Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 129 - Giants Fall

Jason was relaxing with the towel over his face. He closed his eyes as he lost himself in the cool sensation.

As he was enjoying the relief from the overbearing heat he felt someone sit down in the chair next to him.

He then heard Udonis' voice "You good bro?" Jason replied "Yup. I ain't ever felt better UD. Especially now that I got this towel on my face."

Udonis laughed "Well you should keep that towel on your face then. Let DJ run Point next quarter and just chill here for a bit."

Jason lifted up a portion of the towel so that he had one eye exposed as he looked at Udonis.

"You know I can't do that UD. I just told the guys that so that they would stop worrying. I can't sit out until we crush Nashton Academy's spirit."

Udonis shook his head "I know that you want to grab the dub more than anyone else Jaya but you gotta take care of your body.

I ain't gon front. You been working on your stamina like crazy. But you still human bro. You keep pushin like this and you gon end up ridin the tread off those tires.

You the only one that ain't been out of the game ever since we started. Give yourself a break and trust us."

Jason paused for a second before nodding his head "Alright UD. I'll play the first minute or two to make sure that we the momentum is in our favor and then I'll sub out for DJ okay?"

After hearing that Udonis smiled "Alright bro. I know that I might sound like I'm buggin or that I'm naggin you hella hard.

But sometimes we need people to protect us from ourselves right?" Udonis then extended his fist toward Jason.

Jason smiled as he dropped the towel back on to his face before extending his own fist forward "Yeah, I get you UD. We cool." The two of them then bumped fists.

Jason spent the remainder of the break trying his best to rest 'Man I miss Coach Swendel. Right now he would be massaging my legs and asking about my condition.'

As the clock buzzed to indicate that it was time for the game to resume Jason took the towel off of his face.

As the other guys got up to get back into the game Jason noticed that Kyle's legs were slightly trembling.

Jason called out "Yo Kyle. You sure you're good to play? You can take a longer break if you need to."

Kyle smiled as he shook his head "Nah bro I'm good. My legs just fell asleep a little from all the sitting. I'll be good after playing for a minute or two."

Jason paused for a second before nodding his head "Okay. Just let us know if you need to rest."

Jason got the guys attention "We'll go with me at Point, Nick at Shooting Guard, Matt at Small Forward, Udonis at Power Forward, and Kyle at Center."

The guys made their way to the court. Nashton Academy had the first possession of the 3rd quarter as they inbounded the ball to their Point Guard.

As soon as the Point Guard crossed half court he passed the ball over to the wing player on the right wing.

Jason instructed Matt to switch defensive assignments as Jason made his way over to the right wing.

As Jason and Matt were switching defensive assignments the wing player took advantage of the small window of opportunity as he passed the ball to 3D down in the post.

As soon as he had the ball in his hands 3D began to back down Kyle in the post. Kyle braced himself for the impact as he tried his best to keep 3D out of the paint.

With 3D's enormous frame hammering against him Kyle could feel the impact throughout his whole body.

After a few seconds 3D had managed to push his way deep into the paint. But just as he was about to turn over his shoulder for the hook shot he felt another body guarding him.

He looked down and saw as Jason had made his way over in order to double team 3D in the paint.

3D didn't try to force the issue as he kicked the ball back out to the perimeter to his wing player.

As soon as he began to pass the ball Jason was already running back out to the perimeter to close out on the wing player.

Jason was running toward the Small Forward with both of his hands up in the air as he closed out on him.

Jason's presence on defense must have made the Small Forward uncomfortable because he chose to not take the three point shot.

In the meantime 3D had to step back out of the paint in order to avoid getting hit with a three second violation.

After he was in position again he called out to the Small Forward to pass him the ball. Jason kept his hands active as he tried to make it hard for the Small Forward to pass the ball.

As the Small Forward tried to go for a bounce pass to 3D Jason managed to deflect the pass. Unfortunately the ball flew over the baseline as it went out of bounds.

Jason slapped his hands together out of frustration "Shit! I almost had it." Nashton Academy inbounded the ball from the baseline to 3D as he posted up against Kyle.

Just as he had gotten deep positioning in the paint Jason once again came for the double team.

However this time 3D decided to power through the two of them as he drop stepped, pushing Kyle and Jason out of position.

Kyle was the first one to recover as he tried to cover 3D again before he could get his shot off underneath the basket.

Kyle kept his arms straight up as he tried to cover 3D without fouling him. Jason recovered as he hurried to join Kyle in guarding 3D.

Before he could get to him 3D had already flipped the ball up and toward the basket with his hand.

Jason and Kyle immediately started to box him out as they all watched the ball to see where it would end up.

The ball landed on the right side of the rim before bouncing off on the opposite side. It was two against one as they fought for the rebound.

Because of 3D's strength and size, even though Kyle was boxing him out he couldn't utilize his athleticism to it's fullest potential.

And Jason was so small that the only real help that he could provide was to try and push back 3D as much as he could.

Kyle saw the ball coming down and jumped toward it as best as he could. 3D on the other hand just extended his arm toward the ball.

Kyle almost had the ball in his possession but it was tipped back up into the air by 3D. As it came back down the same thing happened.

After tapping the ball out of Kyle's possession for the second time 3D was able to grab the rebound flat footed.

He then shot the ball one handed toward the basket. The ball hit nothing but net as 3D scored 2 points for Nashton Academy.

Jason saw the frustrated look on Kyle's face. He smiled as he slapped Kyle on the back "We did what we could. Let's get back at them on the offensive end."

Kyle reluctantly nodded his head before getting the ball and inbounding it to Jason who then dribbled it up the court.

After passing half court Jason waited for the rest of his team to get in position before calling for a screen from Kyle.

Jason's defender preemptively went under the screen to try and beat Jason but he simply flipped the screen by going back.

The defender got slowed down by Kyle and as 3D had sagged back in order to contain the drive and the roll from Kyle Jason a open look.

Jason pulled the trigger as he quickly got off his shot. The ball flew through the air before swishing through the net.

Jason held up three fingers on his right hand before holding it up and smiling at the crowd. This caused them to cheer wildly.

After a successful defensive possession where Jason was able to deflect the pass before 3D could catch it in the post Jason called for a timeout.

Both teams made their way to their respective benches. Jason took a seat and wiped the sweat off of his face with his towel before looking at the rest of the guys.

"Y'all are doing great out there. We just need to keep this up and we'll be hanging the very first county banner in Jefferson's history.

After the timeout I want DJ to run the Point. We'll rotate the rest at our next timeout okay? I know you guys are tired but just keep at it until the next timeout."

Udonis smiled as he nodded his head. He added "We right there fellas. We at the finish line. We just need to cross it.

Let's keep the tempo up so that Nashton can't get comfy, you feel me? We gon run these fools outta our gym.

Let's hear it. Jefferson on three." All of the guys piled their hands on top of each other as they shouted in Unison "ONE! TWO! THREE! JEFFERSON!"

Shortly after the timeout ended and the guys made their way back to the court while Jason stayed on the bench to catch his breathe and to get some well deserved rest.

Without Jason there to direct their defense the team allowed a few points to be scored by Nashton Academy as they successfully ran a couple plays.

There were backdoor cuts, screen slips, and cuts to the basket that would have never happened if Jason were still on the floor. 

But their effort was still there as all the guys on Jefferson put their hard hats on and went to work. They put their bodies on the line as they played defense.

They dived for loose balls, bent their knees and remained discipline on defense as they didn't gamble for risky steals, and they even took a charge as on player from Nashton drove to the basket.

On offense Jefferson struggled a bit without Jason's shot creating and ability to shoot of the dribble.

But they still managed to get things done by utilizing Kyle's inherit advantages in the open court as they ran the fast break every single time down.

As the quarter passed there were only a minute and a half left as Jefferson held onto a small lead of 74-66.

Jason was surprised by 3D's amazing performance. Not only had he played a large amount of minutes.

All of his time on the court was highly productive as he was single-handedly keeping the game close.

Jason had decided that he had gotten enough rest and that he would jump back into the game after this possession.

Nashton Academy ran a pick and roll with their Point Guard and 3D. After the screen the Point Guard lobbed the ball overhead to 3D who began driving to the paint.

As Kyle shuffled his feet to keep up with 3D while trying not to get knocked off balance by his huge figure Kyle felt his leg buckle.

He felt himself falling so he tried to catch himself by planting his foot down again but he accidentally stepped on 3D's foot.

For a split second Kyle's foot ended up in a unnatural shape as he rolled his ankle. Kyle came falling to the floor as he screamed out in pain "Ahhhh!"

DJ purposefully fouled the closest Nashton player in order to stop the game. Everyone ran over to Kyle as he grasped at his ankle with tears in his eyes.