Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 228 - Central Park Down!

Patricia was aggravated at first but a mischievous smile began to spread across her face "Normally I wouldn't even entertain this suggestion of yours.

But since you've already derailed our training schedule by this much we might as well make the best out of a bad situation."

She then turned to Jason and his group "What do you all think?" Jason turned his head to look back at the others.

Kyle, Danilo, 3D, Rudy, and Alex all gave Jason a nod. He then turned to Patricia "Looks like we're all ready Doc."

Patricia nodded her head "Then we'll go ahead and start of the group training with a quick five on five. We'll do two eight minutes halves."

As the courts began to be cleared out in preparation for their game Jason had the guys huddle up "Alright guys listen up. This is going to be our lineup."

Jason then pointed to 3D "We'll have you sit this one out 3D." His face became cold as he asked "You want me to sit out?"

Jason nodded his head casually "This is a bad match up for you 3D." Jason then turned to point at the tallest player in Central Park's group.

"You don't match up well with Central Park's Center." Jason had taken a peak at Central Park's players and the thing that caught his attention the most was their Center's skills.

[Skills

Free throw: B+

Lay Up: B

Dunking: C

Close Shot: B

Mid Range Shooting: B+

Three Point Shooting: B

Dribbling: B

Passing: B

Ball Handling: B

Play Making: B

Post Scoring: B

Rebounding: B

Post Control: B-

Perimeter Defense: C+

Post Defense: B

Steals: C+

Blocks: C

Athleticism: B ]

This was the first time that Jason had seen a Center with B ranked Dribbling and Ball Handling. From the looks of it he was a Center with a strong face up game.

Asking 3D to guard a mobile Center with a legitimate jump shot was simply setting him up for failure.

After listening to Jason's explanation 3D had to choice but to begrudgingly nod his head "Alright Jaya. I'm trusting you on this.

But if you're having me sit out the game then you better not lose." He then stuck out his fist. Jason smiled as he bumped his fist back with his own "You already know."

Jason then announced their lineup "We'll have Alex Run the Point, Rudy you take the SG slot, I'll play the 3, Dlo you play the 4, and Kyle will anchor down as the Center."

All of the guys nodded their heads as Jason began to explain their game plan. According to what Jason saw with his Heart's Eye Amarion and their Center seemed to be the focal points of their offense.

Either Amarion or their Center would kick off their plays while their other players were just there to play defense and to make open shots.

Jason explained that he and Kyle would guard Amarion and the Center. The two of them would focus most of their energy on defense.

This meant that the offense would run primarily through Rudy and Danilo. Rudy turned to Jason "I don't mind being the center of the offense but are you good with that?"

Jason nodded his head "I just want the dub. Who gets the ball and who scores the most points, that stuff doesn't matter."

Rudy had to take second to take in what Jason had said 'A guy who can score the ball at will is saying that he doesn't care about scoring, sheesh.

Maybe that's what makes him so good. He honestly doesn't care about being the star or getting the most attention. Dude is really just different.'

Rudy then thumped his chest "You and Kyle focus on defense and leave the scoring to me and Dlo. We'll get the job done."

Danilo nodded his head in agreement. Seeing that Jason smiled as he nodded his head "Seems like we're all ready then. Riverside on three. ONE. TWO. THREE."

All of them yelled out in unison as they threw their hands up into the air "RIVERSIDE!" They all made their way to the court.

One of the researchers took the place of the referee as he held the ball for the tip off. As soon as he got into position for the tip off a fire began to burn in Kyle's eyes as he locked on to the ball.

As soon as the ball left the researchers hand Kyle jumped up and knocked it to their side. Alex caroled the ball before passing it to Rudy.

With the ball in his hands he then began to make his way up the court. After passing the half court line he called for a screen from Danilo.

Rudy drove to the right as he forced his defender into Danilo's screen. Central Park decided to switch on the screen as the Power Forward that had been guarding Danilo began to chase after Rudy.

Meanwhile Danilo drifted out to the three point line pulling the Guard that had been guarding Rudy with him.

With the slower Big Man on him Rudy began to make his way to the basket as he sliced through the court.

He was driving to the basket from the right side of the court. Seeing Rudy get closer and closer to the paint Central Park's Center moved up in an effort to contain him.

Seeing this Rudy simply smiled as he tossed the ball over the head of Central Park's Center. The Center turned his head as he watched the ball fly over him.

The next thing he saw was Kyle as he leapt into the air and caught the ball with one hand. He then swung his hand down as he violently rocked the rim with his dunk.

Kyle dunked the ball and came back down quickly before looking at Central Park's Center as he stared him down.

He only turned away from him as Rudy walked over to give him a high five "Nice dunk Kyle!" Kyle gave Rudy a nod before making his way back on defense.

But just as everyone watching was still recovering from the shock of Kyle's dunk their team did something else that almost knocked them out of their seats.

They all watched on in amazement as Jason began to guard Amarion full court. As soon as the ball was inbounded to him Jason got all up in his jersey.

On the sidelines one of the researchers scoffed "This kid is letting things go to his head. Just because some people call him a top ranked defender in his age group he thinks he can pick up anyone full court?

Amarion is a high level athlete with an elite first step. Trying to guard him full court is just asking to get burned."

Hearing that Patricia couldn't help but laugh. She then turned to the researcher "Do you know what he watched in film today?"

The researcher shook his head. Patricia turned her attention back to Jason and the game as a smile began to grow across her face.

"He watched a old game where Kobe Bryant played against Dwyane Wade in a old Lakers vs Heat matchup. In that game Kobe had a possession where he shut down Wade by picking him up full court."

And just like that anyone who had doubted Jason at first were now amazed as they watched him pester and suffocate Amarion.

No matter what moves he tried and no matter how he tried to blow by Jason he just couldn't lose him. Everywhere he turned to Jason was there to block his way.

Jason switched from going into full out sprints to chopping his steps and turning his hips as he stayed attached to Amarion.

He would also disrupt his rhythm and flow by poking at the ball and forcing Amarion to slow down in order to remain in control of the ball.

As he was going to go out of bounds in order to inbound the ball Franky saw how ugly Amarion's expression was.

He walked over and patted him on the shoulder "Don't sweat it. If they're going to guard you full court then just have one of the other guys bring the ball up.

We can run some sets with you moving off ball to try and free you up." Amarion nodded his head "Thanks Franky. I think you're right.

We'll be better off having one of the other guys bring the ball up the court." And with that they had someone else bring the ball up the court as Amarion positioned himself on the left wing.

But even without the ball in his hands Amarion was still being pressed by Jason as he refused to give him any breathing space.

And to make matters worse Jason's mouth was just as busy as the rest of him as his trash talking kept on going.

"What's wrong? You got scared of holding the ball?" "Man, I didn't know that New Yorkers were that easy to spook."

"Are you sweating or are those tears coming out of your eyes?" "You might want to focus on your grades more man, I don't know if you got the right stuff for this."

While Jason was off to the side talking trash to Amarion their Point Guard ran the pick and roll with their Center Franky.

Instead of rolling to the rim Franky drifted out to the three point line after the screen. After seeing that his path was cut off by his defender the Point Guard kicked the ball back out to Franky.

After catching the ball Franky pump faked which got Kyle into the air. He smiled before taking a dribble to the side and squaring up for the three.

Unfortunately for him Kyle came from the side and swatted the ball out of his hands just as he had begun to bring the ball back up after the dip.

Alex stopped the ball just as it was about to roll out of bounds. He then tossed the ball up court to a running Kyle.

Kyle caught the ball and planted both of his feet before launching off the ground. His body twisted in the air as he went for a reverse two hand slam.

Kyle hung from the rim for a second before coming back down. He pointed to Alex as he made his way back down the court.

No matter what they tried Central Park just couldn't get into a rhythm offensively. Amarion was forced into the corner as the threat of Jason's defense made him a non factor on the offensive end.

And while Central Park would normally still be able to run their offense by relying on their Center's offensive abilities Kyle was the worst match up possible for him.

Franky was a Center that focused on taking his man off the dribble and using his jump shot and ball handling to create offense on the perimeter.

This would have worked on slower footed Big Men but Kyle's lateral quickness combined with his agility and body control allowed him to suffocate Franky.

By now Kyle's only weakness on the defensive end was elite perimeter scorers and Big Men with dominant post presence.

The two eight minute halves quickly passed as Jason and his team did something that no one had even thought was possible.

They held Central Park to just eighteen points on a very bad efficiency while scoring 44 points themselves.

And the most surprising part was that Jason scored less than ten points. At the end of the game Jason had only scored seven points.

He had made two layups off of cuts and one spot up three that he had shot after running off of a screen.

But if you thought that he had done nothing and simply got carried then the rest of his stat line would prove you wrong.

Jason's stats for the game: 7 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 2 blk, and he shot perfectly from the field as well as having no turnovers. 

Patricia had a smile on her face as she looked at the dejected expressions on Amarion and the rest of Central Park's faces.

She coughed to clear her throat "Now that that is out of the way are we ready to move on with the training?"

Surprisingly she got a response from the last person that she was expecting to get one from. Jason shot his hand into the air "I'm not done yet."

She looked at him with an amused expression "Oh really?" Jason nodded his head before pointing at Golden Oaks.

"I want them."