Awesome / Slam Dunk

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

• In the ending stanza of the practice game between Ryonan and Shohoku, Ryonan's Ace Akira Sendoh/Sendou/Sendo was able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat by doing a last-second play like the gifted clutch player that he was. The addition of Hanamichi Sakuragi and Kaede Rukawa in Shohoku's starting line-up was enough to force Sendo to go all out.
• During the fight between Mitsui's gang and the Shohoku High basketball team, Sakuragi beat down Tetsuo (the biggest biker thug who punched out almost everyone there) from pillar to post. He dedicates a furious punch for every one of his hurt teammates, but when it's his turn to "avenge" Rukawa, he only gives a little pinch. Naturally, Rukawa wasn't amused.
• The modus operandi of Shoyo High School is nothing short of brilliant. Team Captain and Shoyo Ace Kenji Fujima could pass to all four pillars of his team (Shoyo has one of the tallest lineups in Kanagawa, having at least 4 players who are 190 cm/6'2" tall and above) and have them dunk or layup in the paint or defend the other basket with their tallness. Once the opposing team expects him to always pass to his teammates, he could then shoot and score himself if pressed.
• In regards to Shohoku vs. Shoyo, Sakuragi was able to dunk on Toru Hanagata (Center) and Mitsuru Nagano (Power Forward). Sure, it resulted in him fouling out and getting kicked out of the game, but it was an awe-inspiring moment regardless.
  • Even Rukawa of all people gave Sakuragi kudos over the dunk afterwards. Also, Sakuragi actually got cheered by the audience, getting the loudest cheers of the game. Mitsui then said, "Even my scores are overshadowed by his."
  • Notably, it takes so long for the reality of it all to sink in for Sakuragi that it's not until the morning after that he goes back to bragging about his genius, after some prodding from Yohei.
• During the Kainan game (Kainan High is Kanagawa's Number One High School Basketball Team), Shohoku's Ace Kaede Rukawa became an unstoppable force of nature, stealing the ball and scoring against the Kainan defense repeatedly while an injured Takenori Akagi, the Shohoku Captain, was benched and tending to his injury. By the time Akagi got back, the score was tied at 49-49 with 2 seconds remaining. He was actually a human highlight reel the whole game. Alas, this amazing display was at the cost of Rukawa's stamina.
• In the final few minutes of Shohoku's match against Kainan, Hanamichi Sakuragi was able to take the rebound against Kazuma Takasago then do a pump fake on him, leading Kazuma to jump too early. Hanamichi then jumped to do a slam dunk against a defending Shinichi Maki, the Team Captain of Kainan. Not only did the dunk count, he also drew a foul against The Ace of Kainan High.
• The Ace vs. Ace battle between Ryonan's Sendo and Kainan's Maki. Sendo did his signature last-minute three-point play (shoot the ball and draw a foul to get the free throw) that would've sealed the deal for Ryonan had the more experienced Maki not realize it at the last second, leading him to hold back and not fall for Sendo's trap.
  • This led to a tied score and a War of Attrition during overtime that had Kainan emerge victorious in the end. Maki then acknowledged Sendo as a Worthy Opponent, admitting he would've done the same thing were he in Sendo's shoes.
• Sakuragi again showed his value to Shohoku during the match against Ryonan. He not only almost fouled out Ryonan Captain Jun Uozumi. He also stopped Sendoh from doing his drive when even Rukawa was fooled by Sendoh's feinted pass. Finally, he scored the last shot of the game by dunking on Ryonan's Power Forward, Kicchou Fukuda.
  • Moreover, remembering what happened in their practice game, Sakuragi immediately instructed his teammates to defend against a Sendoh counterattack in those last few seconds.
• Prior to Inter High, Coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai had Sakuragi undergo special training. He had to shoot 20,000 jump shots within 10 days. And you know what? The mad lad actually did it.
  • In the manga, the fruits of his labor was shown during the early "championship-level" match against national champs Sannoh.
  • In the anime, the fruits of his labor was instead shown during a practice match between Shohoku and the combined team of Ryonan and Shoyo.
• Here's another demonstration of just how good a coach Anzai is. Before the match against Sannoh, the whole team (sans Rukawa) was nervous. He manages to convince each one to get into the right mindset in his way: to Miyagi, he puts confidence in his skills to break the opponent's pace; with Mitsui, he points out Sannoh changed their lineup on his account, therefore they must be afraid of his skills; for Akagi, in the end, he didn't need to do anything because he managed to get in the zone in his own way; and for Sakuragi, he sees how he's attempting to come up with his own strategies and points out how focused he seems to be. Sakuragi answers that, after his failed dunk attempt at halftime of the preliminaries (see the Funny section), he's not afraid of anything anymore.
  Anzai: Hm? Have you ever even been afraid of anything?
  (beat)
  Sakuragi: (having an epiphany; then, with beast-like eyes) Never.
• The final seconds of the death match between Shohoku and Sannoh. With 8 seconds left and Shohoku down by a single point, an injured Sakuragi (who at that point was running on pure adrenalin) sprinted to the best possible shooting position, which spurred Shohoku to do a fast break. Sannoh desperately tried to stop them, only for Rukawa to breach through their defenses and unexpectedly pass the ball to Hanamichi, who in turn did a last-second buzzer beater that won the game.
• J.R. Sakuragi (born Milton J. Henderson Jr.) is an American-Japanese pro basketball player who's such a big fan of Slam Dunk that as part of his naturalization request to become a Japanese citizen, he renamed himself after Sakuragi. He ended up playing for the Japanese national team, the 2007 FIBA Asian championship, and the NBA.
• After 26 years, new content for Slam Dunk has been announced with the release of a teaser trailer for the 2022 movie. Written by Takehiko Inoue himself, the movie eventually became the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time at the time of this writing.