Akashi surveyed the floor. He watched his opponent's movements, every movements, every twitch of the muscle, down to the breathing patterns they had. He saw Chris Paul, the man defending him, eyeing him with the intensity of a roaring beast. Engaging him would not be a problem except that it would require him to exert a lot of energy considering he had just entered a realm he had locked away. He would need that energy later in the game as it would be foolish for him to overwork his body this early in the match.

Watching the movements, he recollected statements that Momoi had said about the defensive skills of the players. He was going to exploit the weakest link on the floor. Every single time. He knows of the defensive prowess of all the players. They do come from the best league on the planet, after all.

But not all of them are equal. Not all of them are skilled defensively or possess defensive instincts. He was going to exploit the one that doesn't. Entire teams can be committed playing defense well as a unit and players individually but not all of them are created equal. One player might have a good center-of-gravity and be able to defend post-ups well but not have the lateral quickness to keep up with faster players; one player might have fast hands that can steal the ball but be susceptible to getting beat off the dribble. These little minute details, if exploited correctly, can crumble the entire foundation of a team's defensive schemes.

This was the mindset of Akashi as he surveyed the floor. Each player can be exposed defensively it was just a matter of who to expose.

Deron Williams.

He is the one weak link that can dismantle the United States team defense. Slowing his dribble, Akashi called for a perimeter screen from Aomine, the man that Williams was guarding, and immediately made a move around the screen, forcing Williams to switch off of Aomine onto him.

Achieving his goal of having Williams guard him, Akashi slowed his assault and dribbled backwards, instead calling for an isolation play. Akashi knows he can take Williams one-on-one, his killer side demanded such excellence from him.

With his teammates camped outside the arc for him to take Williams in an isolation play, Akashi now had Williams at his will. It was only a matter of how Akashi would toy with his prey. Williams had a flat footed stance on defense, not influencing Akashi in any specific direction. No matter.

Changing hands with his dribble to his left as Akashi approached closer to Williams, neither was willing to give ground. As Akashi soon became within a half arm's length away from Williams, Akashi made his move. A body fake, squaring his shoulders and a hard bounce with his left hand to throw Williams off. Williams reacted to the move and slid his feet to the right to stop the drive. Exactly what Akashi wanted, instead of driving left, he executed a perfect left-to-right crossover in the blink of an eye and was immediately going the opposite direction. Williams, stunned by the change of pace, fell flat onto his backside.

An ankle breaker.

"Kneel before me," Akashi declared.

The quick move freed up Akashi for the uncontested layup at the basket, widening the narrow Japanese lead.

14-11. Japan. 7:21 left in the first quarter.

It was quite a stunning spectacle to see a player dominate another elite player so convincingly. The crowd knew it, noted with their simultaneous 'oohs' as Williams fell onto the ground.

Sticking to the continuity with the previous plays, Akashi would mark his man tightly up the court. But he chose not to do that. He was adamant to slowing the game down. This would mean that the Japanese team would slow the game down and hog the ball for as long as they can to shave off time off the clock. Consequently, this would limit the amount of time the United States would have to operate, fewer possessions, fewer points. The less amount of points the offensive juggernaut that is the United States scores the better the chance for Japan to beat them.

As Paul brought the ball up the court, unguarded, he swung the ball to the right arc to LeBron, immediately contained by Aomine, who then passed the ball to the right corner to Williams who was pressured immediately. The tight pressure forced the ball back to Paul's hands at the top of the key. Akashi marked him tightly, handchecking his waist, forcing him left. Several players from the United States team, Durant and LeBron, made hard cuts from the perimeter into the paint.

Paul surveys the open floor, goes through a hard pick set by Chandler, and penetrates deep to the top of the key. Muraskaibara had no choice but to play ice and contain Paul. Akashi went over the screen instead of under it. Chandler rolled hard after the pick.

Paul, once teammates with Chandler during their tenures as members of New Orleans Hornets, had incredible chemistry together. With no hesitation, Paul lobbed the ball high into the air for, pinpointing the exact spot that hit Chandler in his leap towards the basket for another alley-oop dunk.

Not this time.

Murasakibara had grown tired of this offense constantly scoring on him. Being the subject of two hard Chris Paul screens, his man scoring the first points of the game, Murasakibara had become frustrated. He would not settle for being dominanted in such a manner.

Timing his jump in sync with the lob of Paul's, Murasakibara twisted his body around and met Chandler at the apex of his jump with the ball. Refusing to let Chandler score again, Murasakibara brutally slapped the ball at the backboard and out of the hands of Chandler.

The ball ricocheted mightily off the backboard right into the hands of their floor general, Akashi.

Another fastbreak opportunity for Team Japan. With nobody in front of him, Akashi sprinted to his opponent's goal and leapt for an easy uncontested deuce.

16-11. Japan. 6:54 left in the first quarter.

There was no need for them to follow the game plan that Momoi had outlined. If he was able to take over the game by himself, it would not matter how many points the Americans scored. He was confident of that. This is the killer side in him speaking.

Akashi felt great. His body totally rejuvenated, a prep-in-his-step, this game is there for his taking. As the Americans brought the ball back up the court, Paul swung the ball to Durant, his moved to his right towards the right baseline, hoping to get ball movement. LeBron, chilling by the right corner, made a hard cut to the basket.

That was the designed play. Durant, annoyed the pestering Kise, found very little daylight to squeeze a pass to the cutting LeBron. Durant telegraphed a bounce pass straight to LeBron on the baseline but was poked away by Aomine, who read the pass like an open book.

The ball went to the hands of Akashi. He held the ball on his chest, shielding it away from any potential steals by Team USA. As the teams shifted sides again, Akashi motioned with hand to slow the pace of the game some more.

Leisurely dribbling up the court, Akashi purposely wasted every second he could off the shot clock, waiting until the 10 second mark before calling for a screen from Murasakibara. As Murasakibara leaked out of the paint to set the screen, Akashi motioned for his teammates to all spread out to the three point lane. He wanted to spread the floor and leave the interior vulnerable to attack. Murasakibara set a soft, but effective brush screen, not hesitating to give him an extra bump for his previous screens, and rolled hard to the rim. Akashi did the very same move that Paul did earlier and penetrated to top of the three point line. But instead of lobbing it to a rolling Murasakibara, he slid a perfect bounce pass to Murasakibara. With Chandler and Paul out of position to contest or steal the ball away from him, Murasakibara made one dribble towards the basket, waiting for any help from the other American opponents. None came.

And with an open lane to the basket, Murasakibara leapt high into the air. Jumping from an unimaginable distance, he cocked his right hand back with the ball and threw it down for a thunderous tomahawk jam.

18-11. Japan. 6:22 left in the first quarter.

As the Americans tried to change the tempo of the slow-paced game, they quickly charged up the court, the ball swinging around until it hit the hands of LeBron James. Aomine was marking him and was relishing the opportunity. It was not every day that he gets to challenge one of the best players in the world. He was going to take this head-to-head matchup and win it, decisively and make himself known the world.

Cutting off LeBron's initial drive to the basket, the American offense stagnated, grinding to a halt and relegated to just simple isolation play. LeBron had the ball in his hands and looked confused, unwilling to force the issue with a shot or attack the rim. He looked around the court for an open teammate, none were found with the suffocating defense of Team Japan.

Motioning players to move around, he caught Paul slashing towards the lane, and trying to post up Akashi. Akashi did his best to hold his ground from the stout American point guard. Denying the initial entry pass, Akashi now fronted Paul and stood in front of him, in perfect position to deny any short bounce passes to Paul. But James read the situation perfectly and lobbed the ball over his head to Paul who pushed off to get closer to the rim.

Certain that this was going to be another American basket, Akashi turned around only to see that Murasakibara, utilizing his skill to patrol the entire paint area, tap the ball away to his hands again. Akashi now had the ball again with his opponents at his heels.

With a direct line to the basket at the other end, Akashi darted across the open floor, unchallenged, until a sideswipe from Durant at his right end. Akashi ignored it and brushed him off by switching his dribble to his left hand. I'll just dunk with my left hand, no matter.

With Durant gambling on the steal and missing due to the tantalizing ball-handling of Akashi, Akashi know had another wide open dunk. This time with his left hand. Another momentum swing would certainly tip the scale permanently onto the side of the Japanese. Akashi felt it, the secretive sensation that only a select elite few have felt. It was an indescribable feeling, one of euphoric relief.

The Zone.

If Akashi can dunk this ball, the sensation would come rushing back to him. He would most certainly enter it. Palming the ball at his left arm, Akashi leapt into the air at the rim. A slam dunk to cap off another great defensive sequence by the Japanese, and another flawless fastbreak conversion. This could be the deciding goal of the game.

Three Seconds Earlier

LeBron James watched his lob pass get knocked away by the towering Japanese center and into the hands of their point guard. That point guard soon took off in the open court, an ensuing foot race between the basketball players followed suit.

LeBron watched this all transpire. He began with a slow trot towards the defensive end before breaking into his lightening quick stride. Watching his teammate Durant almost come up with the steal and slowing down the redheaded point guard, LeBron was now only mere footsteps behind the speedy floor general. Sneaking in from the blindside of Akashi, LeBron timed his jump perfectly with the dunk attempt of the smaller player. With a mighty swing of his right hand, he swatted the casual left-handed dunk attempt like a spike from a volleyball player and batted the ball deep into the front rows of the stands.

Akashi didn't know what hit him. He was a mere tenth of a second from dunking the ball and pushing the Japanese lead to nine. The ball was at the palm of his hand for a split second before it disappeared, magically almost. Then he felt a powerful force, like that of a bulldozer, bump into his back of his body and sent him crashing onto the ground.

Temporarily blacking out, Akashi slipped out of his killer side. The momentum he had built in the previous plays had all but disappeared. A fabric of a hair away from entering the Zone, Akashi was exhausted. Merely four minutes into the game, his body was spent, like he had just run a marathon. It might've been the blow he had just taken from the opponent that blocked his dunk attempt.

He looked up from the ground to see the gargantuan beast that had just denied his shot. LeBron James. The chasedown block. It was one of the few key elements that Momoi had warned them about. It was insane, really. The last glimpse of LeBron Akashi had was when he crossed half-court and avoided a steal attempt from Kevin Durant. LeBron was only beginning to jog back onto defense then.

He had the speed of a cheetah, attacking any part of the court at his whim, and the strength of the Hulk. He had those attributes all combined into one and utilized them perfectly in the last defensive play he just made.

That is unfair.

There are times when it is alright to challenge somebody of a higher skill level: this was not of the times. Akashi knew that it would not be wise to challenge the monster that is LeBron James.

The basketball that was sent packing to the stands has now returned back onto the courtside. Akashi knew that this possession was very important, even more so than the fastbreak dunk that was botched by one LeBron James. How the Japanese team would react after such a stroke of brilliance from their opponents is vital, a mistake or break down of their offensive scheme would give all the momentum back to the Americans. This cannot happen.

The Japanese needed a quick strike, something to regain their confidence, and squash any that the United States team might have accumulated in that short span of time.

Akashi set to inbound the play. He looked at the defensive setup of the United States team. Paul was set to defend Akashi in the inbounds play. The rest of the defensive assignments have yet to change from beforehand, except that Midorima was being marked by Deron Williams.

Akashi signaled a play to his teammates from the out-of-bounds line before the referee bounced the ball to him.

The Japanese team all huddled up around the free throw semicircle. The United States team did their best to deny the entry of the ball, fronting their man whenever possible and clogging up all passing lanes. As a last resort, Kise, the only Japanese player who did not move amidst the scuffling of the Japanese players leaked out to the top of the three point line to receive the pass from Akashi.

Midorima made his move then. He went to the three point line on the left hand side before going into a full sprint from the left baseline to the right baseline.

A myriad of down screens by Aomine and Murasakibara and even Akashi who had just come into the play on the defending Deron Williams, gave him no chance to catch to Midorima. As confusion of the United States defense on whether or not to switch on the screens loomed, Kise threw a perfect pass to Midorima has he went into his shooting motion before he even caught the ball.

A perfect pass to a perfect shooter to finish off the perfect play.

21-11. Japan. 5:52 left in the first quarter.

The ball back to the United States. A loud horn echoed the air. Another shift in the movement of the United States players. A mass exodus of substitutions. All the original starters had been replaced as a new swarm had swept the floor.

This was an aspect of international play; substitutions can be made after each made shot.

Russell Westbrook #7 substituting for Chris Paul.

Russell Westbrook

Position: Point Guard

Height: 6'3 (190 cm)

Weight: 200 lbs (90 kg)

Carmelo Anthony #15 substituting for LeBron James.

Carmelo Anthony

Position: Power Forward

Height: 6'8 (203 cm)

Weight: 240 lbs (108 kg)

Andre Iguodala # 9 substituting for Kevin Durant

Andre Iguodala

Position: Small Forward

Height: 6'6 (198 cm)

Weight: 215 lbs (97 kg)

Kevin Love #0 substituting for Tyson Chandler

Position: Center

Height: 6'10 (208 cm)

Weight: 243 lbs (110 kg)

It really was a peculiar move by the coach of the United States. Sending his reserves in halfway through the first, did he really not have any intent of overexerting his starters? Nothing could be taken for granted given the basketball genius that is Coach K, Riko thought to herself.

She saw that Satsuki was very nervous on the sideline. She paced herself from end to end from the bench.

"Are you okay?" Riko asked her. Satsuki stopped her pacing and looked at Riko.

"I need to give the players on the floor the scouting report about their opponents. As gifted as they are, within a guiding hand, they won't be able to contain them." she answered.

"Don't worry, we'll just tell one of the players to call a timeout whenever we get possession of the ball and you can give them your thoughts." Riko assured Satsuki.

Akashi watched Westbrook dribble the ball up the court. His breath was heavy, the short amount of time played had already taken a toll on him as he was beginning to feel the fatigue. He observed that Westbrook was different from Paul as soon as he saw him dribble the ball.

Paul had a calming dribble. He seemed under control. Westbrook on the other hand, while also a point guard, did not appear that way. He dribbled the ball impatiently as he went up the court. It became evident to Akashi and the rest of the players that Westbrook would be the floor general of the court. Williams, on the other hand, would be the designated shooting guard. The Japanese players defended according to position.

Westbrook crossed the half-court line and passed it to Carmelo Anthony on the top of the three point arc on the left-hand side. Immediately catching the pass, Anthony did not dribble and passed the ball to the left corner to Andre Iguodala.

Iguodala held the ball over his head and entered the ball into the low post to Love, 10 feet from the basket. Both Iguodala and Anthony, were to be guarded by Kise and Aomine, respectively.

Love caught the entry pass to the post and felt the weight of the man defending him, Murasakibara. Murasakibara flinched, was this man really going to try to post him up? Hysterical. Murasakibara commanded a taller body and a bigger stature than the smaller American center. What was he going to do?

Murasakibara took offense to the center trying to post him up and applied his force on Love. He intended to fully overpower him. All the American players isolated on the three-point line like darts on a target, unmoving. They watched Love give a bunch of shoulder fakes, none of which worked.

Akashi marked his man closely, switching over from watching Love with the ball and keeping an eye on his man so that he doesn't make any moves. Westbrook was slowly creeping towards Love, hinting at a hard cut towards the rim. Akashi reacted by putting one of his hands to check Westbrook. But as soon as he did that, Westbrook made a subtle move towards with a jab step. Instinctively, Akashi slid his feet to cut off Westbrook. That is where Westbrook got him. With the burst of speed similar to that of a racecar, Westbrook went the other direction. Akashi was caught completely off guard by the surprising speed of Westbrook. His ankles buckled up trying to react to the change of direction move by Westbrook and resulted in him slipping onto the ground.

Love immediately caught sight of Westbrook on the cut to the basket and made a gorgeous no-look shovel pass to Westbrook. Westbrook, catching in stride, leapt high into the air, like he had just jumped off of a trampoline, for the vicious one-hand tomahawk dunk.

Westbrook did not shy from letting his emotion show after that dunk. He let out a mighty yell at the Japanese crowd and scowled at the Japanese bench and players as he cockily strutted back to the defensive end of the floor.

The referees immediately blew a whistle.

"Time-out! Japan!" the referees signaled.

Akashi, still in disbelief while trying to get up, saw the extended hand of a teammate to help him up. It was Kuroko. Surrounding him were all the Japanese teammates, helping him up.

21-13. Japan. 5:22 left in the first quarter.

As the team huddled up, Satsuki gave the rundown on all the players on the court.

"Russell Westbrook: As you may have just seen, is a very explosive point guard. He has the mentality to score first rather than pass. He is still a young player like all of you so he is prone to be overly aggressive and make bad decisions when he has the ball. He, like many players, are obsessed with jump shots, make him take those, his quick step off the dribble is extremely difficult to stop. He is a very unpredictable player, so be wary of that.

"Andre Iguodala: He is a premier defender. That is his specialty. He rarely creates offense for himself and often looks to pass the ball. But let that fool you. He is a very athletic player and that certainly helps his defense. Take caution when defending him on the three point line, which is where he likes to spot up or camp in the corner.

"Deron Williams: He joined the game a little bit earlier. His swaying crossover is meant to lure you to sleep. If you go for the swipe or steal and you miss, he'll have beaten you with a pull-up three pointer or an attack to the rim. Stay in front of him is all that needs to be done.

"Kevin Love: He is the very definition of this American team. He is a very capable center with phenomenal passing skills out of the low block. His defense is lackluster at times but he makes up with it by good outlet passes from his rebounding and he thins out the interior defense with his three point shooting. Be aggressive on him. That is the method on how you want to contain him.

"Carmelo Anthony: Do not let his stout body throw you off. He is one of the best shooters on the team. If he gets hot or even sniffs the Zone, it's over, for all of us. It's scary that the United States has someone of his caliber coming off the bench. What you want to do against him is to completely play him within the team concept. You must defend him as a team. His big body can back down anybody and he can overpower any defender and attack the rim or he can raise up and shoot the three if you put too little pressure on him. Do not hesitate to double team him, just be sure that it is a hard trap that prevents him from making a move or a soft commit where you can slide back to the man you are defending in case that he kicks it back out."

"Can the entire American team shoot threes with skill?" one of the players brought up.

"Yes," it was Riko who answered. "That's the scary thing. Ten of the twelve players on that roster right now have the capabilities to shoot threes at a high rate and efficiently. That includes a center and a power forward like that of Kevin Love and LeBron James."

"As for the offense, continue to slow the game down. It's working very well right now. I know that we got a couple of easy baskets in the beginning but don't get trigger happy with the ball. Akashi, keep doing what you're doing with the orchestration of the offense. Take advantage of whatever the defense gives you." Satsuki added.

"Actually, I was thinking if someone can substitute in for me," Akashi proposed.

Dead silence.

"Substitution? But why?" Kise protested.

"I have already wasted a lot of my energy defending the point guards from the opposing team. I need to rest and conserve the entirety of my energy for the later part of the game."

Riko nodded her head in agreement. She observed the play of Akashi very acutely the last couple of possessions. He collided bodies with the beastly LeBron James earlier on and had exerted himself for quite the few possessions before. And his ankles and leg to a hard tumble after getting faked out by Westbrook right before the time out. Right now would be an ideal time for Akashi to sit and take in the game by watching his opponents play. The general needs to calculate and plan before he can act after all.

"Alright, Akashi. You can sit for now." Riko declared.

"Ref! Substitution!" she went onto tell the referees and the scorer's table about the sitting of Akashi.

The horn sounded as play was about to resume.

"Who's gonna come in for Akashi?" Kise pondered.

"Kazunari Takao! You're up!" Riko pointed at him.

"Excellent. Let's go, Shin-chan!" Takao leapt out of the bench with joy. He parted one of the hairs that were covering his eyes as he smiled. This is going to be fun.

Hello my friends. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the long wait. Chapter 4 is up! As usual, any comments, concerns, or if you don't understand anything, please leave a review or send a PM. I will happily address it in the next chapter. Again, thanks for reading!