A Fiery Opening

After the brief break ended, the Jaguars regrouped and prepared to face their next opponent—the Sado Island Glories.

In the meeting room, Coach Omoki finished introducing the Glories' key players, then used footage of their games to explain their main tactics.

The players listened intently. Coach Omoki had never given such a detailed introduction to another team's starters before, so no one dared let their guard down, even though the Glories had only wins and losses.

"Alright, we've analyzed our opponent enough. Next, it's time to analyze ourselves. Head to the court and wait for me. We'll go over the problems from our last game in a bit."

After Coach Omoki finished speaking, the players gradually left the meeting room.

"Unfortunately, today's training isn't open to the media. Please stop gathering around. We're closing up!"

Inside the Jaguars' training facility, staff members were ushering reporters away. It seemed the Jaguars were preparing for closed-door training this time.

The same went for all three days of training. The reporters failed to obtain any valuable information; only the Jaguars players themselves knew what they had done over those three days.

"Are you ready!!!"

Following the DJ's passionate roar, they arrived at the Jaguars' home court. The game against the Sado Island Glories was about to begin!

"Everyone should be ready by now. Stay sharp, show your determination to win, let's go!!!"

Before taking the court, Coach Omoki fired up the players in the locker room.

"Three, two, one, Jaguars!"

As usual, everyone shouted the slogan together, then left the locker room and prepared to enter the court.

"The Jaguars' lineup remains unchanged. They narrowly lost to the Kagoshima Antlers in their previous home game, and tonight they'll be fighting for their second home win of the season!" The commentator was already in place as both teams took the court. The game was about to begin.

"Just as I predicted," Coach Omoki said as he looked at the Glories players.

The Glories' starters were exactly the five key players Coach Omoki had introduced earlier.

Akagi jumped for the ball against the Glories' center, Shirai Kyodan.

With Akagi's height advantage, there was little suspense in the tip-off. He tapped the ball directly into Miyagi's hands, and the Jaguars launched the first possession of the game.

"Alright, let's make the first one!" Miyagi brought the ball upcourt at an unhurried pace.

The first few possessions of a game were generally about playing steadily. Everyone followed the usual patterns and worked together, allowing them to settle into the rhythm faster.

Defending Miyagi was the long-armed guard Coach Omoki had mentioned, Miura Fei. Thanks to his long arms, Miura put considerable defensive pressure on Miyagi. Miyagi did not dare expose the ball too openly and could only protect it with his body while looking for an opportunity.

"Here!"

Seeing Miyagi in a difficult position, Rukawa Kaede stepped up to call for the ball. Miyagi immediately passed it to him.

Abe Duoheng was guarding Rukawa. This was their first matchup since their college days.

"Feels like we're back in college, Rukawa Kaede. Come at me!!" Abe's gaze was firm, and his voice was full of confidence.

Rukawa never responded to that kind of provocation. He usually made defenders shut up through his actions, but this time, he replied, "Why did you change to that hairstyle? It's so long. You don't even know to wash it..."

"This is a visual kei hairstyle!!"

Abe was right. His hairstyle was a typical Japanese visual kei style.

As soon as he finished speaking, Rukawa shrugged his right shoulder and leaned his body to the right as though he were about to drive that way. Abe stayed focused and adjusted his defensive position accordingly.

"Stupid fox, pass it over here!! You're going to get trapped again!!"

Seeing Rukawa freeze after receiving the ball, Sakuragi grew anxious and ran up to call for it.

"He's driving!!" Seeing that Rukawa's move was not a fake and that he really was driving right, Abe immediately shifted his center of gravity and followed him.

"Waaah~~~" Just as Abe backpedaled in front of Rukawa, a scream rang out. He crashed to the floor.

"What the..." As Abe fell backward, it felt as though he had run into a wall. His whole body hurt.

By the time Abe came to his senses, the arena had erupted in thunderous cheers. It seemed the Jaguars had scored.

"Honestly, I never expected those two to pull off a pick-and-roll. Was that just a coincidence?"

The Glories' head coach, Toyama Jiro, voiced his doubts after witnessing the scene.

When Sakuragi ran up to ask for the ball, his position happened to knock into Abe, who was backpedaling while tightly guarding Rukawa, unintentionally completing a screen. Abe, never expecting someone to be behind him, slammed solidly into Sakuragi.

Using Sakuragi's accidental screen, Rukawa drove straight to the basket. The help-defending power forward, Eguchi Kyozo, played fiercely, but once he saw Rukawa had already taken off, he gave up defending to avoid becoming a poster victim and watched Rukawa hammer down a one-handed dunk!!

"Are you blind, visual kei freak?! Why did you run into me?!" Sakuragi had knocked someone over yet still refused to let it go.

"Idiot, I don't have eyes on the back of my head!!" Abe retorted.

"Next time, you have to stop him, but don't try to steal the ball. Force him to pass!!" Sakuragi instructed Abe as though he were explaining tactics.

"Huh???" Abe was utterly baffled. He could not believe those words had come from an opponent.

"Moron!! Go guard your own teammate!!" So absorbed in talking, Sakuragi had unknowingly ended up standing beside Abe. Seeing this, Rukawa reminded him.

"What a strange team..." Abe had already been confused by the way Sakuragi and Rukawa spoke to each other.

Because Sakuragi had lost focus, Akagi was left defending two players under the basket. The point guard Miura seized the opportunity and passed directly inside. Akagi had no choice but to foul and pull down Eguchi's dunk attempt.

"Tweet! Number 4 on defense, shooting foul. Number 14 on offense, two free throws."

"Idiot, don't lose focus!" Akagi was highly dissatisfied with Sakuragi's performance.

"Damn stupid fox. He used me on offense, then distracted me on defense. How underhanded!!" Sakuragi secretly continued to resent Rukawa, though in truth, it was Sakuragi who had badly lost his man.

"Akagi picking up an early foul isn't good for us. He contributes enormously on defense. With only Sakuragi, our interior defense isn't secure," Coach Omoki said worriedly.

Both free throws went in. Both teams scored on their first possession of the game; the score was tied.

Jaguars possession.

This time, Miura did not press Miyagi closely and instead gave him some space, giving Miyagi more options.

Sure enough, Miyagi dribbled to a step inside the three-point line, and Miura still did not close in.

"What a condescending bastard!!"

Miyagi spoke as he pulled up for a mid-range jumper!

Swish!! Nothing but net.

"This defensive adjustment must be testing Miyagi's shooting consistency, but Miyagi won't waste an opportunity like this!" Coach Omoki, who had witnessed Miyagi practicing extra shots every day, knew very well that Miyagi had become a point guard with a reliable outside shot.

The Glories attacked.

"I won't let you get the ball so easily this time!!" Sakuragi said as he pressed tightly against Eguchi.

Eguchi ignored Sakuragi and ran out to set a pick-and-roll with Abe, who had the ball.

Perhaps deep in Sakuragi's heart, he had the subconscious belief that he could not let Eguchi get the ball. So even after Eguchi's screen caused Rukawa to lose his defensive position on Abe, Sakuragi still did not rotate over. He remained tangled up with Eguchi, leaving Abe completely wide open. After settling himself, Abe launched a three-pointer.

Clang!! The wide-open three missed! If it had gone in, Sakuragi would have made another defensive mistake.

"Sakuragi!! What are you thinking? Help out!!" Seeing Sakuragi's careless defense several times at the start, Akagi grew anxious.

"Visual kei freaks can't shoot! Don't worry!!" Sakuragi clearly did not realize how dangerous his actions had been.

The Jaguars pushed the ball up quickly. Before the Glories players could set their feet, the ball was already moving. Mitsui received it at the three-point line, saw Kuroki Akira guarding him tightly, made a shooting fake, and passed it inside to Sakuragi, who had established position.

"Haha, Mitsui still knows how to pass! Let me show you the genius's strength!!" Sakuragi was thrilled to touch the ball for the first time in the game.

In terms of height alone, Sakuragi was 205 centimeters while Eguchi was only 199, giving Sakuragi an absolute height advantage. Posting up was the perfect choice. From the results of the post-up, Sakuragi also held a slight strength advantage, but Eguchi's lower body was indeed remarkably stable, preventing Sakuragi from backing any closer to the basket.

"Tch! I'm done tangling with you!!"

After saying that, Sakuragi lowered his center of gravity as though gathering strength, turned his body half a step to the right, then immediately leaped backward!!!

"What?!!!" Toyama Jiro, the Glories' head coach, could not believe Sakuragi's move!!

Sakuragi leaped high backward without losing his balance. Instead, he squared his body in midair, smoothly raised the ball above his head, and released it.

Eguchi had never expected Sakuragi to make such a move and could only watch him shoot. Perhaps when the Glories had analyzed Sakuragi before the game, they had never considered that he could make a move like this.

Swish! Another clean make.

"Beautiful!! Sakuragi Hanamichi just completed a brilliant turnaround fadeaway jumper over Eguchi Kyozo!!! Though Sakuragi has occasionally lost focus on defense since the opening, that possession showed us a different side of him!!"

The commentator at the scene was equally full of praise for Sakuragi.

"Hahahaha, did you see this genius's strength? This genius isn't just the rebounding king—I'm the scoring king too!!" Sakuragi bragged to Rukawa, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"Moron, you lost your man again," Rukawa said, sending Sakuragi running off at once.

The Jaguars' three days of closed training clearly had been effective. They came out blazing from the opening tip, and even Sakuragi had pulled out a rare turnaround fadeaway jumper! The Glories were in trouble.