Hot heads

Jason walked over to the bench and dropped his body into his seat. He grabbed a towel from the side and poured out the ice cold water from his sports bottle onto it.

The cold towel helped to drain the heat from his face as he covered his whole face except his mouth.

He sighed deeply in comfort as the towel helped to cool him down 'Shit. Having to deal with ALex's tight defense on one side and then having to guard Danilo's big ass on the other is killer.'

As Jason was focusing on recovering as much as he could during the break he heard a voice "You okay Jason?"

Jason knew who it was already but he still pulled the corner of the towel up and uncovered one of his eyes as he looked at Coach Swendel.

"I'm good Coach. Just trying to charge up as much as I can before the next quarter starts."

Coach Swendel smiled at Jason "Alright Jason. I was just a little worried for a second. You played the whole quarter. That couldn't have been easy."

Jason dropped the corner of the towel down "I know you're worried about me draining myself early Coach.

But you can trust me. We won't lose this game because of me running out of gas early. I got this. Now if you don't mind I'm going to get back to resting."

The break soon ended as the players walked back on to the court to resume the game. Jason would join the guys to start off the quarter despite Coach Swendel's concerns.

With their starting five out on the floor the bench felt confident. Jason started doing his usual thing as he instructed the guys on defense.

Seeing that Trell was the one defending Danilo now they decided to go straight for an iso instead of trying to run some other plays.

Jason saw Verde Gardens clearing out the floor for Danilo so he reminded Kyle "Get a little higher up in the paint Kyle."

But Trell turned around and shouted at Kyle "Stick with your guy Kyle! I don't need any-" But before he could finish what he wanted to say Danilo had let the ball fly as he shot a three-pointer.

The ball traveled through the air before rattling around the rim and falling through the net. It had only been a few seconds since the 2nd quarter had started but the score was now 28-18.

Jason swore in his mind 'Shit!' The last three minutes of the last quarter had gone so well. And when he had gotten to the bench he was so focused on resting that he had forgotten to talk to Trell about his problem with Danilo.

Jason crossed his arms as he called for a timeout. Coach Swendel was surprised that Jason was calling a timeout just a few seconds after the quarter had started but he didn't question him.

Jason walked over to Trell "What the hell was that Trell!? Who the hell turns their head away from their defensive assignment while they're on defense?

And why were you trippin about Kyle coming up in the paint a little? You saw how effective this defenseive scheme was last quarter right? We held them scoreless the last 3 minutes."

Trell rolled his eyes "Oh is it my turn to talk now? Cause you was doing a whole lot of it. I was just trying to tell Kyle to stick with his man cause I don't need any help guarding that dude."

Jason was about to explode on Trell but he held it in as he took a deep breath "Trell I hate to say this but he's been scoring on you the whole time you've guarded him.

He's too good of an offensive player for one person to stop by themself. It's going to need to be a team effort to contain him."

Trell ignored Jason as he just sat down and started drinking water. Jason sighed "Coach take Trell out and sub him with Nick."

Trell stopped drinking his water as he threw his sports bottle on the floor "What the hell man! Coach you can't do this. Is he runnin the show or are you?"

The clock buzzed indicating that it was time to head back into the game. Coach Swendel hesitated for just a split second before turning to Nick "Get in Nick."

With Jason controlling the offense on one end and defending Danilo on the other Jefferson was able to maintain their lead.

The quarter passed with Jason having to play every minute. The other guys could be subbed in and out but Jason had to stay in the game as he was the only one capable of sticking with Danilo and working with Kyle to defend him.

But this was incredibly draining on him. Jason had to take it down a level on the offensive end in order to compensate.

He allowed Udonis to post up and run the offense through him, Jason turned into a three and D type player instead of his normal scoring playmaker.

Although Udonis wasn't as lethal a scorer as Jason he still managed to do a decent job against his defender.

And even when he missed Kyle was there to grab the offensive rebounds. His agility and the quickness of his jumps gave Kyle a huge advantage on the boards.

Matt and Nick both played an active role on the offense as well. Without Jason breaking down the opponents defense with his isos and pick and rolls with Kyle they had to be more active off the ball.

They were constantly running around and coming off screens. They had their defenders running around all over the place chasing them.

Even with Jason and Kyle's combined efforts there were a few moments where Danilo was still able to get a good look.

Luckily Jason had his badge activation charge for this quarter. He was able to prevent one of the baskets from going in.

Kyle was doing a hand-off for Nick. But as Nick was going around Kyle he fumbled the ball. Danilo managed to scoop it up as he went for the fastbreak.

Jason saw that Kyle was chasing after him so he activated his defensive anchor badge. Kyle seemed to have gotten a small boost as he started closing the distance between him and Danilo even faster than before.

Danilo noticed Kyle chasing him from behind. He decided to go up strong with a dunk in order to decrease Kyle's chance of blocking it.

He jumped into the air and tried to dunk the ball with his right hand. Kyle exploded forward as he jumped into the air and swung his left hand at the ball.

The momentum of the two met as Kyle's hand made contact with the ball as it was being pushed toward the rim with Danilo's hand.

The power struggle lasted for less than a split second as Danilo's body started tilting back. The ball flew out of his hand.

The entire crowd was going crazy after seeing Kyle's amazing chase down block. He looked straight up and shouted "Yeaaahhh!!!"

Danilo was still in shock as he sat on the floor. Kyle looked down at him and stared him down.

Jason ran over and laughed as he smacked Kyle on the back "That was another sick block man. I like the swag but let's get you out of here before the ref gives you a tech haha."

The quarter ended with Jefferson leading with a score of 42-26. Jason slowly walked into the locker-room before slumping into a chair.

The rest of the team was drinking their water and listening to Coach Swendel but Jason had his face covered with a wet towel as he leaned back into his chair.

He felt the cold towel get ripped off his face. He opened his eyes and saw Trell glaring at him "What the fuck bruh!? So you just gon not let me play?"

The entire team turned toward him and Trell. Jason sighed as he sat up "You're the one that doesn't want to follow the game plan Trell."

Trell punched the locker next to him "I told you that I don't need any help. Just give me another chance to lock him up. This time I'll-"

Jason interrupted him "Trell all I hear coming out of your mouth is me me me. I don't need help, give Me another chance, this time I'LL.

Basketball is a team sport Trell. Everyone is trying to work together to accomplish a similar goal. We all love basketball and we want to win. How about you?"

Trell's face became grim "You tryin to call me selfish? You callin me out?" Trell grabbed a bottle and poured it out on Jason.

"You don't know me dog. You don't know the things I been through. You don't know what I had to give up just to hoop with y'all.

And you damn well ain't got no right to be questioning my love for the game. It's funny how you tryin to play team captain.

That worked out pretty well last time right?" Trell smirked as he said his last words. Those words hit a sore spot in Jason's heart.