Hanamichi Sakuragi è una matricola del liceo Shohoku della prefettura di Kanagawa, i suoi migliori amici sono Yohei Mito, Yuji Ohkusu, Chuichirou Noma e Nozomi Takamiya. È stato rifiutato da cinquanta ragazze, l'ultima delle quali ha preferito a lui un giocatore di pallacanestro, per questo motivo odia questo sport. Tutto cambia quando si invaghisce di Haruko, pure lei studentessa matricola dello Shohoku, la quale gli propone di entrare nel club di pallacanestro della scuola e lui accetta anche solo per conquistarla.

Norio Hotta, un teppista della scuola, sfida Hanamichi e Mito i quali lo raggiungono sul tetto dell'istituto con i loro amici. Scoprono però che Hotta e i suoi amici sono stati messi al tappeto da Kaede Rukawa, matricola e promessa della pallacanestro a livello nazionale.

Gli studenti dello Shohoku assistono alla sfida di pallacanestro nella palestra dell'istituto tra Akagi e Hanamichi, quest'ultimo per vincere deve fare un solo canestro prima che l'avversario ne metta a segno dieci di fila.

Hanamichi tenta in tutti i modi di entrare nella squadra di pallacanestro della scuola ma Akagi si oppone strenuamente. Hanamichi non trova giusto che la domanda di iscrizione di Rukawa (che è entrato a far parte del club) sia stata accettata e la sua respinta.

Hanamichi, dopo una settimana costretto ad allenarsi con Ayako nel palleggio, litiga con Akagi il quale non intende farlo allenare con il resto della squadra finché non avrà imparato i fondamentali.

Hanamichi inizia a prendere con più serietà i suoi allenamenti con Ayako, poi fa la conoscenza di Mitsuyoshi Anzai, l'allenatore della squadra, un anziano gentile dall'aspetto buffo, un tempo era un giocatore di pallacanestro, fece parte della Nazionale del Giappone.

Rukawa mette in mostra tutto il suo talento impressionando positivamente sia il coach che il resto della squadra. Nonostante l'antipatia che Hanamichi prova per Rukawa per un breve momento è rimasto affascinato dal suo talento.

Aota, capitano del club di judo della scuola e vecchio amico di Akagi, decide di voler sottrarre Hanamichi alla squadra di pallacanestro poiché ha visto in lui un grande potenziale come lottatore.

Aota continua a tentare Hanamichi con le foto di Haruko, ma anche se Hanamichi le desidera si rifiuta di lasciare la pallacanestro. Akagi, Ayako e Kogure assistono di nascosto al confronto tra Hanamichi e Aota, i quali capiscono di avere in comune non solo l'amore per Haruko, ma anche un'avversione profonda per Akagi da entrambi ritenuto un ragazzo antipatico e insensibile.

Akagi decide di sottoporre Hanamichi a un allenamento più serio, ritenendo che per farlo diventare un buon finalizzatore debba imparare tecniche più differenziate non potendo contare solo sulla schiacciata.

Hanamichi e Haruko continuano ad allenarsi insieme, Hanamichi memore del fatto che Rukawa quando esegue il layup salta con più disinvoltura.

Hanamichi e Hikoichi iniziano a fare amicizia, Hikoichi è solo un giocatore di riserva nella squadra di pallacanestro del Ryonan che quest'anno è una delle favorite alla vittoria del campionato nazionale scolastico.

I giocatori dello Shohoku guidati da Anzai fanno visita al liceo Ryonan dove si terrà l'amichevole.

Sendo, dando prova di essere un ottimo assistman con i suoi passaggi permette a Koshino e Uekusa di fare dei canestri, per poi eseguire lui stesso una spettacolare schiacciata. Il Ryonan conduce per 19-0 ma proprio lo svantaggio riaccende in Akagi e Rukawa la voglia di combattere.

Finally, Sakuragi got a chance to play when Akagi was hurt while playing. Now, there is only about 9 minutes left on the clock.

With just 8 minutes left in the second half, Ryonan is still leading. Taoka tells the Ryonan to continue to attack. Sakuragi plays whole-heartily and this impressed Sendoh.

Ryonan is leading with 3 points ahead of Shohoku, Taoka said that the game will depends on how Sakuragi plays. Meanwhile, Sakuragi begins to realize how important rebounds are.

Sendoh is amazed at how good Shohoku has become, thus begins to take the game seriously. Anzai then, calls both Rukawa and Sakuragi to approach, to tell them of his plan.

Although Shohoku has lost the game, Sakuragi played very well for his first game. Sakuragi and Rukawa vowed that in their next game with Ryonan, they will beat Sendoh.

The next day, Haruko has to accompany Sakuragi to the sports shop to buy a new pair of shoes because his old shoes are in a bad shape after the practice game with Ryonan.

Ryota Miyagi returns to basketball after beening injured in a fight. Ayako heard rumors that Miyagi was back in school, so she decided to investigate. She brings along Sakuragi and see that Miyagi is into another fight realizing that Ayako and Sakuragi are together sparking jealously into his eyes which causes a problem. Will Miyagi and Sakuragi be able to coexist...

It seemed like a disaster for two trouble makers in Miyagi and Sakuragi to collide with each other, but it seems things hae turned out much better than expected.

A former member of the Shohoku team returns with a major axe to grind, which spells doom for the team.

After Ayako was slapped by one of the invading students, Miyagi joined in the fight, as well as Rukawa. However, Tetsuo easily took both of them down. Sakuragi steps up to the plate, outnumbered. Things change when Sakuragi's friends appear in an unlikely fashion.

Mitsui and Tetsuo were defeated, but Mitsui still continued to fight. Though when Akagi enters, the atmosphere becomes dense. Akagi slaps Mitsui around. Kogure then informs everyone that Mitsui use to be an excellent basketball player, and was even on the team. Kogure then proceeds to tell the rise and downfall of Mitsui's basketball career.

It seems that Mitsui was once a great basketball player himself before High School. Though something happened during practice that changed his life forever.

After suffering through his horrible injury, Mitsui quit on basketball. Though two years later, in his attempt to sabotage Shohoku from participating in the tournament, his feelings for the sport are growing stronger once again.

The tournament is finally making its approach. Sakuragi is anxious to play against Sendo again, but Shohoku will have to deal with Miuradai first.

The match starts, and Anzai refuses to put Sakuragi, Rukawa, Mitsui, and Miyagi, in the starting line-up. For what reason? As punishment for fighting. Will Anzai keep it like this for the entire game?

With four of Shohoku's best players finally entering in the game, the tables turn quickly as they narrow the lead down to only 2. Sakuragi was hacked on a play, giving him two shots at the freethrow line. Though things were tough for him, as nervousness broke his concentration, and his imagination started running wild.

Miuradai revealed a secret weapon of theirs that'll help them try and overcome Shohoku, and that's the ox Nato.

Miuradai started gaining control of the game, until Nato started finally guarding Rukawa instead of Sakuragi. Rukawa exploited his weakness, and this caused an instant shift, favouring Shohoku.

Shohoku's next match is against Gohoku. While they have been exceeding almost everyone's expectations, Sakuragi continues to be laughed at for his nonsensical and pointless fouls. He starts to realize that he might not be so great after all.

Sakuragi and his fouling troubles continue. He unconsciously went to Akagi's house for help, and in order to help Sakuragi a little bit, Akagi gives him one piece of advice... instill his opponents with fear using his eyes. Sakuragi takes this too literally, with predictable results.

Mitsui got himself caught up in a fight between Ryo and Tetsuo, and was eventually beaten himself. However, an unlikely Sakuragi pops out of nowhere, and comes to aid his teammate when trying to get to the gym.

Sakuragi is still upset at Akagi for telling him a false technique in defense, and tries harder the next game against Tsukubu. While he gets fouled out, he's improving rather quickly, and he'll need it against a powerhouse team like Shoyo, who's the second ranking team in the tournament.

Anzai-sensei decides to start Sakuragi, much to everyone's shock. He figures that with his height and drive he'll be the perfect weapon to use against Shoyo.

With the the Shohoku offense stalled by Shoyo's defense, Rukawa takes it upon himself to lead the offensive charge.

With Rukawa taking the heat off of the rest of the team, Miyagi gets a chance to show off his skills as a point guard and his speed on the court.

With Mitsui's 3 point shot, Shohoku finally caught up with Shoyo. It seemed like Fujima had enough, but Hanagata asked him to trust him for a little while longer. Fujima made a good decision in trusting his star center, for Shoyo pulled away from Shohoku again, creating another 10 point deficit.

Driven hard by by Rukawa's offense and Sakuragi's rebounding, Fujima comes off the bench to lead his team to victory.

Fujima is leading a strong charge for Shoyo against Shohoku, taking the lead once again. Though Shohoku has other problems besides Fujima; Mitsui is already very tired. Will Kogure be able to take his place?

Shohoku's problems continue piling up. Mitsui can't get a 3 pointer to go in, forcing all the burden on Rukawa. Plus, Sakuragi is on the brink of fouling out, one more and he's gone. Is this the end for Shohoku?

Mitsui, reminiscing upon the past, gets the energy to play and lead his team. In just a matter of time, he scored 9 consecutive points thanks to his impressive shooting, but is it enough to overcome Shoyo?

While Mitsui has increased his efficiency during the game, Sakuragi still faces the brink of being dismissed. After a few destructive words from Rukawa, Sakuragi is fueled with fire.

Thanks to a basket from Rukawa, Shohoku has finally taken the lead in a critical time. Sakuragi, wanting to feel important, jumped up at the same time as two opposing Shoyo players as he was going for the dunk. It seems like Sakuragi's long desire to perform a slam dunk will be fulfilled.

Shohoku has defeated Shoyo, and Sakuragi is quick to spread the word, especially after his ferocious slam dunk on Hanagata. It seems like Oda, a person that went to the same junior high as him, is going to be facing Kainan. They're also hoping to pull off an upset victory like Shohoku has.

Sakuragi skips practice in order to investigate on why Yohko was acting so strangely. When they get to Takezono, he is immediately met by hordes of girls who misjudge his delinquent looks as someone who came to beat up Oda in order to Sabotage Takezono's chances of beating Kainan.

The match between Takezono and Kainan starts. Kainan only put in two starters the entire game, but it seemed like it was enough to take care of their opponents. That wasn't Takezono's only problem; Oda's injury remains ignorant to everyone but Yohko and Sakuragi, and it's clearly affecting his ability to play.

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The match between Shohoku and Kainan has been tight and intense all the way through, but it was Sakuragi who stood out the most with his cocky attitude and amazing athleticism. However, Kainan's coach is planning something to get Sakuragi off the court.

Takato seemed to have devised the perfect plan to counter-attack against Sakuragi, which is sending in the extremely small and weak Miyamasu. In an unbelievable turn around, the plan worked in which Sakuragi was horrible embarassed, allowing Kainan to widen the gap. Rukawa however, seems to be heating up.

Shohoku isn't about to let their chances slip away against Kainan, however, things quickly changed when Akagi injured his ankle, forcing Sakuragi to take over his spot as center.

Sakuragi did a pretty good job of filling in for Akagi, though it was Rukawa who pushed Shohoku into a fierce comeback against Kainan. He single handedly brought Shohoku back within five points.

Rukawa's strong performance made it seem like Shohoku has a chance of winning, but what got everyone's attention was when Akagi came back from the locker room.

Akagi coming back in for Shohoku seemed like they would be in great position to win, but Maki displayed to everyone why he's the best player in the region, giving Jin a ton of open looks for three pointers.

Anzai formulated a plan to destroy Kainan's formidable backcourt combo of Jin and Maki by playing zone defense, and their offense started crumbling. Sakuragi, when shooting from the free throw line, decided to shoot it differently by throwing up a granny shot.

Shohoku and Kainan refuse to give up on each other with the match going back and forth like a see saw.

The last ten seconds of the game are approaching, and Shohoku is only down by four. The one who'll decide this match will be Sakuragi.

Sakuragi is in an emotional hangover after the events of the previous match, so in order to come to himself, he decides to change his appearance.

Sakuragi's new haircut was the news of the school the next day. During practice, he decided to work twice as hard in order to prevent another mistake like that happening again. When Mitsui was the one guarding Sakuragi, all of his weaknesses and shortcomings started showing.

Akagi really wants Sakuragi to become part of their offense, so he trains him for three days straight on his shooting. To his surprise, Sakuragi was pretty enthusiastic about it.

The anticipated match up between two of the best teams in the region commences. One of the biggest surprises was how Sendoh was handling point guard duties, and was doing an efficient job of it with Ryonan getting a head start against Kainan.

Sendoh is the entire pillar that's pushing his team forward right now, but the tables turn when Uozumo decides to argue a call from the referee.

Due to Uozumi being fouled out, and Fukuda being a terrible defensive player, Sendoh was forced to carry Ryonan on his shoulders all by himself. Though for Shohoku, greater events have become more of a priority.

Shohoku's representatives rush to Anzai's aid, and are surprised at how efficiently Sakuragi acquired a doctor. Meanwhile, Kainan was too strong for Ryonan and Sendoh to handle. They'll have to do better now that they're up against Shohoku.

One of the more exciting matches in the tournament is about to start, as it's Ryonan vs. Shohoku. Though people have already been speculating Shohoku's chances of a victory, as their coach is absent, resting himself in the hospital.

Due to Fukuda's terrible defense and Sakuragi's equally atrocious offense, Taoka thought it'd be a harmless idea to match Fukuda up with him. However, it seems that the entire gym was in for a surprise as Sakuragi showed off his jumper.

Something appears to be wrong with Akagi; after getting knocked down by Uozumi, he started playing horribly. Kogure was forced to call a timeout in order to straighten things out.

In order to make Akagi come back to his senses, Sakuragi pulls off his cocky routine that more than motivates him back into playing normally.

It seems that things are back to normal psychologically for Shohoku as Sakuragi wasn't as raged as expected by his friends, and Akagi finally solved some internal problems. The true match is about to start.

Ryonan's offense was concentrated around Fukuda, who has been constantly defeating Sakuragi. He was forced to sit out, sulking to himself of being beaten fair and square. While Sakuragi was defeated, Shohoku wasn't, as Mitsui's three pointers pulled his team back within range of Ryonan.

Everyone was confused on Rukawa's performance so far, scoring only two points. Though it became apparent in the second half; he saved up his energy for the second half in order to prevent what had happened to him during the final minutes against Kainan!

With Rukawa and Sendoh at full strength against each other, they've both carried their teams, advancing point by point in hopes of defeating one another.

Sendoh and Rukawa continue to push against each other in the second half, but the highlight of it so far is Uozumi being forced to sit out with four fouls.

Uozumi gets a flashback of Coach Taoka's promise of bringing him to the national scene, but that promise is looking a little fuzzy with Shohoku dominating.

Uozumi has to sit out due to his fouls, which causes Akagi to dominate the paint and score easy baskets.

Coach Taoka's patience ran dry as he subbed Uozumi back in to help shoulder some of Sendoh's responsibilities on the court.

The shift of momentum started turning into Ryonan's favour as soon as Uozumi came back with four fouls, making defensive stops and scoring points.

Coach Taoka exploited Shohoku's foul trouble problem, and made good use of it. Shohoku will continue to be in the hot seat if this continues.

Sendoh's strong offensive play continues to push Ryonan closer to Shohoku, and their defensive stops aren't allowing Shohoku to score any points.

Mitsui collapsed due to exhaustion, and while his lost presence was dire for Shohoku, they remained formidable behind Sakuragi's strong play.

Kogure spotted up for a 3 pointer. During the ball's journey there to the net, Kogure gets flashbackes of the basketball trials he faced to get to the position he's currently at.

Kogure's 3 pointer put Shohoku up, but Sendoh wouldn't let his team get defeated so easily.

Expectedly, the Shohoku basketball team is all the talk at Shohoku school, and everyone won't leave them alone, especially the school's news reporter Mari.

Hikiochi's sister desperately wants to interview Sendoh, but when doing so, eavesdropped on the announcement of Uozumi and Ikegami's retirement.

Sakuragi goes with Maki to scout out some teams who'll also be heading into the national tournament. One freshman center instantly caught their attention.

Rukawa pleads to Anzai about his decision to play in America, though he rejects the idea. Rukawa is told the emotional story of Yazawa, a person like him who flew over to America in order to face better competition.

Understanding Anzai's words, Rukawa immediately makes it his goal to become the best player in Japan, even taking it at a higher level during practice against his own teammates.

It's a battle between Mitsui and Rukawa to see who the real ace is for Shohoku.

It seems that some of Shohoku's players have more things to worry about other than the fearful opponents at the nationals. Their marks have been poor, and if they don't pass their upcoming tests, they'll be forbidden to play! Akagi decides to take in his teammates and have a study camp at his house.

The Sakuragi gang look for jobs in order to collect money to afford train tickets to the national games.

Anzai decides to incorporate Sakuragi into the Shohoku offense, making him go through rigorous shooting training.

Sakuragi continues his shooting practice while his team is off at Josei, battling equally with the former eight ranked team without Sakuragi's rebounding prowess.

Haruka decides to reward Sakuragi for his hard practicing by taking him to the festival. Sakuragi sees this as an opportunity to try and get with her, but the process became harder then he had expected.

Sakuragi has been working hard for the past months to improve his basketball skills, but as a result, his shoes have torn. He visits none other than the man that gave him his first shoes.

When a couple of Shoyo players decided to give their goodlucks to Shohoku, Sakuragi comes up with a suggestion; a game against Shoyo and Ryonan!

Rukawa garnered all the attention with his strong start to the game, but it was Sendoh who soon stole that spotlight when he entered the gym in his fishing clothes.

The combination team has become even more formidable by adding Sendoh and Fukuda to their lineup, and while Sakuragi is still struggling, Shohoku retains the lead.

Fujima starts passing more and shooting less 3 pointers, giving hims teammates more open looks and easy opportunities to score. But is it enough to overcome Shohoku?