**Yamanaka Yuta** is strong; last year's Nationals proved that.
When facing a heavily armored guard, relying solely on his explosive first step, he could beat his opponent to collapse in a few minutes.
But when encountering a guy like **Tendo Keigon**, whose speed can keep up and whose basketball age is seriously inconsistent with his actual age, a purely simple breakthrough becomes a weakness.
Tendo Keigon reached out from behind, like a ghost's claw, and cleanly swiped away the opponent's dribble.
Immediately after, Tendo Keigon squeezed past his opponent and ran.
"Pass, **Kuroko**!"
Kuroko was lucky to pick up the ball. While he was thinking about the next move, Tendo Keigon had already quickly killed his way to the other half of the court.
Without hesitation, Kuroko threw the ball forcefully towards the front court.
One person from the Second String was wary of Tendo Keigon and completed the defense recovery in time.
Front court 1-on-1!
Not obsessed with elegant iron-striking this time, Tendo Keigon accelerated towards the enemy's paint.
After dipping his shoulder, he feinted to the right, but his true intention was the left.
With one feint and one burst, the defender was passed cleanly.
This breakthrough by Tendo Keigon perfectly demonstrated excellent body balance and coordination.
If his body were stiff, this kind of change of direction would be quite slow and simply couldn't fool anyone.
*Swish!*
Facing the open basket, Tendo Keigon prudently chose a bank shot to score.
He could dunk, but it would be a forced dunk, easily leading to a large-scale rollover scene like Curry's.
The point difference became 6 points!
...
**Kubo Jun**, as a sports reporter for *Tokyo Sports* specializing in the youth section, would visit various middle schools every year at this time to conduct interviews and record information, writing a preview article for each school.
A powerhouse like **Teiko** was his main target.
Especially after getting the news that the "Little Giant" **Murasakibara Atsushi** was also at Teiko, he directly chose Teiko as his first stop.
He wanted to know if the first-year Murasakibara Atsushi could maintain his dominance from elementary school.
If he could, then for Teiko, this would be a huge reinforcement.
Teiko already holds the ace player **Nijimura Shuuzo**, who put up star-level performances in his first year.
With another reliable forward, Teiko's paint would be qualified to stabilize as one of the strongest in the country.
The result.
Murasakibara Atsushi did not disappoint him. Even facing the Teiko Second String, his rim protection ability still played a decisive role.
Under his guard, the paint defense of Murasakibara Atsushi's team could be described as impregnable, leading a group of newcomers to win against the Second String.
Even though his skills under the basket were still immature, scoring mostly through dunks and two-handed slams, his outstanding physical quality allowed him to overturn the seas and rivers in the paint.
With the addition of such a powerful insider, Teiko would definitely be more impactful in this year's Nationals.
However.
Just when he thought Teiko's surprises were limited to this, on another court, Teiko's "bench bandit" Yamanaka Yuta was getting destroyed by someone.
"Jumping ability, speed, insight, steals, *hiss*..."
When Tendo Keigon completed steals against Yamanaka Yuta three times in a row, Kubo Jun sucked in a breath of cold air directly.
Yamanaka Yuta isn't a nobody; in last year's Nationals, he averaged 16.3 points per game, making him the most important scorer during Teiko's rotation phase.
His masterpiece was last year's ticket-clinching game for the Nationals. Facing the opponent's main guard, he broke through at will, scoring a crazy 30 points in a single game to help Teiko kill their way into the Nationals.
Such a top-tier scorer actually failed 3 times consecutively in front of a first-year freshman... no, wait, it should be 4 times now.
"He's completely a perimeter gatekeeper, a perimeter gatekeeper with scoring ability!"
Offense wins applause, defense wins championships.
This concept is deeply ingrained in the mind of every fan in this era.
With the naturally gifted Murasakibara Atsushi inside and a "spider spirit" like Tendo Keigon outside, Nijimura Shuuzo in the new season can completely devote more energy to the offensive end.
If these two brats can maintain this level at the Nationals.
Just thinking about it, Kubo Jun felt that this year's Teiko was terrifying.
What Kubo Jun thought, **Shirogane Kozo** also thought.
As a former national player, he fully understood the importance of defense.
If a team has no defense, its stability cannot be high anywhere. Flipping over (losing unexpectedly) would be a common occurrence.
In a BO1 format competition like the Nationals, having no defense would be fatal.
Moreover, that kid Tendo isn't a pure defensive gatekeeper; he possesses super strong counterattack awareness and decent shooting ability.
Don't look at Tendo Keigon striking iron on his first shot; the posture was handsome.
That kind of elegantly crumbling shooting posture, without accumulating months and years of iron-striking practice, absolutely couldn't be trained!
As long as his shooting percentage doesn't fall below a pitiful 40%, with counterattacks, shooting, and defense, he is completely usable.
Shirogane Kozo watched Tendo Keigon, who immediately pressed his hands down after scoring to signal everyone "basic operations, don't be surprised," and outlined Teiko's future starting lineup in his mind.
Murasakibara Atsushi and Tendo Keigon guarding the fort, then the most versatile power forward Nijimura Shuuzo going out to conquer cities and seize territory.
Offense and defense in one body!
Perfect!
At this time, on the court.
The Second String was caught off guard by the first-years' sudden offensive climax.
Mainly because the team's top scorer Yamanaka Yuta was locked down. Without his breakthroughs, they couldn't find a very good solution for a while.
Crucially, Yamanaka Yuta was obviously a bit heated now, as if he was clashing with Tendo Keigon, insisting on scoring points over Tendo Keigon's head.
But before he could even step inside the three-point line, Tendo Keigon stuck to him.
This time, he didn't even give Yamanaka Yuta a chance to launch.
Seeing this, Yamanaka Yuta could only turn sideways to protect the ball, blocking Tendo Keigon while looking for an opportunity to break through.
But he discovered that even as a first-year, Tendo Keigon's physical confrontation was above his.
Too unscientific!
Seeing the advantage the team had painstakingly accumulated about to be vomited back out because of him.
He struggled for a few seconds and decided to give up the ball possession.
He glanced to the right while gathering the ball with both hands, looking like he was going to pass the ball there.
But in the next second, he immediately changed direction and passed the ball to the left.
While he couldn't perform exquisite fake moves when breaking through, this kind of feint pass was no problem.
But...
*Bang!*
The basketball was once again fiercely slapped onto the floor to bounce.
"How!" Yamanaka Yuta's pupils trembled for a while; only Tendo Keigon's golden-ratio arm remained in front of his eyes.
Terrifying stealing ability; even Nijimura Shuuzo was shaken, thinking if it were him, could he avoid being stolen?
The answer was, even he didn't have absolute certainty.
He saw it clearly just now; Yamanaka Yuta released the ball first. But in the next second, Tendo Keigon's right arm blurred, swiftly slapping out at the basketball.
That feeling, it really seemed like *Batoujutsu* (sword drawing technique), fast, ruthless, and accurate!
'Holy crap!'
'Boring, turn it off!'
'100% aimbot, how to play?'
'Speaking of which, what does the King of Cool mean by **"Dismantle (Kai)"**?'