Episode 39: Seirin gets their first points through Kuroko's Ignite Pass Kai, an improved version of his Ignite Pass, powerful that it even goes past Aomine's hand, followed by Kiyoshi's Right Of Postponement to provide a lob for Kagami to slam. As Touou gets more points and are not affected by the Ignite Pass Kai, Hyuga volunteers to start his attack on the outside. The freshmen are confused as to why Hyuga is so relaxed, and the seniors reveal that it is because he is confident, shown by him cracking his neck. After Sakurai experiences Hyuga's 3-pointers, he begins to pout and it turns into a 3-pointer shoot-out between Sakurai and Hyuga. The last 5 seconds of the first quarter finishes with Kuroko doing a Vanishing Drive through Suso, then passes to Hyuga to tie the game at 22 apiece. Touou, by then, expected how the Vanishing Drive works. At the start of the second quarter, Kuroko attempts to break past Aomine with Vanishing Drive, but Aomine closes his eyes and relies on his past relationship with Kuroko to quickly stop Kuroko from passing him. Kuroko tries another Ignite Pass Kai through Aomine, but the latter stops it with one hand. Upon seeing this bad situation, Kuroko gets subbed out. How will Kagami show Kuroko that there is no such thing as "useless effort"?
Episode 40: Timeout is over, and Kagami has gotten serious to try and raise Kuroko's spirits. Kagami's awakening of his real potential, due to him forgetting about his reliance on Kuroko, has enabled him to block Aomine from behind the back. Aomine gets to play a little bit faster, countering with a self alley-oop shot behind his back. Kagami, being able to keep up with Aomine's fast pace change, also managed to block Aomine's signature Formless Shot, which shocks the entire Generation of Miracles. He followed up with an attempt of his own Formless Shot, which missed because of Aomine disrupting it. Aomine is surprised to see that the force of his shoot bruised his finger. The first half ends with Seirin down by just 2 points, 46-48. Aomine goes off by himself to celebrate him having finally found an opponent where he can go all out on. Kuroko wants Kagami to give Aomine a chance to play with a smile again, with the feeling of loving basketball. The second half begins, and Kuroko enters the court, surprising many in the crowd. Aomine got faster again and managed to pass Kagami. However, Aomine got a foul for charging Kuroko. Kuroko used his past relationship with Aomine to predict his course. Kuroko then uses his Ignite Pass to Hyuga, who manages to catch it and throw a 3-pointer, which by doing so taking the lead. However, Imayoshi fakes to pass for Wakamatsu to score. In the next possession, a change that leads to the surprise of many has been done: Imayoshi taking over to mark Kuroko by direction of Momoi. How will this change make an impact on Seirin, and how will Seirin and Kuroko handle this situation?
Episode 41: Imayoshi is able to immobilise Kuroko, and Sakurai manages to stop Hyuga's Barrier Jumper, both actions being instructed by Momoi. Aomine goes past Kagami and makes a 360 spin dunk at the same time. All 5 Touou players are now able to see Kuroko. However, this actually leads to a trap set by Kuroko, when Izuki goes past Imayoshi with a Vanishing Drive, something the crowd thought only Kuroko can pull off, and scores. Hyuga also managed to bypass Sakurai with a Vanishing Drive too, and scored. The revelation of Misdirection Overflow has pulled Seirin to within single digit difference. However, Imayoshi scores a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put Touou's lead to 11, ending the 3rd quarter. Before timeout expires, Aomine did not pay attention as the rest of the players return to the court. 4th quarter starts, and Seirin starts off with Hyuga combining his Barrier Jumper and Kuroko's Misdirection Overflow to avoid Sakurai's quick defense and scores a 3-pointer, putting the difference back to 8. The real Aomine will reveal himself soon, so how will Seirin cope with the Aomine even more stronger than they have faced in the first half?
Episode 42: Still behind by 10, and Kagami has been unable to stop the faster Aomine, therefore Hyuga suggests to go 3 points at a time. Hyuga hits a 3 with confidence, even with Sakurai's tight defense on the former. Touou goes to inbound, but are pressed by Seirin, and eventually Wakamatsu's inbound pass to Suso has been stolen by Kuroko and Hyuga tries to hit another 3, but Sakurai fouls Hyuga and gets 3 free throws. All 3 are converted and Seirin are now only down by 3 points. In the next possession for Touou, Aomine swiftly goes past Kagami and the latter cannot even react at all. Aomine has entered the Zone, therefore his speed has doubled, and now Seirin are unable to stop Aomine. In the timeout, Kagami wants to go for a one-on-one against Aomine, which is virtually impossible with the latter in the Zone. Kagami has 2 minutes as Seirin's ace, and for the next few Touou possessions, Aomine still manages to pass Kagami and score. Down by 13, and not bearing to see Seirin lose and cry again, Kagami finally manages to react to Aomine's drive, hitting the ball out of bounds. It is then shown that Kagami has also entered the Zone. Who will win this battle of the Aces, Aomine vs Kagami, now that both are in the Zone, and who will advance to the next round of the Winter Cup?
Episode 43: An intense battle between the Aces, Aomine and Kagami, begins. Each refuses to give in to the other and manages to block the other's shot attempts. The audience, as well as the other players, are amazed at the battle of the Aces in the Zone, which brings their focus and reaction speed to the maximum. Kagami finally manages to drive past Aomine and scores, cutting Touou's lead to just 3, 95-98, with 41.5 seconds left. In the next possession for Touou, Aomine finds it difficult to drive past Kagami, but he quickly jumps for a Formless Shot. However, Kagami is determined not to let down his teammates, and the knowledge that his team is there to support him gives him the strength to make an incredible leap and block Aomine's shot, right as the time limits for them being in the Zone expire. Hyuga scores a layup on the return to cut the lead to just 1, and Touou's coach prepares to call a timeout, but upon seeing his players' intense focus, decides against making the call, fearing a timeout would disrupt the flow of the game and unfocus his players. Absolutely determined to win, Aomine scores an impossibly difficult Formless Shot from behind the backboard to bring the score to 97-100 in Touou's favor, with only 15 seconds left. With time running out, Kagami attempts a dunk, but Aomine jumps and gets a hand on the ball, stopping the dunk. However, Kagami suddenly recalls his summer training goal of achieving mobility in mid-air and improving his left-handed ball-handling, and finally succeeds, by using his left hand to force the ball away from Aomine's block and pass it to Kiyoshi, who makes the shot while drawing a foul from Wakamatsu. Both teams realize Seirin's only chance to win is to miss the free throw and grab the rebound for a final shot, as Seirin's players are at their limit and lack the strength and stamina to win in overtime. Kiyoshi intentionally misses the free throw, and Kagami manages to get the rebound and go for the putback dunk, but Aomine appears and swats the ball from his hands. Imayoshi chases after the loose ball, but Kuroko suddenly appears in front of him. Imayoshi is shocked, wondering if Kuroko had believed in Aomine instead of Kagami, but Kuroko reveals that he had actually believed in both of them. However, Kuroko knows that only Kagami can win this battle, and fires an Ignite Pass, to which both Aomine and Kagami react by jumping for the ball. Kagami catches the pass and ferociously slams the ball in over Aomine's outstretched arm right as time expires, giving Seirin the 101-100 victory. Aomine realizes in a daze that he lost for the first time, and finally gives Kuroko his long-overdue fist bump, which he had rejected years before, when they had first begun to drift apart. At the end of the match, the third-year players of Touou retire, and Wakamatsu is made the new team captain. Aomine, outside of the stadium, regains his desire to practice and train again, and asks Momoi to go shopping for new basketball shoes with him, to which she reacts with surprise and happiness, agreeing to his request and returning to calling him "Dai-chan", as she had done in their middle school days.
Episode 44: After the tough and close win over Touou, the Seirin team decides to find a place to rest and rejuvenate. With no places to go due to various reasons, Kagami offers the team an invitation to his house. After a restful night for the team, they find Alexandra (Alex) Garcia, Kagami's master in basketball, sleeping in Kagami's house. The Seirin team, along with Alex, went to watch the Winter Cup match between Onita and Shutoku, with the latter taking the win easily, and Midorima caught Alex's attention. After the match, the Seirin team goes to review their next opponent, Nakamiya South, while Alex brings Kagami to teach him something she didn't teach, and Kuroko meets Aomine to get the latter to teach him how to shoot. The match between Seirin and Nakamiya South is about to begin, and Seirin decides to bench Kuroko and Kagami, with the starting line-up entirely made of 2nd year players. Will Seirin take the game and proceed further in the Winter Cup?
Episode 45: While the match between Seirin and Nakamiya South progresses, at Touou Academy's library, Imayoshi and Susa discussed about Seirin's possibility of winning the match while studying. Seirin indeed are in a difficult situation of beating Nakamiya South. Imayoshi said that Seirin have not given their 120% like what the players did against Touou, and they may have gotten a little overconfident as they have defeated Touou. After getting themselves awake, still without the help of Kuroko and Kagami, Seirin manages to take the game 83-77. At the same time, Kaijo, Shutoku and Rakuzan won their respective matches. In Seirin's 3rd round of Winter Cup, they found themselves in another difficult situation. In the last 10 minutes, Kuroko and Kagami are subbed in, and win the game against Morizono North 87-82. In another court, Yosen, with Murasakibara and Himuro, comepletely crushed their opponent 81-0, not conceding a single basket. The most anticipated top 8 match will be Seirin VS Yosen, and both teams have analysed each other, awed by their respective basketball strategies. The match then begins, with Murasakibara winning the tip off for Yosen, but due to the jumper violation made by him, too, Seirin gets to start the ball. Hyuga finds himself open for a 3-pointer, but gets quickly blocked by Murasakibara. Trying to attack again, Kuroko changes the intended pass course to an open Kagami, who attempts to shoot, but gets blocked by the quick Murasakibara. With Seirin still not being able to score over the tall and quick Murasakibara, will this just be a one-sided game for Yosen?
Episode 46: Yosen takes an 18-0 lead going towards the end of the 1st quarter. As Fukui goes to score the last basket of the quarter, Kagami touched the ball, hence it missed. Start of 2nd quarter, and Kiyoshi tries for a post play against Murasakibara, then Kiyoshi throws up a lob for Kagami to slam, attempting for the first points for Seirin. However, Murasakibara has great reflexes that he reacted in time to block Kagami's dunk. Match progresses on, and Kagami is having difficulties defending Okamura. How will the match progress, now that Himuro has started to play his ball?
Episode 47: Himuro executes a superb fake on Kagami, then smoothly transitions to take a jump shot, to which Kagami and Hyuga cannot react. He then makes a Mirage Shot that Kagami still is not able to block. Down 20-35, Seirin decides to replace Kagami with Tsuchida, reason being Kagami can't separate his emotions from the game, and that he is being too kind. Kiyoshi engages a post battle with Murasakibara, but gets blocked even though it is a double clutch layup. However, Izuki grabs the rebound and passes to Kiyoshi, who is outside the 3-point line. With no one going to stop him, Kiyoshi manages to make a 3-pointer, even though it is not his specialty. Following another of Himuro's jump shot, Seirin decides to play Kiyoshi as point guard. This forces Murasakibara to jump in order to stop Kiyoshi from making mid and long ranged shots. It worked out well, as Seirin were down 28-37, after Hyuga made a 3-pointer. Yosen calls for timeout, and Kagami asks Kuroko to throw the ring away, then returns to the court. Timeout over, and it's Himuro VS Kagami again. The former got an advantage as he makes a drive and fake at the same time and is far enough away from Kagami for a shot. However, Kagami actually blocks it, then he makes a 1-vs-1 against Murasakibara, and goes for a new type of dunk, but gets blocked by the latter. Kiyoshi then gets triple-teamed, and now Himuro attempts a Mirage Shot, but Kagami slips on sweat, which could cause Kagami to unable to block it as he jumped late. However, his fingers somehow grazed the ball and the shot is missed. Kagami realised about how to stop the Mirage Shot. Again, Kiyoshi gets triple teamed, so he passes to Izuki, and the latter is open for a 3-pointer, which he takes but missed. Murasakibara certified himself that the rebound is his, but Kiyoshi grabs the ball with one hand and makes the putback dunk over Murasakibara. Kiyoshi then stumbles, but he said that he is fine and so he continues to play the match. The score is now 37-30, with Seirin down by only 7. Hyuga makes a steal and the ball finds Kiyoshi, who again is triple teamed. Kiyoshi passes to Izuki and it becomes a 3-vs-1 attack, with Kagami, Izuki and Mitobe against Murasakibara. Izuki passes back to Kiyoshi, who goes for a shot, but the form is off, hence it missed. Mitobe boxes out Murasakibara with his all, and that worked well as Kagami goes for the putback dunk. Now Seirin are only down by 5. Murasakibara cannot take Kiyoshi particularly, and decides to go to the other side of the court to join in Yosen's offense. This made the whole of Seirin shocked as they don't know how to stop Murasakibara. With Murasakibara now on offense mode, how would this affect the flow of the game?
Episode 48: With Murasakibara finally appearing on the offensive side, Seirin is slowly losing hope of having the chance to win against Yosen. With the help of the Fukui, Murasakibara catches the ball and dunks it, causing the hoop to break and collide with the ground, further diminishing the hopes of Seirin. Back to the game, Kuroko marks Murasakibara, thus causing Murasakibara to foul for charging at Kuroko, effectively angering Murasakibara. During the break, at Seirin's bench, Kiyoshi says he is glad to be with Seirin, making the rest of the team pissed because he hadn't noticed this earlier. Kiyoshi believes in the saying that "We don't support each other because we are a team. We are a team because we support each other". With the final quarter starting, how will the game go, now that Kiyoshi is finally benched? And what is the favor Kiyoshi wants from Riko?
Episode 49: As the match continues in the fourth quarter, Yosen keeps on maintaining its lead and with Kiyoshi out, the Seirin players face tough times scoring any points. Seirin starts to use the same full court 2-3 man-to-man defense like what Yosen uses, but Himuro and Murasakibara are easily able to overcome it. Kagami wants his Zone to activate like he did against Touou, but isn't able to do so. Aomine explains that it is difficult to enter the Zone a second time. Meanwhile, the Kaijo team comes to watch the match and Kise notices what Kagami was trying to do, so when the ball went out of court, he returned the ball back and taunted Kagami by saying that he had faced a much fierce player in their practice match who never relied on anything. This indirect advise makes Kagami realise his mistake and he starts to give his all into the match and finally his struggle leads him to enter the Zone. Seirin manages to get back in the game with Kagami scoring the points with the help of Kuroko and others. Kagami is able to stop Himuro's Mirage Shot and Murasakibara's Thor Hammer, shocking everybody in Yosen. Aomine tells that Murasakibara was the most talented among the Generation of Miracles, but he was the person who loved basketball the least and because of that, he cannot enter the Zone. The score becomes 64-60, with Seirin still down by 4. During the time out, Murasakibara said that he does not want to play even though they are still 4 points ahead, but Himuro is able to convince him back into playing. Now with just 3 minutes remaining, both teams are fired up to face each other in the final stage of the battle, plus Kiyoshi is planning to enter the court within the last two minutes. How would the match end up?
Episode 50: Back to the match after the timeout, Okamura provides a screen for Himuro, as the latter passes Kuroko easily with his perfect fake, and goes on for a Mirage Shot when the Zone-possessed Kagami tries to block it again. However, Himuro passes to Murasakibara, who quickly turns and goes for a dunk, but Kagami moves very fast that he is able to try to block Murasakibara. However, Murasakibara passes to Himuro, allowing the latter to score, which surprised the Seirin team, Aomine and Kise as Murasakibara doesn't pass when having the ball. Next possession for Seirin, and Kagami becomes the point guard instead. He went past Fukui easily, and tries to shoot when Murasakibara tries to block, but Kagami passes to Kuroko and then the ball is deflected by Kuroko for an alley-oop converted by Kagami. Next, Kagami passes to Izuki, and the latter tries to lay up when Murasakibara is behind to block, but with Izuki's Eagle Eye, he lobs the ball high about and Kagami slams the ball as Murasakibara quickly tries to block the dunk. After Seirin and Yosen trade baskets, the score is now 72-68, with Yosen still leading by 4. After that, Kiyoshi returns to the court with 1 minute left. With Kiyoshi back on the team, Seirin uses the Triangle-And-Two defense, the same defense formation as in the first half. Yosen's ball, and Murasakibara attacks the rim again when Kagami had already quickly returned to try and block the former, and he decides to pass back to Himuro, who now gets quickly defended by Kiyoshi. Thinking that only Kagami can stop the Mirage Shot, Himuro goes to take one, but he got surprised as Kiyoshi did not jump to block him, but faked Himuro due to the latter's Right Of Postponement being used. Although Himuro tried to shoot as Kiyoshi did not block his second attempt, the low release point from the first release meant that even shorter players can block it, which Hyuga did block. Fast break for Seirin, and Kagami missed a jump shot, but Kiyoshi grabs the offensive rebound with his Vice Claw, then he passes to Hyuga for an open 3-pointer, putting Seirin to within just 1 point, with 20 seconds left. Now it is Yosen's possession, Okamura makes a long pass to Himuro, then the latter perfectly fakes Hyuga, and goes to shoot past Kagami, but changed to pass to Murasakibara. Then Murasakibara goes to jam the rim when Kagami again tried to block the dunk, but the dunk attempt got more powerful. Kagami almost lost, but Kiyoshi backs Kagami and the duo managed to overpower Murasakibara to stop the dunk. Seirin's counterattack, and the team got surprised as Murasakibara is already at the post defending, when Kagami, Kise and Aomine then realised that Murasakibara entered the Zone. Kise and Aomine thought that Kagami cannot win the battle if him and Murasakibara are in the zone. Knowing that he is at his limits, Kagami exceeds them and attempts a lane up, but he does not have enough space to jump from that angle, and would not reach the hoop. Kagami then made his new move, Meteor Jam, over Murasakibara, and it goes in. Seirin finally took the lead with 4 seconds left, and Himuro quickly inbounded the ball to Murasakibara, who already ran to the other side at fast speed. Kagami did not go back to defense as his energy is drained, and Murasakibara is open for an easy dunk to secure the win for Yosen, but his knees limited his attempt as the Point Guard play by Kiyoshi made him jump many times, putting burden to the knees. Murasakibara thinks that he won't miss even if he just tosses it in, but Kuroko returns and quickly blocks the shot and that's it, Seirin wins Yosen 73-72. Seirin advances to the top 4 of the Winter Cup, and they will face the winner of the next match, in which one of the teams is Kaijo, and the other team has one player, who is not revealed, walking. In the final scene, Kagami realised what was wrong when he asked Kuroko to throw away the ring that represents his friendship with Himuro, after Kuroko tells him that it is possible to stay as brothers and enemies at the same time, and Kagami grabs the ring and finds Himuro. How would Seirin's Winter Cup story progress?
Rating: 9/10(Average)
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