"Play me one-on-one properly, Kudo! Why did you pass?" Yoshiki Anzai's expression grew even uglier, his face full of confusion.
They were just a bunch of random guys with no basketball skills. Why bother passing to them? Wouldn't playing on his own give him a better chance of scoring? That was what Yoshiki Anzai thought.
"Aren't we playing three-on-three right now? Of course passing is allowed. Focus on the game, Yoshiki. Don't think about anything else."
The scoring team kept possession, so Ryota Kudo continued on offense.
Originally, Ryota Kudo's teammates had thought they would never get a pass. This would surely turn into a one-on-one game, and all they needed to do was watch from the sidelines.
But after that first pass, Ryota Kudo's teammates became more enthusiastic and started moving to get open.
On the second possession, Ryota Kudo passed to a teammate who had gotten open in the corner. His teammate missed the three, but Ryota Kudo used his body to push past Yoshiki Anzai and grabbed the rebound.
Ryota Kudo faked a shot, baiting Yoshiki Anzai into jumping, then passed to his teammate on the left, who sank another midrange shot.
The random players certainly weren't that skilled, and they often missed their shots. Yoshiki Anzai soon got his chance on offense.
Ryota Kudo had plenty of experience defending him. All he had to do was go all out to lock him down one-on-one, since he would never pass anyway.
Yoshiki Anzai tried to drive past him for a long time without success, growing increasingly impatient.
He pounded the ball into the floor again and drove to Ryota Kudo's right. This time, Ryota Kudo deliberately left an opening and let him through.
A moment later, having successfully beaten his defender, Yoshiki Anzai discovered one of his own teammates standing right in his path, forcing him to slow down.
That brief moment was all Ryota Kudo needed to slap the ball out of Yoshiki Anzai's hands.
After the failed possession, Yoshiki Anzai complained, "Hey! Get out of the way, old man! You were blocking my driving lane!"
The man was deeply annoyed by Yoshiki Anzai's rather nasty attitude, but he held it in and moved aside.
Still, he had already decided to find a different teammate after this game. With this brat around, even winning would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
Soon, Ryota Kudo's team had scored four baskets. One more would end the game, making Yoshiki Anzai even more agitated.
"Get it together, old man! They're scoring on you at will! At this rate, we're going to lose!"
After being criticized over and over, the man finally lost his patience. "You're not playing so well yourself, kid! You've already wasted three shots. If you're so good, score a point on Kudo!"
If they kept playing, an argument might break out. Ryota Kudo quickly scored the final basket and left the court with a thoroughly disgruntled Yoshiki Anzai.
Ryota Kudo had originally thought today's three-on-three game would surely teach Yoshiki Anzai something.
Yet they had barely walked any distance before Yoshiki Anzai loudly said goodbye to him.
"I'm heading home, Kudo. See you next year. I'll prove it to you. When it comes to an actual game, I'm all we need!"
It seemed Ryota Kudo's efforts today had been wasted. A stubborn kid like Yoshiki Anzai couldn't be changed in a day or two.
On Sunday, June 20, Kanagawa Prefecture's final-four round officially began.
The round-robin schedule was tight: Shohoku High School would face Kainan High School on June 20, Takezato High School on June 26, and Ryonan High School on June 27.
In their first game, Shohoku would face their strongest opponent, Kainan High School.
In the locker room at the venue, Takenori Akagi specifically sought out Ryota Kudo and spoke with some concern.
"Kudo, whether we can beat Kainan today depends on you. You'll be matched up against Kanagawa's top player, Shinichi Maki. You could be under a lot of pressure on defense!"
Ryota Kudo had a very healthy attitude toward facing Shinichi Maki. He only needed to contain him as much as possible, not think about holding him scoreless.
After all, Ryota Kudo was a more well-rounded player than Shinichi Maki. As long as he played to his usual standard, Shohoku Team wouldn't lose.
Unlike Shohoku's tense locker room, Kainan Team's was brimming with confidence. After all, their goal this year lay not in Kanagawa, but in conquering the nation.
In fact, Kainan Team really was strong this year. In the year covered by the original story, they finished as runners-up in the National Tournament.
Shinichi Maki gathered all the Kainan players together and shouted, "Kainan!"
All the players shouted back, "Ever victorious!"
That was Kainan Team's slogan, as well as the foundation of their confidence.
Kainan High School had held a monopoly on first place in Kanagawa Prefecture for seventeen consecutive years. They were a traditional powerhouse.
The players from both teams took the court. Shohoku Team's lineup remained unchanged, with Ryota Miyagi on the bench and the other four stars starting alongside Ryota Kudo.
For Kainan, the starting point guard was Kanagawa's top player, Shinichi Maki, number 4, standing 184 cm tall and weighing 79 kg.
At shooting guard was the team's leading scorer, Soichiro Jin, number 6, standing 189 cm tall and weighing 71 kg.
At small forward was Nobunaga Kiyota, No. 10, standing 178 cm tall and weighing 65 kg.
At power forward was Tadashi Muto, number 9, standing 184 cm tall and weighing 75 kg.
At center was Kazuma Takasago, number 5, standing 191 cm tall and weighing 80 kg.
Kainan Team's cheering squad unfurled a banner in the stands bearing the team's slogan: "Ever victorious!"
Kainan's centerpiece was naturally their captain, Shinichi Maki. They relied mainly on Soichiro Jin and Nobunaga Kiyota for scoring, while Tadashi Muto and Kazuma Takasago were blue-collar players who focused on defense.
It was worth mentioning that Tadashi Muto was actually a perimeter defender, somewhat similar to Satoshi Ichinokura of Sannoh Industrial High School. He wasn't even as tall as Soichiro Jin.
However, to let Soichiro Jin play his preferred position of shooting guard, Tadashi Muto had moved to power forward.
As the players from both teams took the court, Hanamichi Sakuragi kept skulking around Shinichi Maki. Just looking at his cartoonish expression, Ryota Kudo knew he was about to pull some stunt again.
Sure enough, Hanamichi Sakuragi suddenly grabbed the referee on the court, pointed at Shinichi Maki, and complained, "Ref! Why do they have a middle-aged man playing? That's way too unfair to us!"
That left even the referee at a loss. He studied Shinichi Maki's face carefully. Indeed, no matter how he looked at him, Shinichi Maki didn't look like a high school student. Calling him middle-aged was no exaggeration.
Shinichi Maki was already used to people saying he looked old. Many of his friends teased him that way, but this was the first time he had encountered it during a game.
Even-tempered as he was, Shinichi Maki naturally wouldn't get angry over it. He merely pointed at Takenori Akagi in amusement and said,
"If we're talking about looking old, Akagi looks way older than me!"
In the end, Takenori Akagi punched Hanamichi Sakuragi and apologized to the referee, bringing the farce to a close.
As for whether Shinichi Maki had ever repeated a year, that certainly wasn't the case.
Like Takenori Akagi, Shinichi Maki was highly intelligent and had excellent grades. Getting into university was no problem for him at all.
Besides, if a basketball prodigy like Shinichi Maki had played in Kanagawa for three years-or longer-there was no way everyone else would have failed to notice.
The original story never mentioned anything of the sort, so naturally, Shinichi Maki had only played for the usual three years.
The game was about to begin. Takenori Akagi and Kazuma Takasago stood in the center circle, ready for the opening tip.
With his first chance to face Kainan High School, Takenori Akagi was so nervous that his body stiffened. He stared fixedly at the basketball in the referee's hands.
Before you continue