Shohoku versus Kainan

"Tweet!" The game officially began.

Against a merely serviceable center like Kazuma Takasago, Takenori Akagi dominated in every respect.

Takenori Akagi easily won the opening tip, tapping the basketball into Ryota Kudo's hands.

Following Shohoku's tip-off play, Kaede Rukawa immediately sprinted flat out toward Kainan's basket.

Nobunaga Kiyota, who was guarding Kaede Rukawa, reacted a second too late and immediately fell a full stride behind.

With Kaede Rukawa's speed, Nobunaga Kiyota would have a very hard time catching him again.

Ryota Kudo did not hesitate either, throwing the basketball in the direction Kaede Rukawa was running.

Just then, Shinichi Maki, who had been watching Ryota Kudo, suddenly moved, sprinting back on defense at full speed.

Only then did Ryota Kudo remember that Shinichi Maki was extremely fast too, with elite help defense; he seemed to have had several memorable moments blocking Shohoku players as a help defender.

Ryota Kudo was about to call out for Kaede Rukawa to be careful, but he immediately held himself back, since that would somewhat bolster Kainan's confidence while undermining his own side's morale.

Kaede Rukawa was currently running far ahead of everyone else; perhaps Shinichi Maki would not be able to catch him.

Just in case, Ryota Kudo started running at full speed too, intending to get up there and support Kaede Rukawa.

Although Ryota Kudo's pass had followed an excellent trajectory, slowing down was inevitable if Kaede Rukawa wanted to catch a basketball that had traveled halfway across the court.

Kaede Rukawa slowed a little, and by the time he caught the ball, Shinichi Maki had closed to within half a stride.

From Kaede Rukawa's perspective, he could not see Shinichi Maki behind him, and he began his gather steps, preparing to finish the fast break with a one-handed slam.

Just as Kaede Rukawa was about to complete the dunk, a powerful arm reached over from behind and slapped the basketball.

The basketball struck the backboard and bounced away, and only then did Kaede Rukawa see the imposing Shinichi Maki.

The basketball bounced straight toward Nobunaga Kiyota, who had been desperately chasing from behind, and Wild Monkey happily reached out, ready to claim the rebound.

A tall figure raced up behind Nobunaga Kiyota, then reached one hand over his head and snatched the basketball away.

"Huh?! It's you, Ryota Kudo! Damn it, give me back the basketball!" Nobunaga Kiyota angrily chased after Ryota Kudo, who had stolen the ball.

But against the defensively inexperienced Nobunaga Kiyota, Ryota Kudo needed only one fake to get past him cleanly.

As he prepared to advance, Shinichi Maki flashed in front of Ryota Kudo, staring at him with a serious expression; their head-to-head showdown was about to begin.

Who was truly Kanagawa's best point guard-or rather, who was Kanagawa's best player? The answer was about to be decided.

Ryota Kudo was equally expressionless, but the next second, the basketball in his hands disappeared.

Kaede Rukawa received the pass to the left of the basket and hit an open midrange jumper, giving Shohoku the first basket.

It would have been impossible for Ryota Kudo to say he was not looking forward to facing Shinichi Maki; after all, this was the universally recognized best high school point guard in Slam Dunk World, and he was immensely popular.

But Ryota Kudo believed that winning their showdown did not simply mean beating Shinichi Maki one-on-one, but leading Shohoku to victory in the most sensible way.

On Kainan Team's offensive possession, Shinichi Maki calmly dribbled toward the paint, his strength considerably greater than Ryota Kudo's.

Pushing through Ryota Kudo's defense, Shinichi Maki charged into Shohoku Team's paint.

Takenori Akagi quickly moved his feet to get in front of Shinichi Maki, naturally leaving his own assignment, Kazuma Takasago, unguarded.

With his elite playmaking ability, Shinichi Maki immediately passed to Kazuma Takasago; after catching the ball, Kazuma Takasago did not attempt a dunk, instead raising his hands to shoot it into the basket.

"Smack!" But Takenori Akagi recovered and swatted the ball away with a Gorilla Block; Takenori Akagi covered a huge area defensively in the paint.

Unfortunately, the basketball flew out to the perimeter and was scooped up by Soichiro Jin, who raised his hands beyond the three-point line in a long-range shooting motion.

As a perimeter shooter, one of Soichiro Jin's greatest advantages was his height: at 189 centimeters, he was taller not only than Hisashi Mitsui, but even than Hanamichi Sakuragi.

That made guarding a shooter like him a headache, much like Kevin Durant in the NBA: once he jumped, a shorter defender simply could not contest his shot.

So, after seeing Soichiro Jin's extremely convincing three-point shooting motion, Hisashi Mitsui weighed his options and chose to jump immediately for the block.

But Soichiro Jin had only thrown a fake; after getting Hisashi Mitsui into the air, he dribbled two steps toward the paint, then calmly sank an open midrange jumper.

2-2. The teams were tied.

On Shohoku's next possession, Ryota Kudo, as the point guard, immediately spotted the position with the greatest disparity between the two teams: center.

Without hesitation, he lobbed the ball inside to Takenori Akagi, who caught it and used deft footwork to create room for a shot, scoring another two points in the paint.

At the start of the game, Shohoku and Kainan were evenly matched, with neither side pulling away.

Shohoku Team's biggest problem was how to contain Shinichi Maki; as a "monster" of the high school basketball world, he was very difficult to shut down completely.

Ryota Kudo, who gave up nothing in height and was also powerfully built, was now guarding Shinichi Maki; on the surface, Ryota Kudo had never been caught out of position defensively or beaten by Shinichi Maki one-on-one.

Kainan's scoring was now coming largely from Shinichi Maki's playmaking and the other players finishing after receiving his passes, such as Soichiro Jin's long-range shots and Nobunaga Kiyota's drives for dunks.

But Ryota Kudo had not told anyone that he was actually feeling extremely uncomfortable, with Shinichi Maki repeatedly slamming into his chest.

Not only did his chest ache in waves, it was probably already covered in bruises.

Ryota Kudo's breathing had also become less smooth, and he suspected that if he spent an entire game banging bodies with Shinichi Maki like this, he would definitely be in too much pain to sleep tonight.

However, Ryota Kudo had also realized that Kainan Team's strength did not lie in having many star players, but in Shinichi Maki being in a league of his own.

If they could contain Shinichi Maki, Shohoku Team could still keep Kainan Team under control.

On Kainan Team's next possession, Shinichi Maki dribbled into Ryota Kudo's chest again, and this time, Ryota Kudo stumbled.

Immediately afterward, Shinichi Maki accelerated past Ryota Kudo's defense.

Kaede Rukawa, who had been watching Shinichi Maki's movements all along, hurried over to help, but Shinichi Maki powered through Kaede Rukawa's defense and charged into the paint.

Facing Takenori Akagi's defense under the basket, Shinichi Maki calmly jumped and finished with a floater.

"Tweet! Shohoku Team number 11, foul on the arm! The basket counts, one free throw!" The referee immediately called a foul on Kaede Rukawa.

Kaede Rukawa had been pressed against Shinichi Maki the entire time, meaning Shinichi Maki had still managed to jump and shoot a floater with Kaede Rukawa practically hanging off him.

That sort of physical ability was practically a cheat.

Kainan Team's Coach Takato confidently opened the fan at his side and began fanning himself; with Shinichi Maki there, along with himself, Kanagawa's Number One Strategist Coach, Kainan Team would not lose.