Jun Uozumi's nose did bleed after he was knocked down, but the injury was not particularly serious. After the team doctor wiped away the blood and plugged his nostrils with tissues, he stood up as if nothing had happened.
Sakuragi Hanamichi didn't dare to linger with Akagi Haruko for too long, since he was the one who knocked Uozumi Jun down, and he needed to quickly apologize to Uozumi Jun.
"Haruko, don't worry, I'll play seriously from now on. I'll show you my true strength later."
Sakuragi Hanamichi comforted Akagi Haruko and then hurriedly went to Uozumi Jun.
At this moment, the Ryonan team members all looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi with hostility.
Sakuragi Hanamichi's trash talk had already made the Ryonan team's mentality unstable, and now that he had knocked down Uozumi Jun, the Ryonan team wanted to gang up on him.
Even the thick-skinned Sakuragi Hanamichi felt a little embarrassed. "Um, Captain Uozumi, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to. I was just too impatient and didn't control the direction and force well. I really didn't mean to. I'm so sorry."
Sakuragi Hanamichi's attitude was sincere, but the Ryonan team members all criticized him, saying, "Sakuragi Hanamichi, what are you doing? How can you defend like that? Are you doing this on purpose?"
"Yeah! I think you did it on purpose! The trash talk you just said was already awful, but now you've gone and committed a malicious foul. Are you here to play basketball or to fight?"
"You are absolutely awful!"
Faced with the accusations from the Ryonan players, Sakuragi Hanamichi, unusually, did not argue back. He gave an awkward smile and silently accepted all the criticism.
Because he really didn't do it on purpose, and he didn't want to see Jun Uozumi get hurt.
In his mind, no matter how offensive the trash talk is, as long as it doesn't cross the line, it can be considered a normal tactic.
However, he himself despises this kind of behavior of directly knocking people to the ground and injuring them.
And at this moment, he happened to become that kind of person, so he himself felt that he had gone too far.
Jun Uozumi stretched out his large hand to stop the Ryonan players, saying, "It's alright! I'm fine."
Then Jun Uozumi looked at Hanamichi Sakuragi and said in a deep voice, "Hanamichi Sakuragi, come on, let's continue!"
Jun Uozumi's face showed no anger or resentment; the blood from his nose seemed to mean nothing to him. His gaze was firm as he looked intently at Hanamichi Sakuragi, without any intention of blaming him.
This filled Sakuragi Hanamichi with a sense of respect.
This fierce-looking Jun Uozumi seems pretty good!
Sakuragi Hanamichi then nodded seriously to Uozumi Jun.
Due to Jun Uozumi's injury, Coach Taoka chose to pause the game and reorganize the tactics.
"Uozumi, are you alright?" Coach Taoka asked with concern.
Jun Uozumi nodded and said, "Coach, don't worry, I'm fine and can continue to participate in the competition."
"Great!" Coach Taoka excitedly encouraged the Ryonan team. "Did you all see that? Sakuragi Hanamichi, besides talking trash and doing some dirty tricks, doesn't have any real basketball skills. All he did was to affect everyone's mentality, so don't take him seriously, don't let him affect your mentality. Just treat him like a clown."
Coach Taoka then looked at Jun Uozumi and said, "Uozumi, I have a way to deal with Sakuragi Hanamichi's trash talk, so you don't need to worry about that. What you need to do is take advantage of Akagi Takenori's absence and focus on taking control of the area under the basket, and crush that Sakuragi Hanamichi."
Unlike Ryonan, Coach Anzai of Shohoku still didn't give any tactical instructions, but he gave Sakuragi Hanamichi a meaningful look.
Ayako encouraged everyone, "We're only 7 points behind Ryonan right now. Everyone needs to play good defense and not give up any more points. At the same time, we need to find ways to attack and catch up as soon as possible..."
Then, Ayako looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi and patted him on the shoulder. "Sakuragi-kun, you did very well and defended very well, but you need to be careful in the future and don't make dangerous moves like you did just now, like you did to someone."
Sakuragi Hanamichi smiled brightly and nodded.
However, Sakuragi Hanamichi immediately fell into deep thought again.
During his lunge at Uozumi Jun, he suddenly realized something: he remembered that Sakuragi Hanamichi from the anime had a very powerful and unique technique.
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!
It's not a fantasy element, but rather that Sakuragi Hanamichi's jumping ability is astonishing; he can jump up again at lightning speed the moment he lands, seamlessly connecting the two.
In the anime, it's as if there are countless Sakuragi Hanamichis constantly jumping up to defend against the opponent.
When Sakuragi Hanamichi was fooled by Uozumi Jun's feint, he only realized this the moment he jumped up again after landing.
Although he can't create countless afterimages to defend against opponents like in the anime, he should still be able to do continuous jumping defense, so he doesn't need to be afraid of Uozumi Jun's fake shots at all.
At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi was very happy, he had unlocked a new skill!
When you're in possession of the ball and competing against someone, use the "butt-lifting kill".
When someone else has the ball, use the Multiple Shadow Clone Defense Technique.
Perfect!
The game then resumed.
Sakuragi Hanamichi, back on the court, is full of fighting spirit. He's about to amaze everyone with his incredible defensive skills!
Uozumi Jun seemed to be alright. He looked at Sakuragi Hanamichi and said, "Sakuragi Hanamichi, you really are a basketball novice. I can fool you with a simple fake move. You think you can compete with me? Watch how I beat you up later!"
At this moment, Sakuragi Hanamichi didn't show his previous sarcastic attitude. Instead, he smiled and said, "Uozumi, I'll show you my true strength later!"
Suddenly, Coach Taoka's voice rang in Sakuragi Hanamichi's ears, "Hey, Sakuragi Hanamichi, I forgot to tell you, you basketball beginner, that if you commit 5 fouls, you'll be ejected from the game."
Sakuragi Hanamichi was taken aback, thinking, "What is Coach Taoka up to?"
Coach Taoka continued, "Sakuragi Hanamichi, I know that you deliberately provoked Uozumi with those words because you knew you couldn't beat him, but now Uozumi isn't afraid of you anymore, so no matter how much trash talk you say, it won't work."
At this moment, the Ryonan players had already received the ball, and it was passed back to Jun Uozumi.
Just as Jun Uozumi received the ball, Coach Taoka's voice rang out again, "Hanamichi Sakuragi, look at Uozumi's basketball moves! You should learn from him! This is a rare learning opportunity, and it's free!"
Sakuragi Hanamichi angrily shouted, "You old geezer, what are you doing? Aren't you annoying me?"
Coach Taoka said happily, "Sakuragi Hanamichi, I was just trying to help you, why are you angry? This isn't the attitude a beginner should have. Stop looking at me, hurry up and focus, you need to defend Uozumi..."
Sakuragi Hanamichi: "..."
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