I slept well in bed that night dreaming of all the points I earned from the game. I had scored 22 points, dished out 8 assist, caught 7 rebounds and had 3 steals in the practice game. This earned me a record 140 points in a single game. 140 POINTS! I would have taken at least a week to earn the same amount.
I had invested my points evenly into all categories, trying to get all my levels up to level 5. I decided against buying a signature shot for now as they were insanely expensive. I wanted get decently good at everything first before experimenting on new things.
Well, all in all I earned hell of a lot of points and there were many more practice games to come before the preliminaries started.
-The next day-
I opened the doors and stepped into the gym for the second team. The court was overcrowded as heck, people were doing their drills or just working on individual parts of their game. I estimated that there were at least 40 people spread out amount two courts.
Dang! This is crazy. In the first team, there are 2 courts spread among 15 players and we sometimes get in the way of each other. How do the people over here practice?
"Sup Kaen, what is mr prodigy doing in the mediocre second team gym." I heard someone call out behind me.
I turned around and saw Takao, his body drenched in sweat, resting on a bench.
"Yo, I came over here to hang with you and Ryo. I haven't balled with you guys in a while. I've only been seeing you during school time." I replied.
"A-are you sure you want to play with us. We aren't as good as the first team, s-shouldn't you be practicing with them."
I glanced to the side and knew it was Ryo speaking.
"Nah, today is a rest day for the first team. We just had a game yesterday. I'm bored so I came down here to chill a bit. You guys are the best I have at the moment so yeah."
Takao immediately butted in:" Hey, you better not get so cocky. Lets play a game right now and watch me trash your ass."
I smirked:" Oh, really. Come, let's go I'm all in."
I then went over to one of the coaches for the second team and asked if I could join in on the matches. I guess the coach was happy for his players to be playing against better competition so he readily agreed.
The coach the coach then blew his whistle and started arranging the players into teams for a couple of friendly matches. We would be playing full court games for a duration of 1 quarter in teams of 5.
I was paired up with Ryo, a pretty short point guard and a pair couple of decently tall guys. I guess the point guard could shoot and pass. The big guys would just bang around in the paint.
Well they pretty much gave me the keys to the entire offense. The point guard even stated that he would be playing catch and shoot and he asked me to run the point in addition to playing the small forward position.
This should be good practice for me since I would be playing the point position for the rest of the year.
I started with the ball and made my way up the court. Wait, I thought to myself. This should be the perfect time to try out some new moves. I mean, if these new moves wouldn't even work against mediocre competition, it would not work in the first team.
I then picked up my pace and advanced more quickly. When I was right in front of my defender, I slowed to a stop and brought the ball close as if I was going to shoot a shot. My defender bit the bait and lunged forward. Once I saw this, I threw the ball to my left and started running after it, leaving my defender behind.
I managed to regain control of the ball, I entered the paint and saw the center come forward to defend me. I continued to run and when I was just in front of him, I jumped to the side, bypassing him completely and layed the ball in smoothly.
*_*_*__*_*_*
A couple of possessions later, I got the ball and called for an iso. My teammates then started moving away from me, giving me a large space to operate. I looked at my defender and started dribbling. I moved towards my right, as I moved I continuously jabbed my foot lightly forward, as though I was going to drive. Suddenly, I lunged forwards, causing my defender to react and sprint to the right.
I then placed my hand on my defender and gave him a slight push, nothing too obvious, something which the refs will not be able to catch and did a quick crossover to the left. I watched my defender fall to the ground and I quickly stepped back behind the three point line. I stared at my defender and waited for him to get back up. He quickly tried to get back up to contest the shot but I let the ball fly and watch it swish through the net.
"Damn, Kaen, that's some nasty stuff you doing right there." Takao yelled from the side.
"Wait for your turn, I'll show you some more moves." I cheekily replied to him.
After a couple more back and forth possessions, the game came to an end. The result, well let's just say my team destroyed them, badly.
Ryo has improved significantly since I last played with him during the tryouts. He has definitely been working on his shot, it is much smoother than last time. His handles have also gotten better. In the past, he looked pretty awkward trying to dribble past his defender but now he has more confidence in his handles.
Now, it was time for the next match. I would be going against Takao, time to see how much he has improved.
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Have any of you ever ankle broken someone before. I have only done it once and it was while playing at a street court not in an official game. If you have share it in the comments. If you haven't gimme a power stone.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!