Rebirth In Kurokonobasket - Chapter 127

As Roger predicted, the five-on-five games were after lunch.

All of the players returned to the dorm cafeteria and had some food for lunch.

After that, they went back to the gym to play in the five-on-five game.

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

Shun looked at his court number, and he was assigned court number six. There were a total of ten courts that would allow all hundred players in this camp.

Shun returned to the group and asked.

Shun: “Do you guys have number six?”

All of them shook their head, and Douglas put up a question.

Douglas: “Who all are on the same court?”

They all revealed their court numbers, and it revealed that Rafael and Bruno were on the same court, and Roger and Ming were on the same court.

Douglas and Shun were the only ones who ended up in different courts.

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

Shun wished the best of luck to everybody and moved to his allotted court.

A FIBA personal came near them and then looked at them and asked.

FIBA Personnel: “What position do all you prefer to play? Please start from the right.”

Shun was somewhere in the middle of the group spoke in his turn.

Shun: “Point Guard.”

The FIBA Personnel wrote something on the clipboard he was carrying and then proceeded to hand solid-colored practice jersey tank-tops to the players.

FIBA Personnel: “Please put on those, and matching colors will be teammates.”

Shun got a blue-colored practice jersey, and the other team got a red-colored one.

FIBA Personnel: “I will be the referee for this game. Both teams have five minutes before the game starts, so please begin your meetings.

The game would be four-quarters, eight minutes each.”

Shun and his team blue gathered on one side of the court and began their team meeting.

Team Blue got only one guy who was above 190 centimeters, and he was the one who spoke first.

Center: “I am 192 centimeters tall, and I usually play power forward, but looking at our heights, I think I should cover the center position.”

One other player raised his hand and said.

Power Forward: “I am 186 centimeters tall. I would fit well as a forward. I play defensively.”

The third guy spoke his intentions.

Shooting Guard: “184 centimeters tall, I am a small forward, but I will take the shooting guard position.”

The fourth guy shrugged his shoulder and said.

Small Forward: “183 centimeters tall, I am not good at playmaking. So, I will take the other forward position.”

Shun: “I am 183 centimeters tall, and I play point guard, so no problems here.”

Shun took the lead from there and asked everybody their strengths and weakness.

Shun found that his team didn’t have any strong shooters.

The small forward and shooting guard were only good from the mid-range and rarely shot from the three-point range.

The center and power forward didn’t shoot at all.

The center of their team was an offensive-type, whereas the power forward focused on defense.

Shun thought for a moment and told.

Shun: “I will pass the ball to you, but if you guys see me at the three-point arc, pass the ball to me. I will make the three-pointers.”

All the members nodded and were fine with the arrangement.

Shun: “We don’t have any pass-routines to work with, so we will work like this.”

He pointed at the power forward and said.

Shun: “You said you play defensively, so actively screen for both the shooting guard and small forward.”

He looked at the shooting guard and small forward and gave them instructions.

Shun: “If you guys don’t have a screen working for you, pass the ball to either me or try to get it to the center.”

He turned to the center and said.

Shun: “While the power forward is busy screening, you would be the only one at the rim. The post play is your duty.”

He looked at everyone and insisted.

Shun: “If you aren’t confident that you would be able to make a shot, pass the ball back to me, or move it further closer to the basket.”

Center: “What about the defense?”

The power forward crossed his arms and gave an option.

Power Forward: “Wouldn’t zone defense be the best?”

The shooting guard shook his head and said.

Shooting Guard: “Let’s just use man-to-man defense. All of us responsible for our own mark. This way, there will be no confusion.”

Everybody, including Shun, agreed with the shooting guard. They were not real teammates and were only going to play together for this game, so a man-to-man defense where the responsibility solely with a single person was suitable.

The center clapped his hands and announced.

Center: “Then it is decided, we will be playing man-to-man defense. Now, let’s play to win.”

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

Shun got into position and thought of something. He stopped the small forward who was getting into position and said.

Shun: “Hey, if I get the ball after the tip-off, run towards the basket without delay.”

The small forward thought for a moment and nodded.

Small Forward: “Alright.”

-*-*-*-

The referee came in with a ball, and both teams got into their positions.

The referee glanced at both teams and then proceeded to throw the ball up for the tip-off.

The centers of both teams were around the same height, so it was a matter of timing and vertical jump.

Both centers jumped for the ball, and team blue’s center got the ball and tipped it to Shun.

Team Blue’s small forward immediately ran towards the basket as Shun had asked him to.

Shun scanned the court and quickly moved to a position where there was a straight path for the ball to reach the small forward, and then in a laserbeam pass, threw the ball to the small forward.

The ball traveled like a bullet to the small forward and reached him at the optimal timing.

All the players in the court were shocked by the quick pass at the beginning of the game.

Team Red’s shooting guard ran to chase the small forward, but Shun’s pass was such a surprise to everybody other than the receiver himself, that he was already near the basket.

Team Blue’s small forward scored the first point of the game with a simple layup, and Shun bagged his first assist of the game.

-*-*-*-*-*-

As Team Red crossed the Team Blue’s side of the court, Shun moved ahead, a couple of steps outside of the three-point to defend the point guard of Team Red.

Shun and Team Red’s point guard looked stopped in front of each other for a one-on-one.

Team Red’s point guard looked at the players in front of him to look for a pass target.

T.Red PG: ‘I should go with our power forward, our center would screen theirs, and the power forward would score with the height advantage.’

Team Read’s point guard decided his play and looked at Shun, ready to pass him. He used a left-to-right crossover to pass Shun, but the moment he tried to switch the ball between his hands, Shun stole the ball and ran to the basket.

T.Red PG: “What! Dammit, stop!”

Shun was faster than the Team Red’s point guard and left him behind. He arrived at the basket and jumped up and put the ball in with a two-handed dunk.

Shun’s teammates were surprised to see him dunk. Team Blue’s center chuckled in surprise as he spoke.

T.Blue Center: “He can dunk, huh. I thought I was the only one on the team.”

-*-*-*-

Shun dribbled the ball towards the basket, and Team Red’s shooting guard came forward to guard Shun. After seeing Shun’s dunk, they had switched their point guard with shooting guard.

Shun didn’t stop and immediately began his move.

He stepped to the right two steps and then pulled back when Team Red’s shooting guard shifted his weight to the right to follow Shun.

T.Red SG: “Crap! A pullback.”

After pulling back, Shun changed direction and passed the shooting guard from the left.

Shun dribbled and closed in towards the basket, and when he reached in the paint, the Team Red’s center closed in on Shun.

Shun looked at the center and did a sharp direction change to the right and increased his speed a little.

Team Red’s center also increased his speed to follow Shun from the left.

Shun’s court vision provided him with the position of every player on the court. He without looking at the left, he did a bounce pass to the now free Team Blue center.

Team Blue’s center caught the ball and jumped for the basket and scored with a dunk.

Shun clapped as he returned to his side of the court for defense.

Shun: “Let’s keep this up. We are doing good.”

-*-*-*-

As Shun had asked his teammates, they did pass him the ball when he was free at the three-point line.

Team Blue’s power forward looked at their small forward in a deadlock against his defender.

He turned his head to see that Shun, who was at the three-point arc.

Both of them crossed eyes, and Shun nodded.

Team Bule’s power forward near the small forward and yelled.

T.Blue PF: “Pass!”

The small forward looked at his teammate and immediately passed the ball.

At the same time, Shun ran away from his mark and made ample space between them.

The power forward immediately relayed the ball to Shun, who simply jumped for a three-pointer jumper.

The shot sunk into the net without any contact with the rim.

-*-*-*-

In the second quarter, Shun’s play got better as he gained a better understanding of his new teammates.

Shun’s court vision perceived the position of players on the court, and he saw that his team’s shooting guard moved towards the basket.

He also saw the power forward, setting up a screen for the shooting guard. Shun understood the intention of the team.

Team Blue’s power forward completed the screen, and the shooting guard turned back and raised his hand for the pass.

The shooting guard looked at Shun and saw that the ball wasn’t in Shun’s hands, and he thought.

T.Blue SG: ‘Who in the world did he pass? I was totally open.’

He looked around, and the moment his eyes landed on the small forward, he saw the ball mid-pass to him. He instinctively caught the ball and was notably startled to see the ball in his hands.

Team Blue’s center’s shout brought him out of his surprise.

T.Blue C: “Move!”

He snapped out of his stupor and put the ball into the basket with a simple layup.

After scoring, the shooting guard turned to look at Shun, who was already moving back for defense.

T.Blue SG: “What in the world happen?”

Shun had done nothing strange or unusual. He calculated the time it would take for the shooting guard to get into position. Shun knew that if he threw a direct overhead pass to him, then the ball travel time would be enough for someone to catch up to the shooting guard.

So, to bypass the time problem, he used the small forward as a relay point and passed before the shooting guard was in position, and the moment he was ready, the shooting guard got the ball from the small forward.

-*-*-*-

Shun wasn’t on active offense, but he did score once in a while.

Shun crossed the half-point line, a couple of steps in, and Team Red’s power forward came to mark him.

Shun looked at his defender and began his move.

Shun dribbled the ball from his right hand to the left hand slowly, but the next moment he dribbled the ball hard back to his right hand and immediately leaned to the right.

The irregular change of pace threw Shun’s defender off, and he ended up leaning to the right after seeing the quick dribbled and Shun’s posture that was leaning to the right.

Shun straightened his torso and smoothly passed his defender from the left.

The defender who was moving to the right tried to stop Shun but ended up on the floor after losing balance.

Shun increased his speed just a little bit to give an illusion that this was his top speed, but the moment he reached the free-throw line, he exploded forward directly to the basket.

The Team Red’s center once again moved into Shun’s path, but Shun deceived him once again.

Shun put force on his left leg and made it seem like he was going to jump, and Team Red’s center immediately jumped, but Shun used a Euro Step to propel himself to the right.

Shun: “Surprise!”

He got behind the center and put the ball in with a close-range scoop shot.

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

The referee/personnel was not just there to referee the game, but he was making notes of every player in the game.

Referee: ‘Most of them are Division-Three level. Both teams’ centers are barely Division-Two. And… ‘

He looked at Shun and thought.

Referee: ‘He is a top Division-Two level. He is an all-round player. I can report him to the coaches as a good prospect.’

But, in the second half, the referee witnessed a single part of Kageyama Shun’s real abilities.

-*-*-*-

Shun entered the court for the second half, and as he walked to his position, he thought.

Shun: ‘None of them are any danger. All of them are ordinary players. Without me, the game would be a leveled field. There is no need for me to play seriously, we would win, even if I just choose to support them lightly.

We are already are ahead by thirteen points.’

Shun glanced at the referee and thought.

Shun: ‘But, I need to show the referee something that would put me in the Division-One.

Hmm. Point Guard, Point Guard, Point Guard. Yeah, let’s go with that.’

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

During Team Red’s first possession of the third quarter, the Team Red’s point guard had the ball, and he came near the three-point arc.

He looked at his teammates and found that the power forward was in a good position to score and immediately passed the ball to him, but mid-pass Shun appeared in the pass course and stole the ball.

T.Red PG and PF: “Eh?!”

Team Blue sprung into action as they sprinted to the basket for a score.

Shun passed the ball to the power forward, he ran with it near the basket and put it in with an overhand layup.

-*-*-*-

Team Red’s shooting guard got the ball, and he got into the triple-threat position. His defender was in front of him.

T.Red SG: ‘A shoot won’t work, let’s pass.’

He glanced at the small forward who was at his right with his hands facing in his direction. The shooting guard didn’t think about it twice and passed the ball.

Once again, Shun stole the ball mid-pass and threw it to the small forward, who scored points for the team.

-*-*-*-

Everyone on the court, including the referee, couldn’t comprehend what was going on. They could just look as Shun kept stealing every other ball.

Team Red’s scoring ability slumped, while Team Blue racked up points with the turnovers that Shun was getting them.

Team Red, like every other team, that Shun had used the steal ability against, slowed down their offense to be careful, pass work decreased, and individual play increased.

Team Red started to take hasty shots to avoid Shun on the court and made mistakes.

Shun decided that he should show-off his defensive capabilities and started to rebound balls when the center was not in position.

-*-*-*-

By the end of the game, Team Red was down by thirty-eight points. Shun with his steal and support had pushed Team Blue much farther than Team Red.

The referee looked at Shun, who was wiping the sweat with a towel.

Referee: ‘What was that?! I have never seen so many steals in my whole life. How was he doing that? Kageyama Shun.. his report would be fun to write.

He might just be able to make it to the Division-One.’

What the referee didn’t have an idea about was Shun’s age. If he knew about Shun’s age, then he would’ve changed his opinion from Shun being a possible Division-One level prospect to a definite Division-One inductee.

Neither the players of court ten nor Shun noticed that two people had written down Shun’s name.

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

Shun’s Stats for {First Day Game}

[Score – 14 points]

[Assists – 19 assists]

[Blocks – 1 blocks]

[Rebounds – 4 rebounds]

[Steals – 10 steals]