Go for it! Kitasumi for the win!
We need to shore up our defense in the middle!
Taro, don't do anything stupid this time!
I won't let him past me this time.
I didn't do all that defensive practice for nothing!
It doesn't matter how much height he has on me!
You dumbass! She told us to expect shots from long range!
Momoharu, get the rebound!
Shit, you guys are running me ragged!
Loose ball!
What the hell?!
You had one job, Momoharu!
Not happening!
Crap... he waited to shoot...!
That little snot... he took his sweet time to get the foul call!
Defensive foul on #7!
The basket counts! One free-throw!
He made a complete fool out of me in front of Nao.
Damn him and his silky seaweed hair!
I'm gonna totally murder him!
One free-throw!
Dear God,
I love Nao with all my heart.
So if the power of love truly does exist...
...then please help me tap into it now!
Ahiru no Sora
The Best Start and the Worst Start
Shit! I swear I must be losing my damn mind!
I'm seriously starting to think that dude is cool!
Taro! Why the hell are you praying before a free-throw?!
5 more seconds and it would have been a penalty!
Listen up, boys!
We'll never live it down if we lose to a hair oil addict like that chump!
We know.
Don't let them catch up. Let's lay on the pressure.
Right!
Defense! Defense! Defense!
Defense! Defen- huh?
Defense! Defense! Defense!
Wait, aren't we on offense right now?
If you don't know what you're doing, then stop doing it!
Here they come!
Konishi! Watch out for #4!
On him!
You've got the ball, but what can you even do from here?
I'm not just going to leave you open for an easy shot!
How the hell does he turn on a dime while running so fast?!
He blocked the shot!
Nice, Taro!
Tell me, is there a reason you aren't trying to score any baskets?
Huh?
First you screwed up that jump ball and now this.
Have you forgotten how to play the game?
Konishi, you damn punk.
Are you just here to start shit with me or what?
I'm disappointed.
Because I had been really looking forward to playing against you, Senpai.
Even back then, you were...!
Shit, was he always this good?!
I'm gonna shut you down hard!
Nice pass, Koney!
Awesome play, Taro! Konishi!
Kitasumi
Kuzuryu
That evens up the score!
Damn.
Defense! Defense! Defense!
Come on, freshmen! I know you can cheer louder than that!
They're starting to build up some serious momentum.
We need to score a basket soon.
They haven't gotten to the point of totally dominating the game.
But letting them take the lead here would be really bad!
We've gotta push through and sink a shot right now!
Gah! I can't believe I let him get me with that lame-ass fake!
Koney! Help me out!
Oh crap!
You left me wide open.
Damn! I've got to stop him, even if it means a foul!
I'm gonna pay you back for that fake you pulled.
And with interest!
A dunk?!
A-are you all right?
SHIT! I WAS SO CLOSE!
Just a little more and I would have touched the rim!
You mean he didn't touch the rim just now?
So then, that was just his attempt to fake a dunk?
But wow, he got some serious air on that jump.
Anybody who plays basketball has to satisfy
the urge of pulling off a dunk during a game, at least once!
Dude, you can't even pull it off to begin with. The rim's too high.
If I was just 5 centimeters taller...
I told you. The only winner here is me.
I'll admit that your three-pointers are pretty impressive,
but they're not enough to win.
Just so you know, it's not our height that separates us.
The crucial difference between you and me is...
...the fact that I have wings, and you don't.
Bye-bye, baby.
Defense! Defense! Defense!
What now? The other team is starting to really get riled up.
Let's go defense! Get it done!
Out of bounds! Kitasumi ball!
Timeout by Kuzuryu High!
Kitasumi Kuzuryu
I didn't realize Kitasumi was so tough to beat.
I don't think we can win, not at this rate.
It's a little early, but we're going to change up our defense.
The players that we need to shut down are #7...
...and #14 when he goes to post up.
Although he hasn't made any shots yet,
we also need to look out for dribble penetration from #5.
That all being said, we're actually in a pretty good position.
Going up against this team is the perfect opportunity to put
the defense we practiced into use.
Do you understand?
This is going to be where the real trial for our team starts.
It's going to be hard for you out there,
but you're the cornerstone of our defense, Kurumatani.
A'ight! Let's knock their socks off.
And show them what our defense is really made of!
Kurumatani will need to return back to doing footwork practice by himself tomorrow.
What will decide the outcome of this match is whether you can stop him or not.
I'll stop him, no matter what!
What's this? Their defense changed.
Huh?
That little guy rushed out all on his own!
Full court man-to-man?!
Have you gone off the deep end?!
But the four in the back are doing zone?
That's Box and 1, no... it's actually Diamond and 1!
Hmm. So, they let the short one run loose
and kept their tallest player at the top of the zone.
It's a solid formation that fully accounts for our offense.
However... it's much easier said than done.
I wonder just how long they'll last?
This is the same defense the girls' team used against us, isn't it?
That's right.
The formation is a little different, but the idea is the same.
Tinytown is going to get wiped out doing full court, ain't he?
I mean, the offense doesn't really make any moves until they reach the front court.
And that's exactly why it's necessary.
Before they even reach front court, our goal is to make them think
"#7 can't do anything", or even just, "getting a pass to him would be difficult."
Like you said, this is really going to push the limits of Kurumatani's stamina.
But our opponent will be expending just as much effort by trying to shake him.
We'll throw their scorer off-kilter with pressure and fatigue.
That will be Kurumatani's job.
Of course, it won't be easy for the rest of the team, either.
Since they'll be playing zone D with only 4 players instead of the typical 5.
Okay, but like, are you really sure that our defense is so important?
I feel like we could easily win this thing if Kite and Sora just focused on scoring.
Yeah, I was thinking about that, too.
It's true that the effectiveness of defense is ambiguous,
we can't just tally it like points or rebounds.
That also makes it difficult to understand how much of an impact it has on the end result.
However, I think that only applies if you ignore one important thing.
The reality of winning or losing.
The majority of players on losing teams share the same feelings after a game,
about how essential defense is to winning the game.
That was close, I gotta focus.
There's no point to using this defense if I let Kabachi get free.
I've gotta be quick to fill any space where a pass might come through.
But the problem is, this guy is really good at subtle fakes and other simple moves.
He's also a lot quicker on his feet than I am.
But even so...
Too slow!
Why do you keep using defensive slides against me when I'm doing a full-on drive?
Didn't you consider just dashing alongside me?
No, because then it'll delay my reaction time.
You dummy. Your ability to react in time only matters
if you can actually keep up with your mark.
Your priority is to match the speed of your opponent,
or move slightly faster than them if they have possession of the ball.
If you can't do that, then we'll never be able to use Nanao's defense.
All right, let's go again.
Dealing with an opponent who is unbelievably fast...
...that's something I'm totally used to at this point!
And compared to how ridiculously fast Kite is...
...this guy seems way more grounded in reality!
He's gotten pretty damn good.
Dammit! It's like he's stuck right to me!
I hate sticky shit like natto and gum with a passion!
I can do this! I can shut him down!
Screen!
Kato! Pass it to m-
Behind you, Nabe!
Huh?
Nice shot!
Kitasumi
Kitasumi! Kitasumi!
Katori! Nice assist!
That's the way. Create some open space and then attack their weak side.
Don't sweat it, Nabe!
Just shake it off and switch to offense!
You okay after that run in?
Your head hit my elbow pretty hard.
I'm fine!
Defense! Defense! Defense!
Only 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
That settles it! For the rest of this quarter...
I won't let Kabachi score a single point!
Rebound!
Kitasumi!
Let's score!
There's an opening near #8, hurry!
Hey, am I crazy or is Momoharu a little off his game?
You think? There's not much he could've done differently just now.
Him again?!
Dammit, what a pest!
I don't want to boost their morale by letting them shut Taro out here.
So we'll catch them off guard by getting Taro to score with brute force.
Shit!
I don't get it. How is he so relaxed while putting up such a fierce defense?
Having a solid poker face is essential to a good defense!
I can't afford to show him even the slightest sign of fatigue!
Rather than staying up close, I'm better off leaving a tiny bit of space between us.
No matter what crazy moves he pulls to get rid of me,
I can't let my eyes of the ball.
I've got to keep track of the point guard's movement, too.
Kuzuryu Kitasumi
Actually, wait... I don't have the time to be thinking about all that right now!
I just need to sprint, dash... and run all over the place!
You might think you've got me 1-on-1, but from my eyes it's 5-on-1!
This is the same situation as before!
Kato!
I've got this!
What the?!
That damn shrimp!
Out of bounds! Kitsumi ball!
Aw, man! I was so close!
I knew having a shorty would be useless.
What a waste of space.
Let's swap him out for Yashuhara.
No way, I won't stand for it!
That was almost a clean steal.
Yeah, it would have been a huge advantage if he'd gotten it.
There's nothing to be disappointed about.
Throw-in!
He's providing us with the very best defense!
Sweet! That's the third one in a row!
Nice moves, Kite!
I can't believe they're sticking to Taro for the entire quarter.
There's hardly any time left!
Go Kitasumi! Sink it before the buzzer!
Don't make it sound so easy!
That's the end of the first quarter!
2-minute interval!
Hey Sora, great job out there!
Thanks!
Kuzuryu Kitasumi
They haven't left us in the dust.
We're keeping right up with them!
And most importantly, Kabachi hasn't scored a single basket since
I started my full court defense!
I did it!
I shut him down!
We can do this! We can win!
He's drenched in sweat, and they're not even at halftime yet.
You know, I'm starting think we're pretty damn good!
The score might be tied, but I think we've showed them who has the most skills!
Kite's actually scored more than I thought he would!
Well, it looks like you guys aren't going to need me to save you.
We've barely made it 1/4th of the way through the match.
Things are only going to get harder for us from here on out.
I have here a copy of their team's official records from last year.
National High School Basketball Tournament Kanagawa Preliminaries - Kitasumi
Kitasumi is what is known as a "slow-starter" team.
They perform better in the second quarter than the first.
Same for the second half of the game overall.
The level of intense play that they bring to the court at their
peak is something to be scared of.
Hold up. How'd you get your hands on that, anyway?
Taro gave it to me. Or rather, forced it on me.
Our defensive strategy worked well in the first quarter, but that's
not going to be enough to win.
Starting in the second quarter, we'll put on more of an offensive.
This should be obvious to all of you,
but we want to score without letting them score.
If we can't manage that, then we won't be able to win in the end.
Yasuhara will be subbing in for Nabe.
S-sure.
Natsume, please provide him with your support.
I already know what I need to do.
Kurumatani, keep up your aggressive defense and aim to get some steals.
Whenever making a fast break for the basket
isn't an option, Chiaki will be our rallying point.
Am I understood?
Loud and clear.
I was very curious, since I heard that their manager was also doubling as their coach.
She's quite the tactician, far more competent than I ever expected.
For now, let's just see what happens when I play into their hand.
Taro. Here's the plan.
You don't need bother trying to score any more points, okay?
What?!
Have you gone senile on us, Gramps?!
If I'm not going to score us points, then who the hell is?!
Cut me some slack. You can't shake off that short kid at all, can you?
Running around like a madman is only going to wear you out.
That's not enough to stop me!
The interval is now over!
Huh? Already?!
Give 'em hell, Yasu!
Get out there and show them what a supporting character can do!
I'm a main character, dammit!
Um, Momoharu?
Is something wrong? Everyone's already on the court.
Oh... right.
Throw-in with Kuzu High in possession!
Why did you say all that stuff to Taro, coach?
You know that's only going to get him all wound up!
Ehhh, don't fret about it.
That's exactly why I gave him a hard time in the first place.
Huh?
Kuzuryu! Kuzuryu!
His eyes just never stop moving.
He's keeping a sharp watch for any openings.
As a fellow point guard, I've really gotta hand it to him.
This guy is a legit passing specialist!
Peep.
You know, Chiaki keeps glancing over here every so often. Why is that?
Beats me.
Okay, I've exuded enough charisma. It's time to strut my stuff.
He's trying to drive past me?
But considering his big size, I doubt he's actually that fast.
Does he seriously think he can cut through with a spin like that?
I don't see the ball!
Did he lose it?! Where'd it go?!
Kato! Above you!
It was a pass?!
He coordinated with the center to get that pass through while in my blind spot?!
Go!
His timing is absolutely sensational.
Just one misstep and that would have been a foul for sure.
Look! Yasu's wide open!
Score us some points!
All right! We took the lead!
Hell yeah! We're a force to be reckoned with!
Jeez, I gotta do everything around here.
Those were all smooth moves, from in the back and up to the basket!
I can't believe how coordinated those plays were!
I nearly forgot. Those two are twin brothers!
Our point guard and our center.
I don't think there's ever been a better duo!
I was a little worried about Momoharu because of how he was acting.
But I guess I was just reading too much into it.
Katori! They haven't gotten their zone defense up yet!
Oh shit!
Okay! Let's make a fast break and tear them apart!
Just watch me, you damn pipsqueak!
I'm DEFINITELY going to leave you in the dust!
Acceleration Mode.... on!
What the hell was that, dude?!
I didn't see him coming because he's so damn small!
Shit!
Oh crap!
Yasuhara! Go for it again!
Stop!
Your layup form is all wrong.
What your hands are doing is more important than how you jump.
After you jump, have the ball roll over your fingers.
Then all you have to do is... let it fall right into the basket.
You did it! That was awesome, Yasuha-
Hoo boy, they've really got us on the ropes now!
Don't make it sound like we've already lost!
We're just getting started! Isn't that right?
I'm impressed, the other team has some incredible players on their roster.
Come on, Coach!
We're in a tight spot, I'm not sure what to do.
I guess maybe we should put Taro on the bench.
I can hear you from over here, damn geezer!
Just shut up and watch.
Forget that shorty, I'm gonna fly past their whole team!
Oh crap, now he's even more wound up.
He's gonna go on a rampage soon, there's no doubt.
And I keep telling you, that's exactly what we want.
Huh?
We're going to have Taro... trample all over that kid's tiny wings.
Ahiru no Sora Next Time: Versus
Next time: "Versus."