Takano moved up from under the basket. The two of them rushed towards Rukawa.

Rukawa was forced to stop and shoot, but as soon as the ball left his hand, Hasegawa's hand blocked his face.

Rukawa's shot was interfered with; his wrist flicked slightly, causing the ball to bounce off the front edge of the rim.

"Rebound!"

Sakuragi Hanamichi jumps under the basket.

Hanagata was in front of him, and the two collided in mid-air. However, Sakuragi's jumping height advantage was too obvious. Hanagata's fingertips just touched the bottom edge of the ball, and Sakuragi's right hand had already firmly grasped the rebound.

Sakuragi landed, his knees bending to cushion the impact, the ball protecting his chest.

Hanagata and Nagano simultaneously closed in on him, their long arms waving in front of him like two fans, blocking his shooting and passing routes.

"Gorilla..." Sakuragi's gaze pierced through the gap and found Akagi under the basket.

With a flick of his wrist, he delivered a bounce pass, the ball bouncing between Hanagata's legs and rolling towards Akagi.

The ball had just left someone's hand when a hand reached out from the side.

Fujima Kenji suddenly retreated from the top of the arc, emerging like a snake through the crowd. He poked the ball with his fingertips, causing it to change direction and bounce away. Fujima took a big step and scooped the ball up.

The ball was intercepted again.

"Back up and defend..." Akagi roared.

This time, Fujima controlled the ball without launching a fast break, slowly dribbling it across half-court and directing his players to take their positions and engage in positional warfare.

Shohoku's big men lineup is indeed not suitable for fast breaks and counterattacks. Their advantage lies in half-court offense, zone defense, and the net formed by their height and wingspan.

Fujima held the ball at the top of the key, protecting it with his left hand and gently dribbling it with his right. Hanagata once again pulled out from the inside, his tall body moving towards Fujima and Miyagi.

Having learned his lesson, Akagi made a different choice this time, pulling Hanagata along with him.

Hanagata blocked Miyagi's side with his body, and Fujima activated his attack, breaking through to the right.

Akagi immediately switched positions, his massive body blocking Fujima's path, arms outstretched, his steps quick and sharp, closely following Fujima's movements.

Faced with Akagi's switch and block, Fujima flicked his hand, and the ball passed under Akagi's armpit, accurately passing it to Hanagata, who was cutting short after the screen.

Hanagata received the ball near the free-throw line, with Ryota Miyagi standing in front of him; the two were nearly 30 centimeters apart in height.

Without hesitation, Hanagata took a leap over Miyagi's defense. The significant height difference meant that no matter how high Miyagi jumped, Hanagata's wingspan advantage made him too much of a disadvantage to defend.

Sakuragi, with his keen defensive instincts, rushed over to help defend immediately, but he was still a step too slow.

"Swish." The ball goes in.

The score was 21 to 10, and the difference had widened to double digits again.