Rebirth In KurokoNoBasket

Samezuka and Tokiwadai game started with a tip-off, and as expected, Aone tipped the ball straight to Shun.

Shun got the ball and recalled his thoughts that he had before the game.

Shun: 'A slow game, huh. I should score in this game.'

Shun decided to start the game with him leading the offense.

He made his way to the three-point arc, and when a defender came to guard Shun, he passed the ball to Kaitani.

And then ran to the other side of the court to Kaitani, his defender couldn't keep up with Shun.

Kaitani knew the pattern and seeing Shun run to the other side, confirmed the pass-routine.

Kaitani: 'A pass back to the other side of the court, huh.'

Kaitani waited for Shun to get a comfortable distance between him and his defender and then passed the ball to him on the other side of the court.

Coach Koetsuji smiled when he saw his players using pass-routines that he had asked them to come up for themselves. He remembered the task that he had assigned them a couple of months back.

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

It was like any other day of practice when the coach called the regular members.

The coach looked at the group and said.

Coach: "I have an assignment for you guys."

Mibuchi tilted his head and asked.

Mibuchi: "What kind of assignment are you talking about, coach?"

Coach nodded and explained the assignment.

Coach: "Till now, I have been helping the team by providing the pass-routines that the team uses."

He looked at all of them and smiled.

Coach: "This year, we have two players with excellent court vision. So, I have decided to let you guys decide some of the plays and routines that you might want to use on the court."

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

The pass back to the other side was a creation of the players.

The pass back was to be used by Shun, as he had the skill to score from any area, he could use it from either outside or inside.

Shun got the ball from Kaitani and jumped up for a three-pointer.

Shun's accuracy was high, so the shot went smoothly into the rim, and Tokiwadai scored their first points of the game.

The crowd cheered at the pass back as it looked smooth and fast to viewers.

Samezuka's members looked around the stadium, and their point guard spoke.

Samezuka's PG: "Aren't there a lot of people in the stands today?"

His teammate looked at his and said.

Samezuka's SG: "Tokiwadai and Teiko are attracting a lot of people to the stands this year, their game in the final last year, the articles in the magazines and their performances in the off-season attracted a lot of people to come and watch."

Samezuka's Point Guard looked at the stands and commented.

Samezuka's PG: "Hee, I remember that article, Generation of Miracles and King Of The Court. Those titles sure are grand."

It was then that both of them got slapped on the back of their heads.

Samezuka's PG & SG: "Ouch!"

They both looked behind to see their captain, Samezuka's small forward standing there.

Samezuka's SF: "Of course they are grand, and they have the performance to back up those titles, now don't waste your time looking at the stands, it's our offense. Get into your positions."

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

Shun was guarding Samezuka's power forward this game and was inside the pack-line.

He saw the ball get into the hands of the power forward, so he moved outside the pack-line and arrived near his mark.

Shun: "Yosh! I will stop you."

Shun stayed two-three steps away from the Samezuka's power forward. Shun had seen his playstyle and the areas that he stayed in during offense and concluded that the power forward liked to score from the perimeter and not from far away.

Shun: 'There is no need for me to get close to contest a shot when I know that he will either drive or pass the ball.'

Shun spread his arms to the side to block the power forward from getting past him.

The power forward leaned ahead and charged to the left, Shun stepped to the left and got in the way of the power forward.

He tried to pass Shun two times more. He tried a pass-fake and pump-fake, but Shun didn't fell for them.

Samezuka's power forward clicked his tongue.

Samezuka's PF: 'I should pass before the shot clock runs out.'

He relaxed his stance ready to pass the ball, but the moment he did that, Shun lunged ahead, leaned his torso forward to the limit, and extended his hand to tip the ball out of the power forward's grasp.

The ball went behind the power forward towards Samezuka's basket.

All the players on the court tensed as they saw the ball get out of the power forward's hands.

Mibuchi shouted the moment he saw it.

Mibuchi: "Kaitani, run!"

Kaitani did just that and ran towards Samezuka's basket.

Near the ball, Shun and Samezuka's power forward ran to the ball.

Shun took a while to start to form his lunge position, and Samezuka's power forward took about the same time to turn around to face the ball.

Shun and the power forward chased the ball.

Shun grinned as he raced to the ball, and when both of them got to the ball, Shun leaped ahead to get to the ball and caught the ball.

Samezuka's Power Forward was shocked by the sudden leap.

Samezuka's PF: "What the hell."

Shun caught the ball, turned to his back, and slid on the floor of the court.

Shun used his dynamic court vision to the limit and saw Kaitani running forward with his Hawk-Eye level vision.

While sliding on the floor, he threw the ball to Kaitani. The ball bounced in front of Kaitani, and he caught the ball.

Shun smiled at the succesful pass.

Shun: "Alright!"

Tokiwadai's bench yelled.

Tokiwadai's Bench: "Nice Pass!"

Kaitani alone ran to the basket and laid the ball in with a simple finger-roll layup.

The crowd finally reacted, and conversation roared in the stands.

Person A: "Oh my god! He lunged at the ball."

Person B: "How did he see his teammate while falling?!"

Person C: "God damn, that was some great hustle!"

Shun got up from the floor and pumped his fist upwards, and the crowd got even louder.

Samezuka's point guard couldn't help but say.

Samezuka's PG: "King Of The Court, huh."

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

After that, Shun pulled Sora to him and whispered.

Shun: "Sora, both in this quarter and the last quarter, we will be using the chaos strategy. So, be ready to move around."

Sora gulped when he heard the words 'chaos strategy'.

Sora: "Senpai, are you sure we want to do that. It will create a mess on the court, and it is not very pleasant for the opposition team."

Shun laughed and slapped Sora's back.

Sora stumbled forward a step or two.

Sora: "Oof!"

Shun looked at Sora and said.

Shun: "If the strategy is successful. Samezuka would hesitate to even walk on the court."

Sora sighed in defeat and agreed.

Sora: "Let's do it."

Shun grinned and declared.

Shun: "Let's bring chaos to the court."

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

In the next Tokiwadai possession, Samezuka and many people in the court were confused to see that the point guard position was taken over by Sora.

Samezuka's coach sat up straight in his seat and said.

Samezuka's Coach: "What are they thinking?"

Sora nervously made his way to the half-court and then readied himself for the start of a spell of minutes, which would be unreal.

As Sora reached the half-court line, he yelled out.

Sora: "Chaos!"

Tokiwadai's players' eyes widened, and Yuki sat up straight in his seat at the bench.

Coach Koetsuji didn't know about the chaos strategy and asked.

Coach: "Yuki, why did Kurumatani yell chaos."

Yuki awkwardly chuckled and said.

Yuki: "I think it will be better for you to see it for yourself."

Coach looked at Yuki suspiciously but turned his eyes back to the court.

Sora increased his speed and headed to the three-point arc, on another part of the court, Shun looked at the players and also moved.

Samezuka's defense moved to accommodate the sudden move of the players, and as they moved, two players of Sumezuka collided.

Sumezuka's point guard and small forward had collided and were on the floor.

Sumezuka's SF: "Ouch! Hey, watch where you're going."

Sumezuka's point guard looked at his captain and said.

Sumezuka's PG: "It was not my fault. You suddenly appeared in my way."

The rest of the Tokiwadai moved the moment the players collided.

Sora passed the ball straight to Mibuchi, who made the three-point shot.

Samezuka's team had forgotten Sora's yell of chaos after their collision.

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

In Tokiwadai's next possession, Sora once again moved to as the point guard.

Just like the last time, Shun moved the moment Sora increased his speed and got to the three-point arc.

This time Sora passed the ball straight to Aone, and then it happened.

Once again, two of Samezuka's players crossed paths, they didn't collide, but they stopped in their tracks.

The two of them looked at each other in surprise.

Near the inside area, Samezuka's center turned to follow Aone, but after taking one single step, he was screened out by Shun.

Samezuka's Center: "Huh, when did you get here."

Shun smiled and said.

Shun: "Just now."

Aone jumped at the basket and laid the ball with a simple overhead layup.

The crowd was confused as they talked about Samezuka's players on the court.

Person A: "What are they doing? Can't they see."

Person B: "How did they make it to Round-3, they are making a fool of themselves out there."

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

Coach Koetsuji looked at Yuki and said in bewilderment.

Coach: "Don't tell me. They are making the players collide?"

Yuki sighed and nodded.

Yuki: "Yes, Shun and Sora move so that they could maximize the chance of intersections of the defense."

Coach looked at Shun and Sora and asked Yuki.

Coach: "Who came up with this?"

Yuki smiled slightly and answered.

Yuki: "It was Shun, then he forced Sora to train with him, to make this work."

Coach Koetsuji closed his eyes and thought for a while. When he opened his eyes, he spoke.

Coach: "Two of them have excellent court vision, so they move after looking at the players.

Sora is in charge of the play, and Shun moves to compliment and direct players to collide with each other.

When the players collide, they are potentially out of two players, and our offense moves immediately."

Yuki became wide-eyed and spoke.

Yuki: "As expected, coach, you were able to find out how the chaos strategy works in such a short time."

He sighed and chuckled.

Coach: "Hahaha, kids these days are ridiculous."

By the end of the first quarter, Samezuka had gotten substantially slower and were taking each step with the utmost care, so as not to collide with each other.

Shun and Sora had laid a trap for the second-quarter by slowing down Samezuka's defense.