Chapter 65: National Tournament Opens

After a few matches, the National Tournament was about to begin.

On this day, the Teiko players took the subway to Kyoto, the host city of this year's National Tournament.

Compared to the qualifiers, the attention on the main tournament was a notch higher.

Fans from all over the country traveled thousands of miles to Kyoto to cheer for their regional teams.

During this time, the Generation of Miracles aired another episode in the real world.

As Kuroko officially entered the Teiko first string, the screen time for Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi and the others increased, so they didn't need to deliberately try to get attention.

This allowed the audience to understand the personalities of these young people more intuitively.

This episode didn't bring much popularity to Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi; it was all daily life and training content.

Most of the time, it was Kuroko lamenting how hard and fulfilling the first-string training was, looking like someone on the path to their dreams.

After this period of effort, Wayne's current attributes are as follows.

Strength: 86, Speed: 85, Stamina: 89, Vertical: 86, Spirit: 92.

Mid-range: 85, Three-pointer: 88, Layup: 85, Ball Handling: 90, Post-up: 90, Offensive Rebound: 79, Defensive Rebound: 86, Steals: 99... and so on.

The average value reached above 85.

This was already a quite impressive stat on a national scale.

As far as the system is concerned, his stats had already reached the limit for an ordinary genius at this stage.

As for higher, that would have to be the awakened Generation of Miracles, with overall values breaking 90 and possessing talents that break limit values.

In one sentence: Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi had already reached the level of the Uncrowned Kings.

Plus, he possessed the "Solution" and "Monster" talents that break limit values, so facing the Uncrowned Kings of this period was no problem at all.

Today was the opening game of the National Tournament.

The organizers specially arranged a team parade so that the national audience would know the basic information about these teams.

Back and forth, the morning passed.

By the afternoon, the opening game officially began.

The first match was kicked off by the host team from Kyoto.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi absolutely did not believe that the draw was completely fair.

From the intelligence obtained from Satsuki, Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi and the others learned that the opponent of Kyoto's number one seed in this year's opening game was the weakest among all participating teams.

The result did not disappoint the local fans; Kyoto's number one seed defeated their opponent by 10 points and got off to a good start.

Then it was Teiko's turn; their match was arranged as the second game of the day.

Their opponent was a team from Kanagawa.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi even saw a familiar figure in the opponent's lineup.

Third-year Kasamatsu Yukio, the future captain of Kaijo High School, a senior who was short-tempered but exceptionally reliable.

Walking into the locker room, Shirogane Goro's face was full of seriousness.

Although they had been sailing smoothly, they couldn't compare the qualifiers to the main tournament.

Just like you can't compare the intensity of a preseason game to a real regular season or even a playoff game.

Not to mention that today's opponent was a team from Kanagawa, the second-largest tournament region.

The opponent's core player, Kasamatsu Yukio, was a player who had already received a guarantee from the powerhouse Kaijo.

That was an affirmation of his strength.

He was considered the best point guard in Kanagawa Prefecture this year, capable of both scoring and assisting teammates.

Such a combo guard was still relatively rare in this era.

At this moment, Shirogane Goro's gaze fell on Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi.

The task of guarding Kasamatsu Yukio today naturally fell on his shoulders.

He didn't say too many words to motivate the players in the locker room; the players were already cautious enough for this match.

Too much is as bad as too little.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi put on his number 14 jersey, just like Kobe, wore his wristbands on his elbows, and bounced twice, ready to go out, but was grabbed by Shirogane Goro.

"Coach?"

"Don't be nervous, just play normally. Believe in the effort you've put in during this time; effort won't lie to you."

I feel like you're more nervous than I am.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi could feel his coach's arm shaking.

There was no help for it; this kind of one-game-decides-all match was indeed quite exciting and cruel.

One careless move, and a year's worth of effort would vanish into thin air.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi smiled and put on his beloved sunglasses, which he used to show off.

"Don't worry, Coach."

"I am the strongest!"

'6666666!'

'Ore wa saikyou da!'

'It's here, it's here, the National Tournament is finally here.'

'Is this the first basketball anime to air the National Tournament? Slam Dunk ended at the qualifiers, crying...'

The audience had long since bought melon seeds and soda, waiting for the National Tournament to start.

Unsurprisingly, today would be Kuroko's debut, and many people didn't want to miss it.

Coming out of the player tunnel, the noisy sounds surged from all directions.

Speaking of which, Tokyo and Kanagawa could be considered old rivals.

Just like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen in the past.

As the first and second cities of the country, the common people's comparison had started a long time ago.

Now that the teams from the two places met in the National Tournament, it could be described as Mars hitting Earth.

Of course, there was no such grudge between the two teams; they simply both wanted to win the match.

There were sixty-four participating teams, and half would be eliminated in the first round.

That is to say, the winner could enter the top 32, then the top 16 and top 8, and then the top 4 and the final champion and runner-up.

Without any extra idle talk, the match started directly.

Right from the start, Murasakibara used his heaven-defying jump ball to help the opponent get the right to the first attack.

He committed a foul during the jump ball again.

Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Tian Lizi and the others looked at Murasakibara speechlessly, their disdain overflowing, while the latter pouted in grievance.

"Did this guy jump this high when watching the footage?"

Kasamatsu Yukio's expression was even more serious.

This future captain of Kaijo seemed to always have this look, except when he was angry and hitting people.

Cold, or rather, calm to the extreme.

After receiving the pass from his teammate, he ran slowly toward the front court.

It seemed he was waiting for his teammates to get into position, so the pace was extremely slow.

Besides Kasamatsu Yukio on the perimeter, Teiko's opponent today had to pay attention to their number 5.

A big center with a height of 196cm and a weight of 90kg; such tonnage at this age was an out-and-out inside killer.

Kumamoto Iwa, the opponent's number 5, sat directly into the inside, and when that lump of meat stood in the restricted area, even Murasakibara looked thin.

The opponent's first attack of the game sent the ball into the restricted area.

Murasakibara chose to defend head-on; although he looked a circle thinner than the opponent, he could really withstand the impact.

However, Kumamoto Iwa didn't chisel hard as people imagined; he just did a flexible turn-around hook shot, without even jumping with both feet, and put the ball in.

Murasakibara was stunned; it was his first time encountering a guy who shot without even jumping.