Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 222 - The Winner

Amarion then passed the ball to Jason. His face showed no emotion as he responded after catching the ball from Amarion.

"You sure shit ain't sweet? I coulda sworn I tasted some honey back when I splashed that three right in your face bro."

Amarion was nodding his head "You keep talkin while you got the chance. Cause you boutta learn how to behave when you in someone else's house.

You might be a big shot back back wherever yous from but down here you ain't nothin but a damn house guest. This is my city."

Jason began talk trash as Amarion was an arms length away "Damn bro, I almost feel bad for you. You about to get disrespected in your own home.

Cause I'm finna get into your fridge, eat up all your food, and then kick my feet up while I channel surf in your living room.

Ain't nothing you can do about it other than give me a set of keys cause Ima make myself at home."

Amarion almost choked when he heard Jason say that 'Damn! What the hell is up with this dude? He got a comeback for everything.'

Jason couldn't but chuckle in his mind after seeing Amarion's frustrated face 'You're gonna have to do a lot better than that if you want to talk trash to me kid.

I have close to two decades worth of experience when it comes to talking shit and getting into your opponents head.

I might not have been the most athletic player or the most skilled. But when it comes to getting under people's skin I don' think there's anyone better than me.'

Jason once again went into triple threat as he held the ball at chest level. The excitement and anticipation of the crowd was palpable all the way from the court as Jason could feel his heart begin to race.

Jason jabbed step to the right. Seeing as how Amarion didn't react Jason then used the jab step to start his point of attack.

Jason used the step that he took when he jabbed and turned it into the first step of his drive. Amarion was a split second too slow in reacting as Jason managed to create a half step of distance between them.

Thanks to Amarion's quickness he was able to catch up to Jason. As the two of them made contact Amarion began to slide his feet as he bodied Jason up while he drove to the paint.

As he made his way toward the basket Jason would occasionally give Amarion a bump in order to try and knock him off balance.

Unfortunately for Jason his lack of strength and his slim frame made it hard for him to create any major separation.

But even though his bumps weren't enough to get Amarion off of him they still proved effective as he couldn't maintain optimal positioning on defense.

Each time he got bumped Amarion had to focus on recovering and getting back into place. It also made it hard for him to beat Jason to his spot.

As Jason stepped into the paint he got ready to make his move. With Amarion on his right side as he cut straight through the middle of the paint Jason picked up his dribble.

He planted his right foot down and pushed off with all the power he could muster. He then dipped his shoulder down as he gave Amarion one last bump.

Amarion had been getting ready to jump when he took Jason's bump square in the chest. His feet had been close together in preparation for the jump so he was easily pushed back.

There was now a step of distance between the two of them as Jason leapt into the air. Amarion planted both of his feet as he exploded forward with all the power he could muster.

As Jason got up into the air he could see Amarion quickly approaching. Jason held the ball in his left hand as he got ready for the off handed layup.

Amarion saw this and shot his right hand out toward Jason's left hand where the ball was in an attempt to block and contest the shot.

Just as Jason was extending his left out hand out for the layup he swung his left hand down, transferred the ball to his right, and snaked his arm underneath Amarion's.

Amarion was caught off guard by Jason changing his shot at the last second so he had no chance to react as Jason went for a scoop layup with his right hand.

With a flick of his wrist Jason sent the ball out of his right and toward the basket. The power behind the shot seemed to be a little lacking as the ball barely managed to land on the right edge of the rim.

The split second that the ball spent teetering on the rim felt like a minute as Jason, Amarion, and the crowd waited to see the results.

Finally as the ball tipped over it ended up falling through the net. The crowd once again got fired up and began to make some more noise.

Jason felt a surge of pride well up within him after making that difficult layup. In his past life he had been sorely lacking in terms of offensive moves in his arsenal.

This had lead to him being nothing more than a defensive specialist at the college level and it was also the main reason that he could never make the leap to the professional league.

Back when he was young and in his prime he lacked the offensive moves. And by the time he was finally able to improve his jumper and add some moves to his bag of tricks he was already too old of a prospect for any team to want to take a chance on him.

But now things were different. He was young again and he had all the knowledge, experience, and skills that he had developed in his past life.

Jason walked over to the ball and picked it up. He then made his way back to the three point line where Amarion was standing and passed him the ball.

"You're not the only one with the acrobatic layup package bro. Hell, if you can make this enough of a competition I just might show you my D. Rose impression. Or do you like Ja better?"

Amarion stood there in silence he gave up on trying to talk trash to Jason. Every time he had tried before it just ended up with him getting the short end of the stick.

After that acrobatic layup by Jason everything began to go downhill for Amarion. The more time Jason spent playing against Amarion the more he was getting into rhythm.

Not only was Jason getting in rhythm on both the defensive and offensive side of the ball. But he was also memorizing Amarion's style of play.

Jason's borderline insane focus on defense didn't miss a single detail of Amarion's play style as he memorized his favorite moves.

His default counter moves, his dribbling rhythm, even down to the miniscule details such as hand positioning on the ball and facial expressions, nothing escaped Jason's attention.

This allowed Jason to time his defensive plays perfectly as he would strip the ball away from Amarion right as he was in the middle of a move.

As well as block the shots during their low points. But even though Jason played his usual suffocating brand of defense Amarion was still able to make a few baskets.

Because of Amarion's high skill levels as well as his various badges sometimes Jason's amazing defense would still be useless as the shots still ended up going in.

However Jason's tight defense still proved to be crucial as even though Amarion was able to make some tough shots his field goal percentage was much lower than Jason's.

With the ball in his hands Jason crossed over to the left and did a hesitation move. He then crossed the ball over to the right for another hesitation move.

Amarion stood his ground and didn't react 'You're too far from the line bruh. You ain't gon make shit from out there.'

Without any warning Jason went from the hesitation move to the right to getting into his shooting motion as he pulled up from distance.

Amarion's face became grim as he tried his best to jump forward and contest the shot. Unfortunately for him he was a step too slow and just a bit too far away.

By the time he got close to Jason the ball had already left his hand. The ball flew in a high arc toward the basket as the crowd became silent.

As they watched the ball sink through the net the entire audience exploded into cheers and applause as they all jumped to their feet.

And with that shot Jason had secured the victory with a score of twelve to five. In a moment of inspiration Jason decided to recreate one of the most iconic moments of modern basketball.

He looked over at Amarion and waved him goodbye in the same fashion that Damian Lillard had done to Russel Westbrook and Paul George when he had eliminated them from the playoffs all those years ago.