The Most Familiar Matchup

The first quarter of the Jaguars' game against the Flying Waves had ended. The Jaguars had unexpectedly taken an eight-point lead at :4. If Fujima, the Flying Waves' star player, had not used his signature move, the "Roller Coaster," to salvage the situation somewhat, who knew how deep a hole the Flying Waves would have dug for themselves in the first quarter.

"Yeah!!!!"

Amid the fans' screams, Fujima scored again with his individual ability as soon as the second quarter began. Since they still had a sizable lead, Omoki was in no hurry to send the starters back in, letting them rest and recover their stamina.

The Jaguars failed to score on this possession, and Fujima grabbed the rebound.

Fujima dribbled into the frontcourt and saw that the Jaguars players had yet to settle into their positions. They were like headless flies, searching for their defensive assignments. Seeing this, Fujima dribbled to the three-point line and pulled up for three!

"Yeah~~~!!"

Amid another burst of cheers from the fans, Fujima drained another three-pointer, scoring five straight points to open the second quarter.

"Sakuragi, Miyagi, Mitsui, get in!" Seeing that the team's reserves were struggling to hold on and the score had already tightened, Omoki decisively made substitutions. The three of them should have recovered enough stamina by now!

"Hahaha, great! It's finally my turn to get back out there. That fox isn't on the court this time either, so I'm going to show them what I can do!! Maybe Haruko is watching me too!!" Sakuragi had finally waited until Rukawa Kaede was off the court, but...

"Sakuragi, you still need to start with defense. Akagi isn't on the court on offense, so we've lost our advantage inside. You need to create more scoring opportunities for the others. Remember, don't hold onto the ball too long!"

From Coach Omoki's final instructions, it was clear Sakuragi had been thinking too much.

Damn it... That stupid fox is clearly off the court, yet he's still making me do all the dirty work. Once that stupid fox and that gorilla come back, I'll have even fewer chances!! No, I can't listen to the coach this time. We're still ahead anyway. I'm going to carry the team's offense myself!!

Sakuragi outwardly accepted the coach's arrangement, but inwardly, he had already prepared himself to charge into battle.

"Defense! Defense! Defense!"

Seeing the team gaining momentum in its comeback, the crowd shouted in unison for defense, raising the team's morale.

Jaguars possession.

"Miyagi!! Pass me the ball! I'm going to crush this guy!"

Sakuragi truly put his words into action. As soon as he got on the court, he fought desperately for position in the paint, demanding the ball.

"What is Sakuragi doing? There wasn't even an offensive play set up for him, and he's over there calling for the ball!!"

Seeing Sakuragi constantly yelling for the ball, Miyagi was somewhat at a loss.

"Here!"

Just as Miyagi hesitated over whether to give the ball to Sakuragi, Mitsui ran over.

Seeing Mitsui completely unguarded at the top of the three-point arc, Miyagi passed directly to him. Mitsui caught the ball and shot!

"Damn it, Miyagi! I called for the ball for half the possession and you didn't pass it to me, but you passed it to Mitsui instead!!"

Sakuragi had major complaints about Miyagi's pass.

Clang!

Perhaps he had been sitting on the bench too long. The three-pointer hit iron!

"I'll have to get it myself!"

Because it was a long rebound, Sakuragi leaped high and pulled it down.

After landing, Sakuragi did not pass to Miyagi to reset the offense. He should have known himself that a passed ball was like spilled water—it would never come back. So Sakuragi treasured this offensive chance greatly. After setting his feet, he prepared to take on the Flying Waves' foreign import, Swift, who was guarding him.

"Haah!"

Sakuragi shouted and made a shooting motion.

Swift did not know much about Sakuragi, and Sakuragi's shout left him somewhat stunned. He instinctively jumped.

"Haha, fell for it, didn't you!"

It was indeed a pump fake. Seeing Swift bite on it, Sakuragi put the ball on the floor and drove into the paint.

"Watch my one-handed power dunk!!!!"

Once Sakuragi got moving with the ball, he was truly unstoppable. He turned three steps into two, took the ball in one hand, and launched himself upward with all his might. His body stretched like a drawn bow as his right hand slammed the ball down hard!

The entire sequence was incredibly smooth. His leaping height and control of his strength were both perfect—it was practically like a dunk contest!!

After missing two mid-range shots earlier, Sakuragi finally scored his first points of the game. Those first points came at just the right time, fully displaying Sakuragi's explosive athleticism.

"Whoa~~~~~" Seeing Sakuragi's powerful dunk, the crowd could not help crying out in amazement. Indeed, Sakuragi's one-handed windmill dunk was incredibly stunning!

"Hahaha, see that? That's a Sakuragi dunk!! The Jaguars don't only have Rukawa Kaede!!"

Sakuragi had finally found an opportunity to show off.

"Great job, Sakuragi!!"

Miyagi encouraged Sakuragi as they ran back on defense.

"Hmph! Miyagi, I won't forget that you didn't pass to me earlier!!"

Even though Sakuragi had scored, he had not forgotten Miyagi's earlier decision.

"I was following the coach's game plan too. Get back on defense, Sakuragi! I'll pass it to you next time, next time!!"

Afraid Sakuragi would play with resentment, Miyagi took the initiative to comfort him.

As they spoke, Fujima had already stormed into the paint, preparing to use the Roller Coaster again. But this time, Miyagi was guarding Fujima. Miyagi's defensive center of gravity was much lower than Rukawa Kaede's, so Fujima's Roller Coaster did not completely shake Miyagi.

"I won't let you get away with it again!" Miyagi stayed glued to Fujima while disrupting him.

Seeing no good opportunity, Fujima decisively passed to Fujiwara on the perimeter. Fujiwara stood at the three-point line, and his defender had already been drawn away by Fujima, leaving him completely open. However, Fujiwara was not a forward skilled at outside shooting. His mid-range game was acceptable, but three-pointers were truly difficult for him. After hesitating for a moment, Fujiwara still chose to gamble and launched a three!

Clang! As expected, it hit iron. The Flying Waves' perimeter shooting seemed contagious; from Kogure to Fujiwara, they kept clanking shots off the rim.

In truth, Fujima had not clearly seen which teammate was standing at the three-point line earlier. He had merely sensed from the corner of his eye that it had to be one of his teammates, so he passed the ball. If he had known Fujiwara was there, perhaps Fujima would have attacked the basket himself.

Sakuragi grabbed the rebound again and passed it to Miyagi.

Once they entered their half-court offense, Sakuragi continued battling Swift inside.

"Come on, Miyagi!!"

Sakuragi seemed to have already established position.

This time, Miyagi did not hesitate and lobbed the ball directly to Sakuragi.

"What a familiar matchup!!"

After receiving the ball, Sakuragi turned again to face the basket, looking at Swift in front of him. Near the baseline, the two were once again set for a one-on-one showdown.

"Huh??" Swift did not understand what Sakuragi was saying.

Sakuragi had no time to explain it to Swift. After saying that, he immediately drove along the baseline toward the paint. Swift was highly focused this time and quickly slid over to cut off Sakuragi's path.

"Bye-bye!!"

Sakuragi said it with great confidence. Then, after leaning into Swift's body, he made an extremely smooth counterclockwise spin move, cleanly beating Swift! But this time, the Flying Waves could not let Sakuragi put on another dunking exhibition. Kubofuji rotated over with remarkable alertness.

But Sakuragi had already jumped first. Seeing Kubofuji's desperate attempt to stop him, Sakuragi chose a more clever method—a banked floater!

Tap, swish!! The ball struck the backboard accurately and rolled into the basket!

"Hahahaha, did you see that? I don't just know how to dunk. I've got a delicate shooting touch too, haha!"

Sakuragi was utterly pleased with himself after making the shot.

"Even Sakuragi has found his confidence. Have I underestimated these Jaguars too much? This game is really becoming difficult. Every Jaguars player has found his own rhythm, and the team is rolling. Fujima finally managed to claw back some points, only for Sakuragi Hanamichi to emerge. Now all we can do is pray that the players' shooting touch comes back!"

Seeing Sakuragi perform so well, Coach Moriyama once again felt worried for his team.

"Sakuragi, you've improved a lot. I remember how you were back then. You would make mistakes as soon as you entered a game, always causing some kind of trouble. I always thought you were still a complete amateur, but things are different now. After three years of rehabilitation in the United States, your body has recovered, and you definitely did not waste that time. You're completely different from who you were back then, Sakuragi! You truly have the level to play professional basketball now. Maybe you can become even better!!"

Watching Sakuragi's heroic performance on the court, Kogure, resting on the bench, reflected emotionally.

"I never expected this kid Sakuragi to be so 'disobedient.' I clearly told him to set others up, but he's putting on a show himself. It's not that I don't believe in your ability, Sakuragi. There are still too many opponents ahead of us, and revealing our trump cards too early is somewhat disadvantageous. But then again, he's Sakuragi, haha. Let him do as he likes!"

Coach Omoki was both excited and worried by Sakuragi's performance, but Sakuragi himself felt only excitement.

"Come on, today I, Sakuragi, am going to show off everything I've got and take back everything I lost in the last game!"

Swift had no interest in listening to Sakuragi's declaration. Besides, after being scored on by Sakuragi twice in a row, it was indeed humiliating for an import player. So after receiving Fujima's kick-out pass from a drive, he charged straight toward the basket, preparing to clash head-on with Sakuragi.

"That was way too obvious!"

Before Swift could even jump, Sakuragi directly stripped the ball from his hands!

Because Swift had focused only on exerting force to prepare for contact, he had instead neglected the position of the ball. It was practically placed right in front of Sakuragi. How could Sakuragi possibly refuse such a gift?

"You're way weaker than the guys over in the United States!!"

From offense to defense, Sakuragi had nearly completed his suppression of Swift.

"Right, Sakuragi faced athletes like these Black players in the United States, so he couldn't be more familiar with a matchup against Swift. It looks like we have the advantage at this spot today too. Our hopes of winning are great!!"

Hearing Sakuragi say that, Mitsui immediately made the connection. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. It seemed Mitsui was determined to win this game!

Beep! The Jaguars are making substitutions!

There were still the final minutes of the first half remaining, and the Jaguars' starting five returned to the court.