The Next Day
2:50pm
Brian's phone rang as he switched off his TV.
He reached for it and picked up the call. It was Kingsley.
"Brian, hope you remember that training is by 3pm," said Kingsley.
Brian hesitated.
"Brian... Hello?"
"Of course, I'm on my way,"he replied, and the line went dead.
Of course, he had forgotten about the 3pm training and was planning to go to the facility by 4pm.
He glanced at the time on his phone, it read 2:53.
Seven more minutes.
Brian hurriedly changed into his sports jersey, grabbed his sneakers, and zoomed out.
It was 3 minutes past 3 when Brian reached the facility panting.
"You're late!" snapped Jake.
"Jake?!" Brian exclaimed, visibly shocked.
"Yeah, I'm your team's coach."
"What!?" they replied in unison.
Jake sighed.
"Each team is assigned a coach for obvious reasons. And in this year's draw, I happened to pick the club that has recorded only one win since the beginning of the Championship."
"So the Gold City Emperors have only one win in the history of this sports competition?" asked Solomon.
"Exactly. Frequent winners are the Reapers, Heatwaves, that you lost too, and Chicago's Fury."
"That's supposed to be good or bad news?" asked Toby.
"Interpret it however you like. But the Emperors this year look promising, well, except your Point Guard and Small Forward. So let's work to win the Championship, okay?"
No reply.
Benaiah and Brian exchanged glances
"Let's begin!"
...
No music.
No ball bouncing.
Jake stood at halfcourt, arms crossed
"Lineup," he said.
The team exchanged glances, but they obeyed.
He picked up a ball and tossed it at Kingsley's chest.
"Pass it back."
Kingsley did, but
Jake didn't catch it.
"Tch!" snapped Kingsley.
"We lost because we have an intelligent but scared Point Guard,
a crafty Small Forward who can't rebound, a Centre who's effective but can't position, a Shooting Guard who can score but can't mark and a Power Forward who lacks ball control and timing—with amazing positioning.
Each one of you is unique in your own way. You're like sand yet to become glass, and I'm going to extract those hidden talents of yours—in the worst possible ways."
"Suicides! Now!"
Groans filled the court.
"Talking stops at the first line," Jake added.
"If anyone complains, we restart."
They ran.
By the third sprint, Tobby was gasping.
By the fifth, Solomon's hands were on his knees.
The rest kept pace.
Silence,
but controlled.
"Again" , the coach said
...
After what seemed like eternity, Jake finally rolled balls onto the court.
"Each one of you is unique," he said. "So what are your strengths? what are your weaknesses? Food for thought."
"I'll leave formations until your third match, if you win this second match."
" Three on three," Jake said. " The ball has one rule "
He looked straight at Benaiah.
"The ball cannot leave the paint unless the defence collapses, Solomon scoffed. "So, we force it?"
"No", the coach replied calmly. "You decide".
They played.
Brian took the inbound from Kingsley and Immediately, a lane opened, or..... maybe two
"Drive!" Kingsley shouted
Brian kicked it out to Benaiah, who drove. "Dead Ball," Jake said and blew his whistle.
Benaiah looked up " What?"
"You both escaped. Restart!"
The next play, Kingsley drove past Solomon and passed to Brian who drove in halfway and released it to Benaiah who slowed down and dumped it inside.
-Whistle blows again-
"Why did you both slow down?" Jake asked
Brian hesitated "We were--"
"Restart!"
The team groaned.
Solomon snapped, "Bro just go up or take the shot!"
Brian didn't reply.
...
It was past 6
Sweat soaked the floor
Jake gathered the team.
"For now, we don't need more plays " he said.
"You need accountability ".
Jake looked around
"Some are late to help, some hide in effort. Some in noise."
His eyes landed on Brian
"And some of you, in intelligence".
Both Benaiah and Brian exchanged glances
"Practice is over," Jake said. "Except for both of you"
The team froze
"Go shower," he repeated. "I'll lock up"
Kingsley glanced back at Brian and Bonaiah.
"Later," he said quietly
"You guys are the C.P.U and the brain of the team. You're the ones holding back the team. Find out your strengths and use them to draw out others" Jake said and dismissed them.
GAME TASK UPLOADING....
"Benaiah, you seeing this?"
"Yeah, things just heated up"
" you know, I thought about what Jake said
I didn't learn to play basketball like that"
"I grew up with the knowledge, ... we grew up with the knowledge that it's a team sport" replied Benaiah
"He keeps saying strengths, and I don't really understand it" frowned Brian
"We both can dribble right?"
"Yeah"
"That's a strength"
"But a lot of people can dribble" added Brian
"So why is your own dribbling special?"
"I don't know,... isn't dribbling generally special"
"Dribbling is a common weapon, same as physicality, but I noticed that they're are two kinds of dribblers"
"I'm not following " quizzed Boreal
"Rigid and creative dribbling, I can't really explain the details to you, but you'll see it"
"Rigid.... and creative dribbling" Brian muttered to himself
"That aside, you can read the courts, it's unique too, there's a lot of unique traits in us, the problem is discovering it" said Benaiah
"My brother once said people tend to over think under pressure, it's mostly how you check performance"
"Yeah, but we have to put ourselves under pressure, how?"
"Well, Jake's training is already much pressure but I don't think we'll evolve we'll with it, we'll learn and grow though but evolution is out of the question"
"You're saying evolution occurs mid games"
"Exactly " replied Benaiah as he conjured his Holo-screen
"We're up again Chicago's Fury, they devastated the last team they played against and it's with and through them that we'll evolve"
"At the team's sacrifice?"
"Nope, at our own cost"
"But.... how?"
"I don't fully know, but I trained with them Yesterday, and I get the feeling that, those guys are pressure themselves"
"We have to crush them while discovering our talents?"
"Yeah, it's the only way to survive this tournament"
....
TIME LEFT 30:00:00