Chapter 11
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I've received a couple of different instances of this question, and I don't see a fluid way to work my answer into the story itself for several chapters, so I'm just going to take a second to answer it outside of the story.
Ken and Davis did not necessarily have to give up soccer to play basketball. Basketball is an indoor sport that is played in cold-weather months, soccer is an outdoor sport that is played in warm-weather months. There are also far fewer soccer games in a soccer season than basketball games in a basketball season. It's entirely feasible than Ken and Davis could play for both the school basketball team and school soccer team. In fact, I would say it's probable that the two would probably want to participate in organized sports year-round.
Just thought I'd clear that up in no uncertain terms. Onward!
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"Alright," Stewart clapped his hands in front of his face. "So, we finally dropped a game. Not a big deal at all, losses happen, and I want to stress you guys are all doing a fantastic job." He looked around at all the faces huddled around him. "We'll get back on track tomorrow, not a thing. But, over the last week, I've been thinking, we need to change things up." He pointed at TK. "Now, I've looked at the team we have, and I think we'd benefit from a new offensive play. Just keep defenders on their toes, give them a new look. I'd like to add a Pick and Pop play. You guys think we can do that?"
"Brilliant idea, coach!" Ken exclaimed. "That's why we pay you the big bucks."
"I wish." Stewart smirked. "TK, you've shown that you can hit jumpers if you're open, so we're gonna throw a new look at teams. So, you're gonna run up and set a screen on Ken's defender like you usually, do, but instead of spinning and going to the basket, you spin and go to the side the opposite way that Ken goes. Either your defender will go with Ken, and Ken can hit you for an open jumper, or your defender will go with you, and Ken should have a lane to drive to the basket. And if your defender goes with Ken, and Ken's defender goes with you, then we have a defensive mismatch."
TK nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I can do that."
"Now, I'm not trying to make anyone overlook our opponents. But these next three games, I think we can take care of business as long as we play to our strengths. I want to slowly incorporate the Pick and Pop into our game over these next three weeks, so it's ready when the hard part of our schedule kicks in. We'll run it a lot in practice, maybe once or twice in game, but we'll try to keep it close to the vest until it's time to bring it. Let's run through it a bit now and see what we've got."
The team turned around and walked onto the court, Ken and TK immediately seeking each other out.
"What do you think?" Ken asked quietly.
"It's something. It's a good idea, but it's a pretty minor change. It'll work for awhile, but they'll adjust and we'll have the same problem." TK shrugged. "But it's a good idea."
Ken nodded. "I agree. Quincy's the catalyst here. If we get him going, we've got all kinds of new lineups to throw out there. It's gonna be fun, but it's all about him."
They turned and saw Quincy casually pick up a ball from the left wing, three feet behind the three point line, and rise up to shoot. His shooting motion looked like it always did, fluid and balanced, and a couple seconds later the ball shuffled through the net.
"See, now it's starting to get me mad, seeing him nail everything in practice, because I know when it matters he'll brick everything." TK scowled.
"Chill out. We gotta work with him. It'll all work out." Ken cleared his throat. "Alright! Pick and Pop! Let's give it a go, everyone!"
Everyone assembled into teams, starters against the bench. Ken picked up a ball and dribbled at the top as TK came up to set a screen on Derrick. Ken took off towards TK's side, and TK saw Vincent shade over to stop Ken's drive as Derrick fought to get by TK.
TK went out to the opposite side, both Derrick and Vincent chasing Ken to try to keep him from the basket. Ken whistled the pass over to TK, who had taken a spot in an empty area on the left elbow. He rose up and shot a wide open jumper, nobody getting around to contest it, knocking it off the backboard and rim before it rolled in.
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Ken neatly caught the ball off the tip from Luke and slowly dribbled up, starting the game. Immediately, TK got position on the low block on the left side and Ken fed him the ball.
As soon as he touched the ball, a second man ran over to swarm him and try to force him to give up the ball. TK whistled it into the left corner to Marcus, who threw it to the left wing back to Ken when a defender sprinted down to rotate to him. Ken took one dribble towards the basket, drawing multiple defenders, then hurled it to Davis in the right corner, left wide open by his man who had tried to rotate to Ken. Davis easily got his shot up from behind the arc before anyone could rotate over to him, swishing it home.
Kasai brought the ball up, Ken pressuring defensively the moment they crossed midcourt. The point guard had to pick up his dribble almost immediately, spinning around and hugging the ball to keep it away from Ken. One of his teammates ran up to the top and he tried to shuffle the ball to him, but Marcus ran through the lane and picked off the pass, taking off with the point guard chasing.
Marcus dribbled down into the lane and the Kasai point guard jumped in front of him. He passed it across the lane to Ken, who caught it in his right hand and immediately threw it right back to Marcus as the point guard lunged to Ken's side. Marcus caught it and laid it in, sparking cheers from the crowd.
"This is how you take out frustrations!" Ken called out to TK and Davis.
Kasai got the ball up, quickly getting the ball to the left wing to the shooting guard who fired up a shot with Davis's hand in his face and twenty-five seconds left on the shot clock. It rimmed off and bounced to TK, who got it over to Ken as the players shifted sides.
Ken dribbled around for a few seconds, then lunged forward to his right, into the paint, getting to around the free throw line before both bigs jumped out to converge on him. He easily lobbed it over them to TK, now wide open, who laid it in. More cheers.
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"You ever feel sorry for the other team?" Yolei asked as Kasai took the ball up. "I mean, this is clearly gonna be one of those games, you ever think about their feelings?"
"A little bit. I mean, if the lead gets massive we'll put the bench out there, definitely ease up, so it's not like we're trying to rip them apart. If you never wanna lose, you shouldn't join the team. Everyone loses at some point." Kari leaned back on the bleachers. "Y'know it's great that the school cares about basketball now, but I kinda miss the bleachers not being so crowded."
Marcus had just blocked a shot that a Kasai player had tried from the right corner behind the arc, then pushed it up to Davis. Davis took it over half court and got it to Ken, who saw the Kasai defense wasn't set yet and drove to the basket. Luke set a screen on Ken's defender as Ken cut into the paint, allowing him an unhindered layup that banked in.
"So...what do you think? What's your expert opinion?" Yolei asked as the cheers died down and Kasai brought it back up on offense.
"On what?" Kari watched the Kasai point guard dribble right into a long three that barely hit the rim. TK grabbed the rebound. "This team is full of chuckers. This is gonna be ugly."
"I mean, the team. You guys talk a lot about Quincy and how important he is, but I watch the games and he doesn't...you know, do anything. Why does he matter?" Yolei scooted closer to Kari as the guy to her left accidentally bumped her over.
"Quincy is a very gifted shooter. The guys have been talking about this lately, they know he has the ability to be dominant in that role. He's just not executing in games, and we need him to figure it out. If he doesn't, we're stale." Kari reached into her right pocket and pulled out a small black phone.
"How do you mean, stale? We started the season so great, why is this becoming a problem now?" Yolei watched TK catch the ball on the high post, spin and look around with the ball above his head, then whistle a pass to Marcus standing in the corner. Marcus took that moment to sprint into the paint, however, leaving the ball to sail out of bounds.
"Imagine you're playing against a guy in chess every week. And let's say he's really good at...I don't know, what's a chess tactic?" Kari rubbed her forehead. "I don't know chess, but-"
"A skewer?" Yolei suggested.
"Alright, let's say you're playing someone who's really really good at skewering in chess. And he beats you the first few times, but what happens then?"
Kasai again simply dribbled up into a three, this time hitting it for their first points of the game.
"Well, if all he does is skewer, I just make sure I don't put myself in position where I can be skewered, and eventually I'll probably win." Yolei shrugged. "Is it really the same thing?"
"Yeah. I mean, chess is a hundred percent mind game, and basketball has the physical element, but against good teams, that mental part of the game is huge. And right now, we're a team that can only do a few different things. It's predictable. We need another player to step up and contribute, and that guy is Quincy. He'd change everything."
Ken got the ball to TK on the low post, who spun around, faked a shot, dribbled once, went left, faked a hookshot and got the defender to bite, then slid underneath him and laid it in.
"So he shoots good in practice?" Yolei asked skeptically.
"Yup. Lights out." Kari nodded. "If there's pressure, he couldn't hit water if he was standing on a boat, but no pressure and he's a sharpshooter."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
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TK turned to Ken as Quincy's three from the right wing grazed the front of the rim and landed in the lap of a Kasai big man. "So much for that."
"Come on man, it's one shot. And even ignoring that, it's one game. You're being a butt." Ken looked up at the ceiling. "Not like it really matters."
TK glanced up at the scoreboard. Indeed, it read HOME - 39 AWAY - 14 with three minutes left in the second quarter. Hardly a concern, but it still bugged TK.
"Look, we got three games to figure it out. We'll get Quincy plenty of shots and we'll try to bring him into the fold off the court. It's not gonna happen immediately. We just need it to happen in the next three weeks. Cool off."
Jason stole the ball from the Kasai point and took off down the court, beating everyone else down for an easy layup.
"Well, I'm trying to take this stuff seriously. You guys keep telling me I should," TK said. "I wanna play well, I wanna win, and this guy not playing well is making that hard for me. So I should be mad."
"Come on. There's a balance between just playing to have fun and playing to win. Find it." Ken reached underneath his chair. "Try to relax. Let me worry about the Quincy thing, it's my problem more than yours."
"I dunno about that."
Kasai ended up heaving a long three at the shot clock buzzer when the defense prevented them from getting an open look that airballed off the backboard. Luke grabbed it and pushed it up to Derrick. The defense frantically fell back, scrambling to keep Derrick out of the paint as he drove to the free throw line. He kicked it out to the left wing to a wide open Quincy, who rose up in that same, beautiful, perfect shooting motion, that produced a ball that clanked off the back of the rim.
"He's building a mansion out there," TK muttered. Luke grabbed the rebound and laid it up against the backboard, the ball rolling in. "Next time he gets in the game we'll be up by thirty-five, I'm sure he'll be making it rain then."
"Hell, the game's basically over now. I'm surprised he hasn't already started." Ken looked underneath his chair. "Someone took my bottle." He came back up and leaned back on the chair. "Who does that? What a jerk. Whoever he is."
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Eighty to forty-eight, the buzzer echoing throughout the gym. As soon as the game was declared over, Ken ran over to TK.
"Hey. Don't look yet, but the fourth seat in the third row of the bleachers. Don't look. Wait until I walk away. I think he's the Max Preps scout." Ken quickly stalked off towards the bench, and TK casually spun around to face the bleachers, waving towards Kari as he peeked at the seat. Some middle-aged man in a red sweater was sitting there, holding what appeared to be a notebook. TK quickly walked back towards the bench to Ken.
"What makes you think that?" TK whispered.
"I've seen him at all the games. Never seen him before. Come on, that's gotta feel pretty good, right? You're getting an internet scout to come watch all your games as a Freshman!" Ken grinned.
"Well...he's an amateur scout. It's not...that big a deal. I guess it's cool." TK took a peek at him out of the corner of his eye before looking back at Ken. "Okay, back to the topic at hand. Same stuff, different day. Any more bright ideas with Quincy?" The backup small forward had hit two of three three-pointers in the second half, longer after it mattered.
"Yes. We stick with the plan. I didn't expect things to happen immediately. He hung out with us once, no way he feels comfortable already. Give it some time. Although, you just reminded me..." Ken took off across the court, heading towards the door that lead back out into the school hall. Just before the door, he grabbed Marcus by the shoulder, causing him to turn around.
"What's up?" Marcus asked. "Is this about that half-court shot? Because I swear I thought the shot-clock was about to run out-"
"No, no, I don't care about that. Well, don't do it again, but...no. I just wanted to talk to you about this before I did it. These next two games, I want to see as much of Quincy as possible. You're still gonna start, but I want Quincy to get as many minutes as possible. Just know it's nothing against you, you're doing fine." Ken looked around, pulling Marcus to the side, away from the stream of people exiting. "You okay with that?"
"Is it gonna help us win?" Marcus asked.
"That's the idea," Ken answered.
"Then you do whatever makes sense. This is my last year here, I wanna win," Marcus turned to walk off. "Do what makes sense, man."
Ken waved at him. "Thank you, I will!"
"He's the perfect role-player," TK said, coming up behind Ken. "I'm gonna miss him next year."
"Next year is a long way away. Let's keep our mind on the present." Ken smacked TK on the back. "Alright, let's get out of here."
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"Oh man," Kari said, wrapping both her hands around TK's left bicep. "Look at the size of these! Are you sure you're fourteen? I need to see your birth certificate young man!"
"They're big because you're constantly hounding me about lifting." TK picked up his pencil and resumed writing on the piece of paper in front of him. "Maybe if my girlfriend wasn't such a slavedriver I'd look like a normal fourteen-year-old. I could walk into a bar, order alcohol, and they might not even try to card me."
"Not with that face," Kari teased. "Your face looks like a ten-year-old's."
"Sometimes I wonder how the heck it happened. Remember how short I was, like...six years ago? I was tiny!"
"You were shorter than me," Kari said wistfully.
"No. No, I was never shorter than you." TK shook his head.
"Well, you always wore that giant hat thing. Take that thing off I had you beat, easily." Kari poked TK's sides a couple times. "Not even close."
"No. No way. Hat or no hat, doesn't matter."
The doorbell rang, TK immediately rocketing up from his seat and setting the pencil down.
"It's okay, it's just Quincy, I'll get it," Kari said, standing up.
"I know it's Quincy," TK said, walking by her. "I'll get it."
"You're ridiculous, you know that TK?" Kari smirked as TK made for the door. "He said I was pretty. It's polite. What's he gonna do, brainwash me in the time it takes for me to escort him from the door to your room?"
"Yeah, well, no reason to give him any ideas. It's my house, I should be greeting him. If you do it, it might give him ideas." TK slid out the door and quickly strode down the hallway to the front door.
"Hello!" TK said on swinging the door open, revealing a thickly-coated Quincy. "Cold enough for you?"
"Almost." Quincy stepped through the door, looking around the apartment. "Nice place."
"Thank you," TK closed the door. "So, things going alright?"
Quincy shrugged off the brown jacket. "Things alright now, maybe not in few minutes."
"What do you mean?" TK grabbed the jacket from Quincy and hung it up on the hangar to the right of the front door.
"Star player of basketball team I play on invite me to his apartment, I assume to chew me out for missing shots. I take it like man, but can not say I have good time getting chewed out," Quincy said.
TK chuckled. "No. No, not at all. I'm not...no, I didn't tell you to come here for...for that. That's not how I do things. No."
"You sure?" Quincy asked, putting his hands in his pants' pockets.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Look, I don't have any problem with you at all. You've got some things you're trying to work through, I have plenty of respect for that. I really do." TK guided him down the hall. "I totally understand your nervousness."
"Alright," Quincy said. "If you're sure."
"So why don't you take a seat on our couch? I'll be right with you." He pointed at the couch in the living room at the end of the hallway, then slid back into his bedroom and closed the door.
"I'll be right with you?" Kari repeated. "What are you, a chiropractor?"
"Shut up," TK hissed. "You know, I don't know why Ken couldn't do this, it's his idea and he knows it better than me."
"It'll mean more coming from you." Kari thrust a piece of paper into TK's hands. "When does your mom get home tonight?"
"She's not coming home tonight." TK looked the writing on the paper over. "I'm gonna have a daddy-in-law soon."
"Oh wow. Who's the guy?" Kari raised an eyebrow.
"Uh. Martin." TK swallowed down hard. "I dunno, I guess I don't know that it's anything serious, but they're obviously knocking boots now. Might happen."
"First I'm hearing of this," Kari crossed her arms over her chest. "How is he?"
TK shrugged. "He's nice, but I don't like him."
"What does that mean?" Kari held her hands out at her sides. "How can he be nice, but you don't like him? That doesn't make any sense, why don't you like him?"
"I don't know. Because I'm an angsty teenager who doesn't like anything. Look, he's a guy who's sleeping with my mother, and he's not my father. That's all the reason I need to not like him." TK grimaced. "You wouldn't understand, sorry."
"Well yeah, I get that, but aren't you used to it? I mean, the separation was awhile ago, she must have dated plenty of guys over the years." Kari shrugged.
"You'd think it, but...no, not really." TK looked at the bedroom door. "I dunno, it's not that big a deal yet I guess. Maybe I'll warm up to him."
"And isn't your dad a workaholic, chain-smoking, alcoholic jerk?" Kari frowned. "C'mon, what are you clinging to?"
"Yes, but he's my workaholic, chain-smoking, alcoholic jerk, that's the point."
Kari sighed. "Well. Davis'll be disappointed."
"What?" TK turned to Kari. "Why would Davis-"
"Honey, Davis is totally into your mother. I mean, you can't tell?" Kari said.
"No, no, no, no he is not." TK shook his head vigorously.
"Yes, he is. Sorry to break it to you, I'm just the messenger." Kari stepped back a few steps and sat down on the end of TK's bed. "How many people hug the mother of their friend every time they see her?"
"No, no. Stop talking." TK continued to shake his head. "No more talking for you. No more words. No, no, no."
"I am still out here!"
Both TK and Kari looked at the door.
"And you have thin walls. I can hear everything you say. Just so you know."
TK and Kari looked at each other, then Kari started smiling and laughing quietly to herself.
"My dad is quitting smoking by the way," TK muttered, slowly meandering towards the door.
"I'm sure," Kari said sarcastically.
"No, I'm serious. He joined a support group for it and everything." TK grabbed the door knob.
"Yeah, that'll work. Go entertain your guest." Kari nodded at the door.
"It's gonna work." TK opened the door and slipped out. "You watch."
"Sorry," Quincy said as sooon as TK shut the door. "I should have said something sooner."
"No, no, it's fine. I mean, it's my apartment, I really should know about the...wall thickness." He quickly walked over to the couch. "So, you're probably wondering why I asked you here."
"Now I am," Quincy glanced out the window at the raindrops streaming down.
"Well, we're gonna try to change things up on the team, and...well, we'll gonna go over it in practice of course, but you're at the center of the changes. So I wanted to go over it beforehand so you're...y'know, ready." TK put the piece of paper on the coffee table.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Quincy raised an eyebrow.
"We want to make you...a bigger part of this offense." TK pointed at the piece of paper. "We need to throw some new looks out there, add some flavor, give us alternate lineups. Obviously it effects everyone, but you're gonna see your minutes go up considerably in the near future. You're gonna start being the sixth man off the bench. So, halfway through the first quarter, give or take a minute, you'll be subbing in for Marcus. Uh, you'll probably play more minutes than Marcus ultimately."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Quincy looked down at the paper slip.
"It's what we need right now." TK grabbed the paper and held it in front of him. "So, lineups. Uh, obviously if you're the sixth man off the bench, you'll be at small forward with...Ken, Davis, me and Luke. Here, you'll be running off a lot of screens set by me and Luke. You and Davis running around, it'll be hard to keep track of both. Just be ready for Ken to hit you with a pass on the perimeter after you run off screens. Make sure you get behind the arc, if you're taking a long shot it may as well be worth three points. If we run a play in the post for me, we're gonna do a lot of off-ball movement. Something different."
"Anything specific?" Quincy asked.
TK leaned forward and put his finger on the coffee table. "Well, let's say I'm on the right block and you're in the left corner. If I get the ball, you'd run out to the left wing, sort of the spot between the left wing and the top. Then you zig through the lane down to the left block. Then you run to the right wing, again near the top, then you go into the right corner. Like an M shape. It'll be more confusing to defend than simply standing in the corner. Combine that with trying to double-team me, and odds are something good will happen."
"Alright," Quincy said.
"The other lineup you'll play with a lot is Derrick, Jason, me and Luke. It's sort of similar, but obviously Jason gets to the rim more. So you'll stand in the corner to clear space, and if your defender runs in to help stop Jason, he'll kick it out to you. From there you can shoot, or if someone rotates to you, you can pass back to the top or into the low post depending on what you see."
"Simple enough," Quincy said.
"So that's the basic stuff. Now things get tricky. There's another lineup set that Ken wants to introduce, just for a few minutes a game, to really throw a curveball. It's gonna be Ken, Derrick, Davis, you, and me. Derrick's shooting guard, Davis's small forward, you're power forward, I'm center." TK coughed.
"You guys crazy?" Quincy chuckled.
"Maybe. It's a smallball lineup, designed to feature all our shooters. What we lack in size-"
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"-we make up for in speed and shooting," Ken explained, walking around the court as the nine other players on the team, as well as Coach Stewart, watched him. "We have the luxury of still having decent size in this lineup. TK's six feet tall, which is fine for a center against most teams, and Quincy's not any smaller than most power forwards out there in terms of height. Obviously, this lineup isn't great defensively. I'm sure we'll give up some baskets. But this new lineup does two things for us that I think make it worth it. First, we'll be able to run more, get easier points. Second, it's going to be nearly impossible to defend three elite shooters and TK at once."
"Elite," TK muttered to himself, glancing at Quincy. "Put the annointing oil away, Ken."
"So offensively, with this lineup, we spread the floor. I control the ball, and we've got Derrick, Davis and Quincy on the perimeter. The core of this offensive lineup will be getting the ball into the low post, to TK. Because the power forward here, Quincy, will be staying behind the three point line, that means the opposing power forward will be inclined to stay on the perimeter as well to guard him. Leaving TK matched up, one-on-one, with the center, and no defender anywhere near them. And I like TK's odds to either score or draw a foul more often than not in that situation." Ken pointed down to the left basket at the low post area, where TK would obviously be working from. "If a defender decides to run into the low post to double team TK, that leaves one of our perimeter players wide open. TK will find you, just catch and make the right decision."
"If you're open, don't hesitate to shoot it," Stewart added. "We'll live with missing good shots, just take them and they'll fall." He resumed chewing on the tip of his pen.
"We'll also use an alternate lineup. Same deal, but instead of TK we'll have Luke out there. When we use this lineup, we gain a lot on defense. Luke can protect the paint and help compensate for Quincy playing power forward. Offensively, it's all about fast passes around the perimeter until the ball finds the open man. I'd drive to the basket, wait for the help defense to come, and then get it to whoever got left open. We swing the ball around the perimeter until it finds someone open. Alright, I guess that's about it. We've got a couple games to work this stuff into the gameplan." Ken clapped loudly. "Let's give it a spin."
As soon as he stopped talking, the team broke up and walked onto the court. Jason, however, made a beeline right for Ken.
"Hey, do you have a problem with me or something?" He asked, holding his arms out at his sides.
"No," Ken said flatly. "No problem at all."
"Look, I'm trying to be cool here, but I see what you're trying to do here!" Jason looked around. "I decided to be a good sport when you sent me to the bench, but now you're cutting my minutes again?" He leaned in closer to Ken and pointed at Quincy with his thumb. "To some guy who can't hit a thing? Do you have a problem with my game?"
"No. In fact, now that I've watched you play over the last ten games, I understand your game better than ever and know exactly the role you can best contribute to the team. And I'm just trying to apply that knowledge," Ken said.
"Man, whatever. Before you guys got here, I ran this team. Two years I ran this team. Now you just show up and wanna write me out?" Jason walked off.
"Time bomb," TK said, walking over to Ken. "Tick tick tick tick."
"I know, I know." Ken bit his cheek. "I don't totally blame him though."
"What are you gonna do?" TK looked at Jason's back as he stalked off to the water fountain in the corner of the gym.
"Hope it works out." Ken shrugged.
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"See? See!" Ken yelled to TK as they ran down the court. Quincy had just sunk a right wing three.
"You're kidding, right?" TK deadpanned. There were twenty seconds left in the second quarter, Rakunan leading thirty-one to twenty-five. Quincy had taken six threes so far, the first five had bricked off the rim.
"Come on, it's something. Lemme enjoy it." Ken grinned as Oji High brought the ball down.
After dribbling around at the top, they got it in to TK's man on the low post near the end of the clock. TK managed to block an attempted spin move layup at the buzzer, and both teams walked off the court as a few staff members ran on to mop up the wood floor.
"This is driving me nuts," TK exclaimed as he sat down, Ken taking the seat next to him.
"Hey, at least they're all open shots." Ken sucked in a deep breath. "Don't worry about it, it's fine."
"Fine? Hey, Ken," TK motioned at the scoreboard. "This game is a long ways from over. Third quarter, we run traditional lineups until the game is over. I can roast these guys, stop giving Quincy possessions. Please."
"Hey, I'm not gonna let us lose this game. C'mon, you're angry right now, take halftime and just sit back. Relax. We'll run the starters out their in the third and it'll be your show." Ken sat back. "Take it easy. We'll stomp em out."
TK scowled, but nevertheless did sit back and relax as instructed. "That's two games, by the way. He's got one more to turn it around, and if he doesn't, this gets ugly."
"Hey, Quincy!" Ken called out as he slowly came over to the bench, sitting next to Ken. "Great form on that last three, that's what we're talking about man!"
TK rolled his eyes.
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TK spun right and rose his right arm up like he was going for a hookshot, then pulled it back in as his defender rose up to block it. He slid underneath him and got the layup in before the center could come over on the help defense.
"Told ya," Ken said as they retreated down the court. "Nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, just be lucky you have me," TK grunted.
Oji tried a pick and roll, but Luke was able to run up and snatch the pass to the power forward. Ken took it up the other way and called for the Pick and Pop.
TK went down to the block, then came back up and set a pick to the right of Ken's defender. Ken bolted towards TK's side, both defenders shading over to keep him from getting towards the basket.
TK spun out and ran the opposite direction, seeing the opposing center getting ready to jump in front of TK. Ken whirled the ball back to TK, who caught it and faced the basket. Nobody was around, so he rose up and shot it, knocking it in from sixteen feet out.
The buzzer sounded. The third quarter was done, and Rakunan held a sixty to thirty-nine lead.
"Putting the team on your back!" Ken called out on the way to the bench, smacking TK on the back.
"Yeah, only had to because of you and your bright ideas." TK sat down on the bench heavily. "Feel free to get Quincy out there now. I'm sure he's ready to start knocking everything down."
"Look. It's not perfect, but the new lineups are getting us open looks and easy buckets. Quincy hitting his shots is a big part of this, but there are other pieces. Most of the pieces are working as planned. It's not a disaster or anything."
"If you buy a boat, and you move the deck chairs on it around, it's still the same boat, Ken." TK looked over at his friend. "Yeah, the changes are a nice addition, but none of it matters if you're gonna give big minutes to a guy who's only good at shooting, who can't shoot, and...I swear that made sense in my head."
"Patience." Ken sat back. "Let's take the start of the fourth off. Hell of a third, by the way."
"Yeah. I was angry." TK watched Derrick, Jason, Quincy, Vincent, and Luke stand up to enter the game. "I feel better now."
They watched in silence as the fourth quarter started with Vincent inbounding to Jason.
"If this Quincy thing doesn't work, Jason's going to lead a revolt. You realize that, right?" TK watched Jason dribble around at the top, then take off towards the basket.
"Give him some credit. He's starting to figure the game out a little bit. He's coming around."
Jason kicked it into the corner to Quincy after two other defenders collapsed in on him. Quincy rose up and nailed the corner three.
"Typical," TK grunted.
