Chapter 107 - Finals: #4 (1/2)

On Teiko's bench, Generation Of Miracles sat wiping sweat and rehydrating their bodies.

In the race to come out on top in the first quarter, both teams had played faster and faster to score more.

Shirogane Kozo looked at his team and thought of the goal they had set for the first quarter.

Shirogane: 'The goal was to gain a lead on Tokiwadai in the first quarter, and then maintain it for the next three quarters.'

He rubbed his chin and addressed his team.

Shirogane: ”Our aim to gain a lead has failed. We were successful in shutting out Kageyama Shun's teammates, but the person by himself pulled the weight of the team and carried them through the first quarter.”

Everybody on Teiko recalled Shun's performance on the court. He was all over the place.

Generation Of Miracles would've no problem keeping up with Shun's scoring ability. They were five people scoring against one person.

The problem was that they couldn't defend Shun at a consistent rate. The only time Shun didn't score was when he missed a shot, or Murasakibara was able to get a hand on Shun's layups resulting in a miss.

But that was all aerial battles, Generation Of Miracles didn't have a way to stop Shun on the ground.

If Shun had the ball, and he decided to charge to the basket, then no one, including Aomine, was able to stop him.

Akashi: ”In the second quarter, I will move out from active offense.”

Midorima frowned and questioned his captain.

Midorima: ”If you move out, then we would have one less outlet from to score. We can't afford to lose in a scoring battle when we can't stop him on defense.”

Akashi shook his head and explained.

Akashi: ”That's not what I'm saying. What I mean is that I will solely focus on passes and assists, so you guys need to be ready for the passes to score.”

The rest of the members understood what Akashi was trying to convey.

Teiko's teamwork had two cornerstones,

First was Kuroko's unpredictable phantom passes, which were near close to unstoppable when used correctly. They had only failed once, and that was against Shun, and at that time, Kuroko was able to bind Shun on defense for a whole quarter.

The second was Akashi's perfect passes, the perfectly placed passes combined with Akashi's supreme tactical playmaking made Akashi the best playmaker for the monsters of Teiko.

He glanced at Tokiwadai's bench and declared.

Akashi: ”We are unable to stop him with our defense, then we only need to outscore his with our offense. We are five people, and he is alone on his team.

The only other member we have to be wary of is Mibuchi Reo. He is a player that will give us problems if we leave him alone.”

He turned to Midorima and instructed.

Akashi: ”Midorima, focus on defending Mibuchi. He can be a menace from the three-point line.”

Akashi paused for a moment, he looked at Kuroko and said.

Akashi: ”Kuroko, you are in for this quarter. We need to bind Kageyama to gain the lead.”

Kuroko nodded and said.

Kuroko: ”If I bind him during our offense, then we would be able to score without hindrance. Understood”

Teiko had their plan of action for the second quarter.

Shun sat there on the bench with a towel over his head.

He was not in a good mood, now that he had decided to play alone on the offense, he needed to focus and concentrate on the play.

Shun: 'Don't worry, you have trained for this. You won't fail. You're ready.'

Shun readied himself for the second quarter.

He removed the towel, stood up, and faced his teammates.

Everybody looked at Shun as he opened his mouth to speak.

Shun: ”From this quarter, I will be taking the lead in the offense. I will be the one scoring.”

He took a pause and continued.

Shun: ”If I pass the ball to you, look for me, and find a route to pass the ball back to me.”

The rest of them wanted to object but weren't able to. Such was the threat of Generation Of Miracles. Everyone else on the team except for Mibuchi wasn't able to contribute much in the offense department.

Shun looked at Mibuchi and spoke.

Shun: ”Mibuchi-san, if you have a clear shot or have complete confidence that you would be able to shoot without getting blocked, only then take the shot.

Of course, I am not asking to make every shot you shoot. I am simply asking that you only take shots that you have the confidence will have a high percentage of making into the basket.”

Shun took a deep breath and continued.

Shun: ”Please set up screens for me during our offense, and during defense, try to cut off pass routes for Teiko's players.”

He turned to Sora and said.

Shun: ”There is a possibility that Teiko would start with Kuroko in this quarter, so be ready to be substituted just after the first score. Keep an eye on Kuroko Tetsuya, if he begins working on Teiko's pass-work, then even I won't be able to stop Teiko's offense.”

He faced the rest of the team and said.

Shun: ”If you can't find me for the pass, please the ball to Sora, he will relay the ball to me.”

Tokiwadai's bench went silent as the break between two quarters ended, and both teams descended on the floor.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Commentator A: ”Okay, we are back after a short break. The score is 26-25 in Tokiwadai's favor, but at the same time, we could see that Teiko began to catch up to Tokiwadai in the latter part of the first quarter.”

Commentator B: ”Well, Teiko sure did try, but Kageyama-kun kept them from taking the lead. He made a few highlight-plays in the first quarter.”

Commentator A: ”Kageyama-kun did display a stunning performance, but will he be able to keep up this in the second quarter? Teiko's Generation Of Miracles is nothing to scoff at.”

Commentator B: ”Hahaha, speculating will get us everywhere. Let's find out the direction of the game by actually watching the game.”

-*-*-*-

Shikamaru looked at the scoreboard and the first quarter.

He sighed and combed a hand through his hair.

Hikigaya: ”What happened?”

Shikamaru pointed with his chin towards Shun, who was walking to the court.

Shikamaru: ”I don't know much about Kageyama's basketball skills, I don't know how good he is, but if he ran around that much just to keep his team afloat, I don't know if he could keep it up the whole game.”

Hikigaya looked at Shun and thought the same thing.

Even if Shikamaru and Hikigaya didn't know much about basketball, but they knew one thing, and that was, basketball was a team sport.

But, what they saw in the second quarter made them realize that there were always exceptions to everything, and they just saw one.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun looked at Teiko's lineup and found Kuroko entering the court with the others.

He turned to Tokiwadai's bench and signaled the coach to get Sora ready for substitution.

The coach nodded, got up, and walked to the scorekeeper's table to relay the information.

Back on the court, the game started with the Kaitani inbounding the ball to Shun.

Shun dribbled to the three-point arc, and Aomine was already in front of him to guard him.

Shun thought as he got ready to make his move.

Shun: 'I can do this.'

Shun ran his way to the mid-range and then faced his back towards Aomine.

Aomine was surprised at that and thought.

Aomine: 'Post-play?'

But, Shun had other plans. He did light skip to the left, and the moment Aomine shifted, he did a wide turnaround to the right, and immediately took a mid-range jump shot.