Nationals Finals vs Teiko II

This was the matchup that made the arena more packed than ever, spectators filled the arena before the first game even began, but it was fine as the schedule dictated that the Seiho vs Seika match would occur first then at half-time the first shootaround and warmup for Teiko and Hanabira will commence in 20 minutes, so the audience can see the finalists as early as the first match.

The real schedule of the day is as follows:

1 - 3 PM Seiho vs Seika

3 - 5 PM Hanabira vs Teiko

5 - 6 PM Award Ceremony

That would be the rough schedule, but if the first match finishes early, then the next match would be given more time. 

Which happened, as Reo didn't feel the need to execute the Earth shot against Seiho as their spirits were destroyed by Teiko in the previous game, so Reo only used Heaven shots, which wreaked havoc on Seiho, but at the second quarter Seiho showed signs of life and tried fighting back, but with Reo's shots being more than 2 points, the game got boring and Seiho was buried under a barrage of three pointers. This netted Seika the third place spot.

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1 hour earlier before the match ended, was the warmup shootaround of Teiko and Hanabira, Hideki and Nijimura, both captains, commanded their teams on the shootaround. 

After commanding their team, both captains shook hands and Hideki told Nijimura "Thanks for keeping the trophy clean Nijimura-san" Nijimura laughed and said "Welcome Hideki-san, but I think it wants to be with us for another year" Hideki then laughed at that comment and said "Good luck later" Which Nijimura said "Same to you, you'll need it more than us"

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Now it was the time for Teiko vs Hanabira Round 2, this was a grudge match for Hanabira after failing to win it last year. But this year it was different, Hanabira lost his "helpers" and Nijimura gained super rookies of his own in the 4 rookies that Teiko has. 

After the short shootaround, the players on both sides shook hands.

Hideki who was last in line for Hanabira shook Aomine's hands, who was the last one in line, and accidentally shook Teiko's pink-haired manager's hand, Hideki was shocked at what he did and tried to apologize "… Ah, sorry for that miss-" As Hideki looked at the manager's cute face, he was shocked to see her cute face, Megumi who was next to Hideki shook the Teiko manager's hand and told Hideki "Hey Hideki, go back to the bench now" Hideki hurried to Hanabira's bench and got into the huddle, which in a rare instance he was late, Coach Yoshida laughed as he thought Hideki was excited for this revenge match. 

Megumi saw that Hideki was charmed by Teiko's manager and found it cute. As the two sophomores got closer, Megumi grew out of her crush phase with Hideki and became close friends, seeing Hideki as an older brother when they were of the same age. So when they are at their bench before the announcement of teams, they have 2 minutes for rest.

While resting, Hideki sat beside Megumi and said "Hey Megumi" Megumi looked at Hideki and asked what, Hideki said, "Think you can introduce me to the Teiko manager?" Megumi giggled and said, "I'll try Hideki-kun, but no promises, as I have to get closer to know her first okay?" Hideki thanked Megumi who then asked, "Why, is she your crush?" Hideki didn't bother to answer, if he tried to speak even gibberish, he would raise suspicion or even outright admit it, to which it didn't help his case. 

Megumi giggled at Hideki's silence and said "Okay, you don't have to answer me on that, just win us the game." Hideki chuckled and said "Okay, thanks Megumi, that raised my spirit even more"

The buzzer sounded and as a special treat the game had announcers as this is a big match, so both teams members were announced by the PA. 

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Finals of the Nationals of the Middle School Basketball."

The crowd erupted and both teams audience cheered for their team loudly. 

"First announcing on my right side, the challengers, coming back to the Finals after a bitter lost last year, who are looking for a revenge match, let's give it up for Hanabira Middle School!"

Hanabira chants and cheer were loud and clear. Then the announcer went and announced each player, in no particular order.

"At Center, Ryota Kobayashi"

"At Shooting Guard, Haruto Ito"

"At Small Forward, Shogo Aoki"

"At Point Guard, their vice-captain, Tatsuya Morioka"

"And Finally, at Power Forward, their Captain and their ace" After a short pause the announcer then loudly said "Let's cheer for the Shield himself. Hideki Takeuchi!"

Everybody cheered loudly for Hideki.

"That's it for Hanabira Middle School"

"Now for their opposition, the champions of the last year's Nationals, the team who defeated Hanabira Middle School last year. Teiko Middle School"

"At Center, their fortress down under, Atsushi Murasakibara"

"At Shooting Guard, their sharpshooter, Shintaro Midorima"

"At Power Forward, their budding ace, Daiki Aomine"

"At Point Guard, their vice-captain, the control tower, Seijuro Akashi"

"And at Small Forward, their captain, the man who holds the team together. Shuzo Nijimura!"

Teiko then clapped and cheered for their team.

The announcer finished his hyping up with "Let the Finals match begin!"

At tip-off, Kobayashi was towered by Murasakibara, who was around 10 centimeters taller than him and had longer arms, so Kobayashi felt for the first time, he was gonna be beaten at the tip-off for the first time. 

This was true, when the referee threw the ball upwards, Murasakibara got the ball and tapped it to Akashi who calmly let the team form their offensive set in their first possession. As they got into their positions, they quickly passed the ball around until it reached Aomine, who was guarded by Hideki.

Hanabira was using a basic man-to-man defense, so every player guards their opposing positioned player. Aomine then drove towards the basket quickly but Hideki was also quick on his feet and Aomine stopped for a spin and a reverse layup, Hideki was able to react even a bit late, but Aomine clutched the ball and released it, out of Hideki's outreached hand, the ball went in. Teiko went for the fast and bizarre offense led by Aomine and it succeeded, Teiko got the lead 2-0.

Hideki was not deterred and got back at Aomine, with doing almost the same play Aomine did, but instead of doing a layup, he rose up for a bank shot, Murasakibara tried to block but the shot was higher and Kobayashi was able to get the ball mid-air for an alley-oop dunk, they tied the score against Teiko.

Teiko got back with a three-point shot as Ito was a little late in covering Midorima and was shorter than Midorima by 4 centimeters, height mattered as Midorima's shot mechanic was 'perfect' meaning only a block can prevent it.

After that, the game was still kind of neck and neck, Teiko was not able to get a larger lead as Hanabira was able to get back at them, through Hideki's show of cleverness, he was able to get around Aomine's quickness with his long limbs and Murasakibara's help defense by assisting to Kobayashi.

The first quarter ended with 24 to 20, Teiko in the lead.

But after that, the game was slowly falling into Teiko's hands. The trio of Murasakibara, Nijimura, and Midorima were making life for Hanabira hard, as their defenders aren't named Hideki Takeuchi. 

After the second quarter, the score ballooned, 55 to 41 with Teiko in the lead.

In the locker room, most of Hanabira's players were out of breath except for Hideki, who was trained for this. Coach Yoshida told the team to get it together, in defending against the other players not named Murasakibara, and for the Center, they will try to double team him with Hideki, Coach told them to body the other players and be more physical.

Coach Suzuki didn't add anymore and said to continue the offense through Hideki.

At the third quarter, Nijimura was subbed for the other freshman, Shogo Haizaki, who was a menace in and out of the court. Why? Let's see.

Hanabira got an offense for themselves, with Renji also subbed in for more firepower, he was shooting lights out for the first minute after Hideki passed the ball to him. After that Haizaki shot the ball like how Renji shot it. After that Renji then entered into a slump, all of his shots are not going in.

Next in line was Ito and Kobayashi, Ito's reliable three-pointers, aren't reliable anymore. Kobayashi's rebounding was sucked out off him. 

Last was the guy sharing a name with Haizaki, Aoki, his mid-range shots were pulled out of him. 

Now 4 of 5 Hanabira's players were not able to produce.

How about Hideki? Hideki has long limbs so his shot mechanics aren't that much affected and as Hideki is the better player against Haizaki, Haizaki was not able to get his groove out of him.

Haizaki as a player can 'copy' others, but it is not copying but stealing. That is why the others can't do their things anymore.

This quarter with Haizaki in, Hanabira's shots were mainly from Hideki so he was pressured to produce, which he did, but since he was the guy that was needed the most, he was smothered by numerous players, making it difficult for him to shoot. So Hanabira drew a quick play to have him off screens and have Akashi in front of him so he can shoot lights out of mid-range. 

The third quarter ended with 82 to 50, the game was getting pretty out of hand, but luckily for them, Haizaki was subbed out as Teiko was beginning to be cranky.

This substitution made the other player's groove stolen, got back into rhythm but. It was all too late, they got their groove back when Teiko's score already reach 100, with 6 minutes left. Hideki tried his best to get back into the game, but his teammates were severely outmatched by the super rookies.

The game's final buzzer rang and the score was 125 to 81.

As it was the prior year, Teiko won again. This time not by Nijimura and his helpers, but by the Super Rookies with Nijimura's help. 

Hideki in his part, carried Hanabira again to the Finals but fell short against Teiko. But this time, he didn't let the loss sting him, not yet, he has to have a strong showing.

Both teams shook hands in respect and sportsmanship, both captains shook their hands and Nijimura spoke first: "Looks like that baby wants to be with us again Hideki-san." Hideki laughed and said "Yeah, I think she got comfortable in your office. By the way, nice teammates you got there Nijimura-san" Nijimura chuckled and said, "Yeah, I was lucky we got them, or no one would beat you and your team without them." 

Hideki heard that the awarding ceremony would commence shortly so he told Nijimura "Actually I've got my eyes on one of your teammates" Nijimura was skeptical at Hideki's statement and asked, "Who?" Hideki didn't respond and Nijimura saw Hideki looking at Hanabira's manager Megumi talking to the pink-haired manager of Teiko. 

Nijimura sighed and said "Good luck with that one, but don't poach our players" Hideki laughed and said "I won't poach your players, she's fitted with your team culture and environment. If I can I'll just take her heart" Nijimura laughed hard and said "Sure, good luck with that Hideki-san" Hideki smiled and said "Thanks, and congrats again on winning"

The captains broke their hands.

On the other side of the court, Megumi was talking to Teiko's manager and told her "Congratulations, I'm sorry if I didn't get your name earlier uhm…" The manager told her name "Momoi Satsuki, that's my name, senpai." Megumi told her "Congratulations on winning Momoi-chan, your team is much stronger this year. I can't believe that you and your friends are still freshmen"

Momoi giggled and said, "Yes, I believe that the stars aligned for us to be a team." Megumi then asked her "Is it okay if I get your number? For information sharing about basketball teams and other girly stuff," Megumi giggled after that, Momoi accepted and gave her number. Megumi thanked her and got back to the team for the awarding ceremony.

At the awarding ceremony, it was the same as last year, except Saika Middle School were the 3rd placer. 

As the medals were given to them, Hideki was thinking to himself "2nd place ain't bad but, I have to get better as next year would be my last chance at victory"

Hideki's stats vs Teiko Round 2:

Points - 41

Rebounds - 17

Assist - 15

Steals - 6

Blocks - 7

References used:

Bank shot - a shot where the backboard is used