Chapter 81 - The Sniper Takes To The Sky (1/2)
Teiko Middle School basketball club's morale was higher than ever. They were experiencing the rise of their already star players as Aomine Daiki and Mursakibara Atsushi had come out of games with overwhelming performances and stats.
All the members were working better than ever as they were putting in the hard work, and some of them didn't even mind the demonic training regiment implemented by Head Coach Shirogane Kozo.
Like children hopped up on sugar, Teiko began preparing for the upcoming preliminaries.
Under all the hustle and bustle of the excitement, there was one person who blocked all of the noise out and kept on working without any change.
Even after everybody left the gym, that person would by himself work on his skills and after months of practice and all the hard work humanly possible; he was ready.
On one such day, after practice, Midorima Shintaro dragged in a cage of basketballs, and in his hand was a roll of opaque tape and pair of scissors.
The dimensions of a middle school basketball court were 26 meters (84 feet) by 15 meters (50 feet).
On that court, the perimeter of the three-point arc was located at a distance of 6.02 meters (19.75 feet).
Midorima's area of dominance was that perimeter of the three-point arc that he dominated with absolute skill.
The havoc that Midorima Shintaro wrecked on the opposition was silently oppressive. The opponent would pray and hope that the ball he shot from that distance would miss, but every time they would be wrong, and their hopes would be dashed as the ball would sink in every time.
Midorima was a sniper on the court who bombed balls into the net with a hundred-percent clearance rate, and today he was going to test his skills.
Midorima took the opaque tape and started to paste it on the court at certain distances.
He started by pasting five pieces of tape on five different places at the same distance as the free-throw line. If one were to draw an arc through the tapes, then it would come out the same as the three-point arc but smaller.
Midorima: ”Mid-range, five spots. Done.”
Midorima: ”Long-range two-pointer, five spots. Done.”
He arrived at the three-point arc and repeated the same process.
Midorima: ”Three-point arc, five spots. Done.”
Midorima looked beyond the three-point arc and moved 1 meter (3.28 feet) away from it, and repeated the process, but with seven spots on the court.
Midorima: ”7.02 meters (23.03 feet), seven spots. Done.”
Midorima once again 1 meter away.
Midorima: ”8.02 meters (26.31 feet), seven spots. Done.”
Midorima yet again increased the distance and taped the court.
Midorima: ”9.02 meters (29.59 feet), seven spots. Done.”
Midorima: ”That is still out of reach. I will get there someday.”
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Midorima started with the mid-range and began to take shots from the right side.
Midorima got into his shooting form, readied the ball in his hand, raised his shooting hand, lined his elbow so that when he uncurled his arm, it would align with his body.
Midorima's shooting form was what you would call traditionally perfect. Midorima readied his guide hand and shot the ball.
Midorima's ball-release point was at the apex of the Midorima's vertical reach. His hand was parallel to his body at the time of release, and he released the when he was the top of his jump.
It made it extremely difficult for a defender to touch the ball during contesting and blocking.
Midorima released the ball. It traveled in a ridiculously high arc, which looked even more ridiculous at the mid-range.
The ball reached the top of the arc and then descended. Midorima looked at the ball as it came down, and it landed right in the center of the rim, avoiding it and entering the net.
Then again. *Swish*
*
Then again. *Swish*
*
Then again. *Swish*
*
Then again. *Swish*
*
*
Then again. *Swish*
Midorima hadn't missed a single shot, and all the shots had traveled into the hoop without touching the rim.
Midorima was now on the left-most corner spot at the 9-meter distance.
He took a deep breath and made the shot. He looked at the ball as it traveled in the same arc as the many shots that he had traveled.
As the ball reached the apex of the arc, Midorima smiled and removed his glasses and proceeded to clean them with the hem of his shirt.
The ball descended at high speed, and it traveled right through the center of the hoop and went straight through the net and bounced off the ground.
Midorima put back on his glasses and said to himself.
Midorima: ”I am ready.”
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The first-string was divided into two teams; Team Red and Team Yellow.
On team Red, were Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryota, Nijimura Shuzo, with the bench Center and Shooting Guard of Teiko's first-string.
On team Yellow, were Akashi Seijuro, Murasakibara Atsushi, Midorima Shintaro, with the Teiko's bench power forward and small forward.
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On Team Red,
Aomine was playing as the power forward,
Kise as the small forward,
Nijimura Shuzo as the point guard.
Nijimura's favorite move was drive and pass, which aligned with the point guard's duty. He was more efficient as the power forward of the team, but to balance out the teams, he was put into Team Red as the point guard.
Akashi was playing as the point guard,
Murasakibara as the center,
Midorima as the shooting guard.
Kuroko was kept out as that would break the balance between the teams.
The teams were going to have a full game instead of practice that day.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The game started with Team Yellow, naturally winning the tip-off with Murasakibara as their center.
The ball went to Akashi, who passed the ball to the small forward of the team, who relayed it to Midorima.
Midorima from the three-point arc shot the ball, with his new shooting form that he was showing to everybody for the first time.
All players watched the ridiculously high-arc that the ball followed.
Midorima turned back and walked back to his side of the court. He passed Aomine, who took his eyes off the ball and saw Midorima passing by.
Aomine: ”Huh, what are you doing?”
Aomine turned back his eyes to the ball and moved for the rebound. He knew that Midorima didn't miss, but this was the first time he saw this high-arc.