By the time the full game ended, Eikichi Nebuya had completely dominated the restricted area.
Today, he played a total of thirty-three minutes, recording 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
His shooting was even more impressive: 13-for-16 from the field and 3-for-6 from the free-throw line, reaching a terrifying field-goal percentage of 81%.
He had blown up his matchup and ruled the paint.
Hibari continued his strong performance as well.
He played twenty-nine minutes and recorded an all-around stat line of 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 6 blocks, and 5 steals.
If people looked only at his blocks and steals, they might think he was a two-way genius.
In reality, however, most of the defensive work in the restricted area was being handled by Eikichi Nebuya.
Hibari was only responsible for stuffing the stat sheet.
He had only two defensive moves: blocks and steals.
Nebuya hadn’t paid much attention before, but after having two blocks taken from him, Herculean Strength also began noticing Hibari’s problem.
His defensive positioning was far too poor.
Beginners almost all had this problem, caused by a lack of game experience.
Immediately after the game ended, Eikichi Nebuya told Hibari to practice defense with him in the future.
Hibari gladly agreed.
But once they got on the train and he listened to Eikichi Nebuya’s defensive theory…
“Defend with your muscles,” “fight with your muscles,” “box out with your muscles,” and so on.
Hibari gave up.
He should never have held any expectations for this muscle alien.
Compared to Herculean Strength, No.
2 was indeed more reliable.
Over the following two weeks, Hibari followed the team to Tokyo and then played two more games in Chiba Prefecture.
In the end, they finished all of their warm-up games with a record of four wins and zero losses.
Hibari felt somewhat confused.
Without encountering much of a challenge, they had somehow won four straight games.
“The national tournament’s level isn’t that high after all.” Now he finally understood why that monster Atsushi Murasakibara could score 100 points in one game.
Although there were many teams participating in the national tournament, their levels varied wildly.
The truly strong teams were only those few powerhouses.
“Does this mean my level has already reached powerhouse standards?” Hibari did not get carried away, because above him were still those maniacs from the Generation of Miracles.
He wasn’t even a match for Eikichi Nebuya yet.
In intrasquad scrimmages, his team still lost more often than it won.
First, he would set himself a small goal: take down Eikichi Nebuya before considering the next step.
Hibari didn’t care much about the results of the four warm-up games.
However, some regional and even national newspapers were showering them with praise.
With the national tournament approaching, the basketball atmosphere across Japan had also been ignited.
Every year, besides the condition of the powerhouse teams, what fans cared about most before the national tournament was which talented players had emerged that year.
Just like that, Hibari entered the fans’ field of vision.
People had no way not to pay attention to him.
He averaged 20.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 6.1 blocks, and 4.5 steals.
An average of 6.1 blocks per game.
What kind of monster stat was that?
His violent blocks even earned him the nickname “Chiba Flying Bird.” Mm.
Hibari was a type of bird, after all.
“This nickname is all right.
It doesn’t sound bad, though that’s about it.” “You’re not happy at all?
Right now, only you and I have nicknames on the team!” “I’m pretty happy.
But I’ll be even happier when I win the championship.” Hibari had no confidence in beating Teiko, but that did not stop him from first setting a goal for himself.
“Not bad.
You’ve got ambition.
Let’s go make a mess out there.” Eikichi Nebuya spoke in a deep, muffled voice, every word carrying a second-year syndrome flavor.
That was understandable.
Japan’s anime culture was far too developed.
As its birthplace, chuunibyou was practically a common condition here.
Warm-ups ended, and basketball club activities began.
Hayato Takahashi had the players polish their tactics.
This new lineup still lacked chemistry.
Soon, the basketball club was filled with the pleasant sound of bricks and the dull thuds of muscles colliding.
At this time, the NBA had actually already abolished hand-checking defense.
What was hand-checking?
It referred to a defensive technique where a defender used his hands to make contact with the opponent’s body while defending.
This defensive method laid a solid foundation for the hard-nosed defenses of the 1980s and 1990s.
In the future, many retired players would say that if this player or that player came to their era, things would have gone differently.
Those words were not jokes.
The defensive intensity of the NBA back then was genuinely absurd.
Without a signature skill, you couldn’t play the driving game.
At the same time, your body had to be able to take hits.
Otherwise, when you drove inside, not only might you fail to score, you might get beaten half to death first.
At one point, this style of defense gave commissioner David Stern a splitting headache.
Because every NBA team promoted the idea that defense won championships, the games lacked entertainment value.
Therefore, this type of defense was directly removed.
However.
Although hand-checking had been abolished in the NBA, it had not been completely banned under international basketball rules.
Therefore, the intensity of Chiba Middle School’s internal scrimmages could only be described as explosive.
When Hibari held the ball on the perimeter, the defender matched up against him defended by putting hands directly on him, pulling and tugging, practically wishing he could glue his whole body to Hibari.
This was why many future NBA players could drive unstoppably in the league, only to suddenly seem as though they didn’t know how to play during international competitions.
Under this kind of defense, every drive was a wrestling match against the opponent.
Under current NBA rules, when a perimeter player had the ball above the free-throw line and moved with it, the defender could not use his hand or forearm on the ball handler’s body, or it would be a foul.
Chiba Middle School had no such concerns, and Hayato Takahashi greatly encouraged this kind of defense.
However, this defensive method was useless against Hibari.
“King Crimson!” Hibari shouted inwardly, and his entire body appeared on the other side of the defender as if he had jumped through time.
Immediately afterward, he accelerated and tore open the defense, charging into the paint and finishing over Eikichi Nebuya’s defense.
“Good shot!” Hayato Takahashi first affirmed Hibari’s score, then turned and cursed at the defender.
“Is your defense made of paper?
Toughen up.
Don’t give him such an easy chance to get inside.” “I don’t remember teaching you to defend with your eyes.
You don’t have those superpowers from anime.” I don’t have superpowers, but Hibari does.
The player matched up against Hibari felt depressed.
Every time he played against Hibari, it felt like Hibari had superpowers.
That kind of drive was simply impossible to guard.
The change of direction happened in a breath, and Hibari always caught the moment his center of gravity shifted.
“All right, we’ll stop here for today.
Everyone performed well.
Go back and rest properly, and maintain your condition for the national tournament.” After the scrimmage ended, Hayato Takahashi dismissed the team on the spot.
Since tomorrow was the weekend, Eikichi Nebuya asked while changing clothes, “Hibari, are we going to the gym again tomorrow?” “Not tomorrow.
I have something to do.” “What could be more important than training your muscles?” Eikichi Nebuya forcefully slammed his locker shut.
Training muscles was sacred.
More importantly, it required persistence.
How could someone give it up so easily?
The team’s vice-captain, standing nearby, said, “Hibari didn’t pass his exams.
Yukinoshita is tutoring him tomorrow.” “Uh…” That reason was very difficult to refute.
Eikichi Nebuya said not another word about going to the gym.
Before the national tournament, Chiba Middle School still had one important task: registering its players.
Students whose grades did not meet the requirements could train with the team, but they could not register for official games.
The minimum requirement for participating in the national tournament was that, out of seven subjects, a student could not fail more than four.
Otherwise, they could not take the court.
In Slam Dunk, Sakuragi and the others had encountered this problem as well.
Among the problem-child starting five, four had needed make-up exams before passing.
Simply incredible.
The good news was that Chiba Middle School did not have that worry.
In the basketball club, only Hibari had failed his exams.
The bad news was that the one who failed was one of their damn cores.
This was a major basketball club crisis.
Hayato Takahashi gave Yukino a strict order: no matter what method she used, Hibari had to pass the upcoming exam!
The only thing Hibari couldn’t understand was that Eikichi Nebuya’s grades were unexpectedly good.
“You really didn’t cheat on the exam?” “Of course I didn’t.
This is all the power of muscles.
Every exam, I give it my all!” Eikichi Nebuya raised his arm, somehow managing to bring everything back to muscles.
Hibari could not imagine that he was actually more hopeless than Eikichi Nebuya.
…
Please add this book to your library!