Finals Begin

[A/N: In this chapter, I will be using the announcer/commentator in the game. Now please remember that the audience can't hear the commentator, but you guys can.

So, please keep it in mind that the people in the audience can't hear the commentator, so if I repeat some things, give me some slack.

Commentator A and Commentator B in the house.]

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

The crowd might be at a different level than other middle school games, but on the court itself, things were the same as any other game.

If something different, then it would be that the scorekeeper's table was longer than usual.

The longer than the usual table was for the two commentators. The organizers had invited them to spice up the experience for the viewers on the TV.

The commentator's nodded at each other, signaling that they should start.

Commentator A smiled and spoke into his recording microphone.

Commentator A: "Welcome everybody to the Tokyo Preliminaries; Block-B finals. Today we have with us two of Tokyo's finest playing against each other for the coveted spot to the finals."

Commentator B took over from his partner and continued.

Commentator B: "Tokiwadai Middle School and Teiko Middle School are the two behemoths of Tokyo, and this year both schools have extremely strong teams, that are without a doubt top national-level teams."

Commentator A: "According to the middle school basketball scene, both of these teams are top contenders for this year's championship.

This game could be said to be at the same level as the National's finals, so I think it is safe to say that the viewers are in for a treat."

Commentator B: "It is time for the game to begin. The referee has bought the game ball to the court, and both teams are ready for the tip-off."

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

The referee went through the customary procedure of making the players bow to each other, announcing the start of the game.

Commentator A: "Here we are at the tip-off of the game, and as we can see, both teams have sent their centers for the tip-off."

Commentator B: "Murasakibara Atsushi from Teiko Middle School and Aone Takanobu from Tokiwadai Middle School, both of them are big men, but Murasakibara-kun has the advantage of his exceptional height."

Commentator A: "From the official records, Murasakibara-kun is 195 centimeters tall, while his counterpart stands at 187 centimeters tall, but, we also know that Aone-kun has respectable jumping ability to back him up.

Let's see who will get the ball to gain a chance to set their momentum in this game."

-*-*-*-

At the half-court center, the referee threw up the game ball for the centers of both teams to get their hands on it.

Aone and Murasakibara jumped up and took flight towards the ball.

Aone felt good with the jump, as he had timed it perfectly. He was just about the ball when he saw Murasakibara's hand reach the ball first.

A wide-eyed Aone saw Murasakibara strike the ball before him.

Commentator B: "That was one close tip-off. Aone-kun was extremely close to the ball, but Murasakibara-kun's height prevailed in the end."

Commentator A: "The ball is now in Teiko's possession. According to the statistics, neither Tokiwadai nor Teiko have lost a single tip-off in this tournament, and both teams have definitely scored on their first possession.

We have already seen one of those streaks broken, let's see if Tokiwadai would be able to end Teiko's scoring streak."

The ball went straight to Kise, who passed it back to Akashi on Teiko's court.

In this time, Tokiwadai's players fell back to their side of the court to defend.

Teiko's first possession only had two settings.

If the ball went to Akashi, then the team would initiate a fast attack, but if the ball went to anyone else, then Teiko would pass the ball to Akashi, and then would attack with a sedate pace.

Akashi looked at the positioning of the players with his court vision and chose and formulated a pass route for the ball.

He crossed the half-court line and a few steps inside Tokiwadai's side of the court, he was met by Yuki as his defender.

Commentators commented on Tokiwadai's defense strategy against Teiko.

Commentator B: "It seems Tokiwadai considers Midorima-kun's perfect accuracy as a serious threat, and I think they think rightly so."

Commentator A: "A double-team to stop the outside shooter is a good approach, but it would increase the workload of the inside defenders. Tokiwadai is choosing to leave Kise Ryota free.

Let's see Teiko's first move against Tokiwadai's defense."

Akashi didn't try to make space with Yuki and charged towards the basket, but just inside the three-point arc, Akashi came to a stop and did a pass fake to the right.

Yuki was ready for any sudden movements, and he was quick to stop when Akashi stopped, but he wasn't expecting a pass fake and moved to the right.

The commentator felt that the pass fake was well executed and said.

Commentator B: "That was a high-quality pass fake, by Akashi-kun, it is good to see that a point-guard is utilizing pass fake so well."

Akashi side-stepped to the right and passed the ball to Aomine, who was ready and running to the basket before the pass.

Aomine got the pass and stepped to the perimeter line of the paint, and threw the ball with a formless shot.

People in the audience were excited when they saw Aomine's circus-like formless shots.

Person A: "Aomine's formless shot! How does he get them inside the basket?!"

While the people in the crowd were getting excited, a player on the court was getting to work.

It was Tokiwadai vs. Teiko and Kageyama Shun, well he wasn't going to let Teiko get the momentum so quickly.

When he saw the ball get to Aomine's hands, he felt a jolt of reflexes travel through his body, and he moved towards Aomine.

He jumped for the block, and to Aomine, he appeared out of nowhere.

Aomine: "Wha-!" 'Where did he come from!'

A wide-eyed Aomine felt pure shock when he saw Shun getting his whole hand on the ball.

Shun: "What did you think? That you would get the ball and score just like that. Now wait here, and watch me get to what I do the best."

The whole crowd buzzed with activity seeing the Shun blocking Aomine's shot.

Commentators also made it exciting for the viewers on the television.

Commentator A: "That was an exciting block by Kageyama-kun. I can feel the excitement from the audience here in the stands."

The ball became a free ball after Shun's block.

Shun got to the ground and immediately ran after the ball.

Kise was near the ball and got to it first, and caught the ball, but the moment he turned towards the basket, he saw Shun in front of him.

Shun: "I will be taking that."

Shun tipped the ball out of Kise's hands, caught up to the tipped ball, and then moved towards Teiko's side of the court to score.

Kise: "Na-!"

Kise was shocked when Shun tipped the ball out of his hands, that he didn't move from his spot to chase Shun.

Commentator B: "Kageyama-kun, once again shows an extraordinary feat of basketball, and steals the ball from Teiko's Kise-kun."

Akashi was still on the outside and moved into Shun's path to block him.

Shun didn't slow down one bit and charged towards Akashi.

Akashi moved into a defensive position to block Shun.

When Shun was in Akashi's range, he pulled a simple in-and-out dribble to throw off Akashi from his way.

Akashi moved to the left, but Shun directed himself to the right.

The thing that threw off Akashi was a change of pace in that move. Shun was moving fast when he was running, but he increased his speed when he got into Akashi's range, forcing Akashi to move to the side.

Commentator A: "That was a masterful in-and-out dribble. Kageyama-kun shows us his command on dribble skills."

Then it was all clear way to Teiko's basket as Shun had the lead and speed to maintain that lead.

He got to the basket and jammed it into the basket with a one-hand dunk.

All of Tokiwadai's students got up and cheered for Shun.

Even, Hikigaya and Shikamaru got up from their seats, feeling the crowd's excitement.

Inuzuka: "That was amazing! I didn't know that he could dunk like that!"

Shun didn't dunk in P.E. classes, so his friends and classmates had no idea that he could dunk.

Commentator B: "It looks like Teiko's first scorestreak has come to an end in this game. The two powerhouses are showing their skills for the viewers of this game."

Shun hanged from the rim for a second. He let go of the rim and got to the ground.

All of the Generation Of Miracles were looking at Shun and understood the threat he was on the court.

Aomine, Murasakibara, and Kise felt excitement flowing through their veins.

Aomine felt the excitement that he had forgotten, once again flowing through his veins. A feral smile threatened to split his face.

Aomine: 'Ah, this is what I forgot. The rush of the game. The feeling of genuine competition. Let's do this!'

Murasakibara felt that for once, he wouldn't need to hold back his strength.

Murasakibara: 'No, need is not the correct word. The word I am looking for is allowed. I won't have the room to restrain myself. Maybe just this once this crappy game will become fun.'

Kise hadn't felt bored in a long time. His daily one-on-ones with Aomine were enough to keep away the boredom. Kise loved to win in games, even if the opponents weren't strong. The winning part was enough for Kise, as long as he was able to play with his teammates every day.

But now in front of him was a greater adversary than anyone he had ever seen going full force against him.

Kise: 'I can feel it. I can feel the desire to win stronger than ever. It is going to be an epic game.'

Midorima was feeling two things.

He felt the threat from Shun, but he also felt respect for Shun.

Midorima: 'I can tell that he did everything humanly possible, and he took care of fate. He is a worthy adversary.'

Midorima saw Shun as a motivation to score more than anyone. He wanted to rule the outer court with his shooting skills.

And, nobody knew what Akashi was thinking, he just looked at Shun and replayed the scene of Shun passing him in his mind.

He looked at Aomine and then turned back to Shun.

Akashi: 'That was definitely similar to Aomine's change-of-pace.

Kageyama Shun, what other secrets do you hide within you.'

The game had just started, and the mood in the stadium was already pretty high.