Double Dribble - Ch 4: Knock ‘Em Dead

Chapter 4: Knock ‘Em Dead

Hotshot entered the huddle and told the other guys on what Kelvin was scheming. All of them understood what he meant afterwards.

Both sides surrounded for the jump ball, and Hotshot was standing next to John Smith.

Jamal and the opposing center were facing each other. That guy was 6 foot 9 and Jamal got a height advantage, but from what he saw that other guy did some great blocks in the last game.

Coach Acer held the ball at the center of the circle. He then tossed the ball up vertically, while Jamal and the other guy jumped for the ball.

Jamal tipped the ball and it went towards Hotshot. He then instinctively reached out his hand for the ball, but then someone’s arm came before him.

That would be John Smith’s. John then proceeded to snatch the ball right in front of Hotshot’s face.

“Hot damn!” Hotshot yelled. John immediately turned around and looked for his point guard. He was about to do a pass…

!!
4 guys from team D, Mick, Kyle, Jamal and Ricky all surrounded him immediately!

“H…hey!” John screamed. Being probably the best player in the tryout, he got quadruple teamed immediately!

“Woohoo! We got em!” Hotshot yelled while running right in front of the point guard, blocking the pass route.

John was struggling from the 4 people while holding the ball and looked left and right for opening. The other guys were open save for the point guard, which Hotshot was covering.

“I’m in our own half for some time and the 8 seconds is almost up!” John thought to himself. He decided to try for something.

With his head and eye, he looked at the small forward who’s closest to him. He then motioned that guy to go back to their own half to get the ball. Noticing John’s signal, the opposing small forward immediately went back to their own half, and clapped his hands to signal that he wanted to receive the ball.

Mick and Kyle looked at the direction of the small forward for a split second, and John saw his opportunity, seeing that they’re effectively standing next to each other. He used his arm to lightly push Kyle aside to open up space, and finally got out of the surrounding players.

“!! Crap he got through!” Kyle yelled. He tried to reach for John but he only managed to touch up the back of John’s shirt. John was totally open and went directly for a quick dunk. The score was 2-0.

Team D regrouped and Kyle brought the ball up the court. The opposing point guard came up to him early on and Kyle dribbled left, while the opposing point guard followed him but never let him go past.

Right past the halfcourt line, the opposing shooting guard came up to Kyle immediately and trapped him in the left corner. Kyle was surprised, and had to take a step back.

“Backcourt violation!!” Coach Acer yelled. Indeed Kyle’s right foot was behind the line.

The ball was brought up by team B’s PG and found John Smith double teamed by Kyle and Ricky. Then John broke off from the two by faking his run to the left, and darted to the right instead right outside the 3 point line. The PG saw this and immediately threw a quick pass to John, and Ricky immediately checked up on him.

John did a quick pump fake but it didn’t fool Ricky. He then did another pump fake. However, Ricky jumped this time around!

Seeing that Ricky was jumping, John jumped as well, and shot the ball while Ricky was touching his shooting hand, which was actually his left hand.

*swish*

“Foul in!” Coach Acer yelled. The score was now 5-0.

John made the free throw afterwards and the score was 6-0. Nary a point for team D.

Team D scored two points by Jamal who overpowered the opposing center in the paint. Then Kyle made up for the mistake by deflecting an inbound pass for John, and the ball went for Hotshot, who promptly did a monster dunk right afterwards. The next shot by team B missed the hole and Mick caught the rebound, passing to Ricky for an easy layup. Team D was now tied with team B.

John decided that it was time to take matters into his own hand, by bringing the ball upcourt. Ricky came up to him before halfcourt.

John took a step towards the left in front of Ricky with his right leg. Ricky shifted to that direction as well.

Seeing that Ricky shifted his balance, John immediately did a right spin move and changed hands midway. Ricky tried to reach for the ball when John was about to pass him, but John’s left arm blocked Ricky from getting close to the ball.

Right at the top of the 3 point lane he was approached by 2 other players on team D, Hotshot and Kyle. Dribbling the ball, he took a quick step forward at Hotshot’s direction. This forced Hotshot to take a step back, revealing an opening.

Kyle immediately noticed the opening and shifted to the space in between him and Hotshot to cover it up.

!!

John was going the other way!

Ricky was trying to catch up to him from behind but John jumped for a 3 pointer. Seeing that it might cause an unnecessary foul, Ricky stopped short from trying to block from behind.

*klank*

John missed, and the ball bounced right off the rim.

“Mick it’s going for you!” Ricky yelled.

“I got it!” Mick yelled as he boxed out the opposing PF. Then someone appeared right in front of him.

It’s freaking John Smith again. With almost amazing instincts and agility, John jumped up for the ball right when he reached for that spot in front of Mick. Seeing this, Mick jumped as well, albeit about half a second after John did.

John caught the ball first with his left hand, but Mick was getting close with his right hand. Instead of going for a dunk, John dropped his left arm and passed the ball to his right hand. He then tried to lean towards his right side a little, to avoid contact.

He then promptly finger-rolled the ball into the hoop with his right hand. The score was now 8-6. After landing on the ground, John turned around and gave Mick a quick look. He then turned his head back, and ran to his own backcourt along with his other teammates.

He then yelled at the other teammates, “Guys, we’re 2 points to the 10 point mark! Knock em’ dead!”

The other players then stopped running back to their own half and turned around. John himself was standing at the backcourt however.

Team D’s inbound pass was heavily guarded, almost every player except for Hotshot was covered.

“Shit…” Ricky said to himself while the opposing SG was at his face flailing his arms up and down while moving sideways trying to cover up Ricky’s view of the other guys. He then saw Hotshot open at the middle of the court, and threw a high pass right to Hotshot.

Hotshot noticing the ball then caught the pass, and immediately found John getting up to his face. Hotshot hasn’t passed the halfcourt line yet, so the clock was ticking.

“Man, I couldn’t get any points in this game yet.” Hotshot told John.

“Yeah, we have to play tough. Sorry, bro.” John replied.

Hotshot then tried to deduct possible paths, there were many.

“Alright John, you’re going down!” Hotshot said while releasing the ball from his hands, starting to dribble with his right hand. He then dashed towards the right side, and John immediately followed.

!!
Hotshot then did a crossover dribble and went forward to his left side, passing John by.

“Nice one!” Yelled Kyle. Hotshot was all by himself and was free to do all the dunking he wanted.

“…wait Hotshot! What are you doing!?” Mick screamed. It looked like Hotshot was trying to do a layup outside the 3 point line!

Right before Hotshot released his shot, he seemed to notice something.

“Shit! Why am I doing a layup here!” But it was too late, the ball left his hand and it wasn’t going to even touch the rim. John was right in front of him, and received the layup with ease.

“Thanks buddy, you were a great help!” John said right after getting the ball. He then dribbled past Hotshot who was standing still.

“W…what the…” Hotshot muttered to himself.

The score was 10-6.

Hotshot was still standing at disbelief, like a pole at the center of the court.

“Alright, substitution!” Coach Acer yelled. “Team B, Henry Rodge for Lee Hawkins. Team D, Kelvin Tang for Hotshot Maxwell.”

John went up to Hotshot, and then put his right hand on Hotshot’s shoulder.

“Sorry man, but you’re just a VCR which plays what it is fed. Try again next year.”

“W…what…” Hotshot muttered.

Henry Rodge checked in for the opposing shooting guard. Kelvin looked at Hotshot.

“Hotshot!” Yelled Kyle. He then turned to face at coach Acer. “Coach!”

“Hmm?” Replied the coach.

“I…I’ll substitute for Kelvin!” Kyle said.

“Well it’s up to Mr. Maxwell himself to say if he wanted to be subbed. Well, Hotshot? You want to be subbed out?” Coach Acer talked to Hotshot.

Hotshot himself wasn’t tuning in to anything right until John said “Try again next year.”

The line repeated itself many times in his head. “Try again next year.” “Try again next year.” “Try again next year.”…

“Coach, I think he’s not fit to play.” Said John.

“Well…I guess so.” Coach Acer replied. Kelvin was standing next to the coach and heard the coach mutter to himself, “Too bad…I’d love to have him in my team this season.”

“…” Kelvin didn’t say a thing so far. He knew that Hotshot had great offensive skills thanks to the videos he saw but had no fundamentals and knowledge yet. Yet Hotshot was destroyed by John by only one move.

Hotshot was thinking to himself about “Try again next year.” He heard that line too many times. Or “Try again next time.” He then saw himself admitting by saying “okay, okay” every time afterwards.

He then recalled his mother saying, “Well sonny, if you want to play in the NBA, you need to play in university!”

Right when Coach Acer himself was walking on court to get to Hotshot, the latter suddenly yelled, “YES MOMMA!”

The yell went through almost the whole court and all eyes were on him, if they weren’t for Hotshot’s weird layup and blanking out afterwards.

“H…hotshot are you good?” John asked. He was totally surprised by Hotshot’s instant change in his eyes and getting back to normal.

“I’m good. I’m not going to lose.” Hotshot replied him and gave John a confident smile.

“Great!” John replied happily. He patted Hotshot on the shoulder and looked at the coach. “Well coach?”

“Hotshot are you going to sub for Kelvin?” Coach Acer asked Hotshot.

“No coach, I’ll stay in court for the remaining game!” Hotshot replied.

“Well then! Okay Kyle, you’re subbed for Kelvin then.” Coach Acer said. He was smiling and John seemingly gave him a nod. “The game resumes in 30 seconds. Get into your huddle!”

- End Chapter 4: Knock ‘Em Dead -

Next chapter: The end of the tryouts! Who’s going to win?