Slam Dunk: Muguro

Chapter 403 If you've got the guts, then don't eat the eggs laid by my pigeons!
The following day, the third round of the national competition slowly began.

On this day, more and more basketball enthusiasts from all over the country gathered here.

After a fairly intense competition, the highly anticipated strong teams all won easily with overwhelming advantages.

It's unclear what the organizing committee's arrangement was, but the match between Shohoku High School and Jimbo University Affiliated High School was still scheduled for 2:30 PM.

This match can be considered the highlight of this round, attracting the attention of countless viewers.

As a long-established powerhouse, Jinbo University Affiliated High School is a force to be reckoned with, consistently ranking among the top eight or even top four, and has accumulated a deep foundation in high school basketball.

However, compared to the Shohoku team, they still pale in comparison.

As the national double champions last year, Shohoku's reputation far surpasses that of Jinbo University Affiliated High School.

Therefore, apart from the fervent supporters of Jinbo Dai Affiliated School, almost no one believed that Jinbo Dai Affiliated School could defeat Shohoku.

Even if Jinbo Dai Affiliated High School's entire team is in top form, they still can't be a match for Shohoku.

They came to watch the game mainly to see how strong Shohoku really was, whether they could continue their glory from last year, and also to catch a glimpse of Kogure's brilliance.

Before the match began, all the strong teams that had advanced came to watch the game.

Among them, the entire Love Academy team was present, unlike the previous match where only the four giants were present.

Given the strength of Jinbo Dai, Shohoku is very likely to field their full starting lineup.

As last year's double champions, Shohoku High School is considered their biggest rival, especially as their opponent in the next round.

They mainly observed the overall teamwork and tactical changes of the Shohoku team, trying to find the secret to defeating Shohoku.

The two teams took to the field shortly afterward.

Jinbo Dai Affiliated naturally fielded its full starting lineup, with their ace player named Taketori Taro, a 185cm tall small forward.

In the high school league, Taro Taketori is known for his all-around skills and explosive athleticism, often contributing near triple-double statistics.

However, his reputation within the team is not good, and he is suspected of padding his stats.

On the other hand, Coach Anzai's lineup was almost completely unexpected.

Center: Sakuragi
Ohmae:Kuma Yamamoto

Komae: Mu Mu
Shooting Guard: Nobuhiko Okamoto
Point Guard: Miyagi
Apart from Kogure, the other four are all substitute players.

Yes, Sakuragi can be considered Shohoku's sixth man now, but his playing time is in no way inferior to that of the starting lineup.

In Coach Anzai's words, Sakuragi's temperament is not calm enough and he needs to be properly trained.

When Taketori Taro's gaze fell on the Shohoku lineup, his face instantly turned gloomy.

He felt that he had been looked down upon by Shohoku, and this feeling fueled an indescribable anger within him.

"This could be a great opportunity to make a name for yourself!"

Taro Taketori seemed to have thought of something, and a smile appeared on his lips.

If he can lead the team to successfully suppress Kogure and force Shohoku to field their strongest lineup, wouldn't that be a great opportunity to make a name for himself?

Thinking of this, Taketori Taro was full of energy.

Unlike Taketori Taro, his teammates all breathed a sigh of relief.

They were afraid that Shohoku would send out their main force!
Even though they knew they were going to lose, they didn't want to lose too badly and wanted to save face.

On the Shohoku bench, Coach Anzai put down his thermos and, unusually, focused intently on the court.

"Kogure-kun, let me see your full strength!"

Coach Anzai murmured to himself, his voice filled with anticipation.

Coach Anzai couldn't see Kogure's current strength clearly, like looking at flowers through a fog.

Kogure's potential seems bottomless; no one knows where his limits lie, not even Coach Anzai.

This match is undoubtedly the best stage to test Kogure's true level.

Beep~
The game began, and Sakuragi outmaneuvered the opposing center, passing the ball to Miyagi.

Miyagi quickly got going, hoping to catch his opponent off guard with his speed.

However, his opponent was also a standard small point guard with similar speed on the frontcourt.

Miyagi had to stop and try to organize the team's attack.

"The palace!"

Suddenly, Kogure's voice rang out.

At this moment, Kogure, standing at a low position, easily trapped Taketori Taro behind him.

Taro Taketori is fighting hard against Kogure.

However, he was surprised to find that his usually strong body was now feeling an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

Even with all his strength, he still couldn't shake Kogure's center of gravity.

It was clear that Kogure's resistance was superior to his.

The team leader actively demanded the ball, so Miyagi had no choice but to pass it, especially since in this game, ball possession was distributed by Kogure.

This was something Coach Anzai specifically instructed me to do before the match.

In this game, Kogure plans to use a ball-dominant, core-management style of play as a tribute to a future star player.

As we all know, the ball-dominant style of play is also the style of play that is most likely to produce high stats.

As Kogure caught the ball, Taketori Taro said, "Kogure, others may be afraid of you, but I am not!"

"Looks like you want to dance too!"

Without hesitation, Kogure activated his backstab mode.

bang~
At the first blow, Taketori Taro felt a powerful force strike him.

He struggled to maintain his balance, not taking a single step back, but his upper body still showed a clear tendency to lean backward. *Thump*
Without giving Taketori Taro a moment to catch his breath, Kogure launched a second attack.

This time, he increased the force.

Taro Taketori could no longer hold on and had to take a step back.

Opportunities are fleeting, and Kogure certainly wouldn't miss them.

Before Taketori Taro could regroup, Kogure quickly turned around and brushed past him.

Taketori Taro was clearly taken aback and turned to give chase.

However, to his great surprise, he failed to close the distance between himself and Kogure.

Kogure's ball control was so strong that even Taketori Taro, who was running without the ball, couldn't catch up.

"Okawa!"

Left with no other option, Taketori Taro had to call for backup, hoping his teammates could slow down Kogure's advance.

The center, named Hiroshi Okawa, had no choice but to face Kogure head-on.

Just as he approached, Kogure reached out and slapped him, and Hiroshi Okawa felt a chill down his groin.

By the time he instinctively tried to close the door, the basketball had already slipped through his small opening.

Bang~
Suddenly, a loud banging sound came from behind.

Hiroshi Okawa turned around and saw Sakuragi gripping the basketball hoop with both hands.

Kogure's pass was as smooth as Dove chocolate, so smooth that Sakuragi didn't need to adjust at all and slammed the ball in with both hands.

Sakuragi released the rim, landed smoothly, and then gave Rukawa, who was sitting on the bench, a smug smile.

"Captain, your passing is much better than Xiao Gong's!"

Sakuragi offered a sincere compliment, not forgetting to take a jab at his best buddy Miyagi.

Kogure smiled knowingly. This was a Level 9 bounce pass, and his passing and playmaking had reached the pinnacle of near-perfect skill.

In high school leagues, this is a complete game-changer, and naturally, it's invincible.

On the side, Miyagi was furious and wanted to kick Sakuragi in the face.

Who gave you the nerve!
"You bastard, if you've got the guts, don't eat the eggs laid by my pigeons!"

The Miyagi family raises pigeons, and after becoming best friends with Sakuragi, they often give Sakuragi pigeon eggs.

His family background was not as poor as depicted in the movie, which can be seen from his clothing, hairstyle and daily behavior.

In the movie version, Miyagi is portrayed as a member of a low-income family in Okinawa, living in public housing. His mother raises three children alone, and the family's livelihood mainly depends on her doing odd jobs.

The reason the movie version portrays it this way is simply to highlight the character's background, which is just too classic!

Watching the two playfully bickering, Kogure shook his head with amusement.

As long as Sakuragi is there, the Shohoku team is always full of laughter.

Soon, it was the turn of Jinbo Dai's subordinates to attack.

Taro Taketori wanted to win back a point, so he also reached out for the ball.

As the leader, his teammates naturally dared not disobey him.

At Jinbo Dai Affiliated High School, Taketori Taro's status was even above that of the coach.

It's not that Taro Taketori was particularly strong, but rather that he had many people supporting him.

This is also the main reason why the teammates dared not speak out against their anger.

Soon, Taketori Taro caught the basketball passed to him by his teammate.

At first, Taketori Taro attempted to backstab Kogure, but his backstab technique was not proficient, and his movements were clumsy and lacked fluidity.

With his excellent defensive awareness and agile footwork, Kogure firmly held his position, preventing Taketori Taro from breaking through his defense.

Taro Taketori had no choice but to force a turn, but due to the disjointedness of his movements, a noticeable gap appeared.

slap~
Kogure seized the opportunity and made a steal.

The basketball bounced a few times on the floor before being snatched by Hiroshi Okawa.

Hiroshi Okawa wanted to pass the ball to his point guard to organize the offense, but Taro Taketori signaled to him that he wanted the ball, so he had to give up his idea and pass the ball to Taro Taketori.

Taketori Taro clearly hadn't given up; he tried to take on Kogure one-on-one again, this time choosing to attack from the front.

However, under Kogure's deadly clutches, Taketori Taro appeared extremely disheveled.

His steps became unsteady, and he was almost overtaken by Kogure again.

Left with no other choice, he could only hold the ball with both hands.

At this moment, Jinbo Dai's attack timer had only three seconds left.

Taro Taketori made a quick decision and immediately passed the ball out.

By the time his teammate received the ball, there was very little time left, and he had no choice but to shoot without being fully prepared.

The basketball flew towards the rim, but before it even touched it, it went straight out of bounds.

"He's just passing the buck again. This guy is shameless!"

The teammate who was scapegoated frowned, very dissatisfied with Taketori Taro, but because of his position in the team, he could only silently endure it.

In a scapegoat game, if Taro Taketori makes the shot, he gets an assist; if he misses, it's his teammate's fault.

Taking the blame is a selfish and harmful tactic.

It is precisely because of his scapegoat-like style of play and ball-dominant style that Taro Taketori was able to average nearly double-digit assists per game and maintain a high shooting percentage.

Because he only plays easy shots, leaving the difficult ones to his teammates.

(End of this chapter)