Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 165 - Game 3 Of The State Tournament: Part-4

During the timeout all of the guys huddled around as Jason held up the clipboard with a play drawn on it.

"You need to fake the hand off sometimes UD. Even if you don't plan on attacking faking the hand off helps to keep the defense honest.

Trell you need to change up your angles. You can't keep curling at the same location. It makes you predictable and it makes the play easier to stop.

Try curling here and here and switch it up every once in a while. Matt, when you pass the ball to UD for the hand off make sure you wait for him to get in position first."

Jason was going over their new offense with all of the guys. If anyone else saw this or overheard what was happening they would lose their mind.

Offensive plays and game plans are something that teams work on over the course of the season.

From how well Jefferson was executing and performing with their new offense anyone watching the game would think that the new offense was a secret weapon that Jefferson was hiding for a time like this.

But in all actuality their new offense was something that was created out of necessity and in the heat of battle.

Surprisingly enough Jefferson's short roster would actually work out to be an advantage in their current circumstance.

If any other team would try to implement an entirely new offense in the middle of a game the way that Jefferson was currently doing it would mostly likely end with less than desirable results.

Because of Jefferson's small roster all of their players have played plenty of minutes together out on the court.

They got to play more minutes together than what most teams would have. Their understanding of each others' tendencies and habits was something that most team's would have to spend more than one season in order to achieve.

While Jason was in the middle of going over one of the plays that they had ran the clock buzzed indicating the end of the break.

Jason gave the clipboard back to Ms. Yuller before standing up and looking at all of the guys "You guys ready?"

Everyone nodded their head before sending off the guys that would step back out on to the court.

To start off the second quarter Jefferson's lineup consisted of Jason at Point Guard, DJ at Shooting Guard, Trell at Small Forward, Udonis at Power Forward, and Vince at Center.

As he stepped out on to the court Jason saw that High Bridge was most likely sending out their second unit.

Non of High Bridge's starters, including Rudy, were there on the court as the second quarter was set to resume.

The referee passed the ball to High Bridge's back up Center as he then inbounded it to their back up Point Guard.

Even though he was the back up Point Guard his skills were good enough to where the drop off between him and Rudy didn't affect High Bridge's offense as they were able to smoothly run one of their plays.

With Rudy off the floor High Bridge's offense changed from focusing on pick and rolls with Rudy and their Bigs to an offense that promoted more ball movement.

Fortunately for Jefferson Jason was able to guide his teammates in a way that they were able to safely guard their opponent's new offense.

After forcing High Bridge in to resetting their offense three different times Jefferson was able to get the rebound after their opponent put up a heavily contested layup in the paint.

Vince grabbed the rebound as he was boxing out his opponent. Despite the small blow that he took to the side of his ribs as they were battling for position Vince maintained his focus on the ball and leapt for it when he saw the opportunity arise.

He then passed the ball up the court ten feet to Udonis who then threw an outlet pass to Jason who was almost at the three point line on the other side.

Jason caught the pass right as he was approaching the three point line. In a split second he scanned the floor and saw that the closest defender was still five steps away.

'There's enough space. Time to get the momentum moving in our favor.' Jason picked up his dribble as he began his shooting motion.

Hand placement, elbow alignment, just the right amount of power in his jump, everything about the shot felt good and Jason felt like the shot would touch nothing but net.

But before the ball could leave his hand it was smacked to the sidelines as a figure landed to the side of Jason.

The referee blew his whistle and signaled that it was still Jefferson's ball. The sound of the referee's whistle helped to pull Jason out of his momentary state of confusion.

Jason looked to the side and stared at the figure that had just blocked him. He was about 5'7 (1.7m).

He had dark brown skin and his hair was styled in a short flat top with some ocean waves stenciled on to the sides.

His long arms and legs combined with his lean yet athletic frame gave him the stereotypical appearance of a basketball player.

He had a calm expression on his face as he looked back at Jason. Most players would celebrate after making a play like that.

Especially if it was on a player like Jason who had been on TV a lot recently and had a lot of hype around him.

But this person just calmly walked back to position to play defense. He didn't pump his fist or turn to the crowd with excitement.

Jason's curiosity got the best of him as he ended up using Heart's Eye on him.

[Skills

Free throw: B

Lay Up: B

Dunking: D-

Close Shot: B

Mid Range Shooting: D+

Three Point Shooting: D+

Dribbling: D

Passing: D

Ball Handling: D+

Play Making: D

Post Scoring: D

Rebounding: B

Post Control: B+

Perimeter Defense: A+

Post Defense: A-

Steals: A+

Blocks: B

Athleticism: A+ ]

Jason was honestly surprised by what he had seen. This person had the highest defensive ratings that he had seen from any other player his age so far.

He hurriedly searched through all of his memories from his past life but he couldn't find anyone that matched his appearance.

The referee handed the ball back to Udonis as he stood outside of the sidelines. Jason caught the inbound pass but he couldn't stop thinking about the defender that had blocked him 'Who are you?'