Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Chapter 71 - A Foul Mood

Kyle was focused as he stood face to face with the other team's Center as they got ready for the jump ball.

Other than focus there seemed to be a hard to describe light that burned in Kyle's gaze 'Come on Kyle. Time to put these bad guys in their place. You can do this.'

As soon as the ref tossed the ball into the air Kyle was locked in. When the ball reached it's apex Kyle jumped up and reached for it.

Kyle's speed getting off the ground was incredible and so was his accuracy as he was able to tap it directly to Jason.

As soon as Jason touched the ball he yelled out "Run Kyle!" Kyle heard Jason's voice and before he could fully understand what he had just said his body was already moving on its own as he dashed to the basket.

Even though Kyle was the tallest one on the court his coordination and foot speed were just as incredible as his height as Kyle outran all the nearby defenders.

Just as Kyle was about to step into the paint Jason threw a touchdown pass to get him the ball. Kyle caught the ball before going up strong and dunking with his right hand.

The home section went quiet after seeing their team give up a basket just seconds into the game. As Kyle landed back on to the court he thumped his chest as he yelled into the sky "Yeah!!!"

As Kyle made his way back on defense Jason high-fived him. Tustin middle school inbounded the ball to Julius.

As he brought the ball up the court Jason was locked-in on him. Jason used Heart's eye to check out his skills.

[Skills

Free throw: B-

Lay Up: B-

Dunking: D

Close Shot: C+

Mid Range Shooting: B-

Three Point Shooting: B-

Dribbling: B

Passing: C+

Ball Handling: B

Play Making: C+

Post Scoring: C

Rebounding: D-

Post Control: C-

Perimeter Defense: B-

Post Defense: D-

Steals: C+

Blocks: E+

Athleticism: B ]

At first Jason was surprised by how good Julius was. He couldn't recall any memories of him from his past life.

But then Jason became even more furious 'You have skills like this and you still choose to use dirty tricks!? I've never seen anyone cheat the game more than this.

You had to have put in work to get the kind of skills that you have. And now you're tainting it all and ruining your efforts by acting so grimey.'

Jason picked him up as soon as he crossed half court. Jason started pressing up against him as he pressured him with his defense.

Julius couldn't move the way he wanted because of Jason's defense. He turned his body as he had to guard the ball against Jason.

Jason was smothering Julius with his intense defense when he saw an opening. Jason shot his hand out as he poked the ball away from Julius.

Jason was about to run to the ball and start the fastbreak when he heard the referee blow his whistle.

The referee pointed at Jason "Personal foul number 17!" Jason was shocked by the call 'That was a clean steal. Did he have a bad angle?'

The game had just started and his team was in the lead so Jason didn't bother arguing with the referee as he just re-positioned himself on defense.

On defense Jason toned down his man to man defense. He wasn't playing defense aggressively but he was still locking down Julius.

He also did his usual thing by directing the rest of the guys as he neutralized the opposing team's game-plan.

With Julius guarding him Jason was motivated to score whenever the other guys couldn't get open or make their own shot.

Jason crossed him up with his handles, hit him with multiple different fakes, and scored with his jumper or by taking it into the paint.

Jason had fifteen points in the first quarter and there were still four more minutes to go. But Coach Swendel called for a timeout and subbed DJ in for Jason so that he could get some rest.

Without Jason to direct them their defense took a slight dip in quality as they allowed more space to be created.

But their effort was still there as they tried their best to stick with their marks and contest shots.

Without Jason to defend him Julius finally felt like he had some breathing room. He got past DJ with a inside-out to crossover combo.

As he was attacking the paint he saw that Kyle was in the vicinity but still far away enough so he went up for the layup.

Kyle left his man as he bolted toward Julius. His speed was faster than what Julius had expected. Before the ball could leave his hand it was slapped down by Kyle.

The impact sent Julius falling to the court on his butt. Kyle was about to celebrate the block when the referee blew his whistle as he pointed at him"Personal foul! Number 12!"

Jason jumped to his feet and started yelling "Where are your eyes ref!? That was all ball!" Coach Swendel walked up to the referee and started arguing the call.

"What the hell? How was that a foul? My kid got all ball on that block." The referee looked at him "Oh yeah? Well from where I'm watching I saw contact on the wrist. Call stands as it is."

Coach Swendel's face turned bright red. Just as he was about to yell at the referee he saw the scoreboard 24-8 with 2 minutes left to go.

He took a deep breath before turning to the referee "Just keep a closer eye okay?" Those were his last words to the ref as he walked back to the bench.

Jason saw Coach Swendel coming back "What did the ref say?" Coach Swendel punched the air in front of him "The shit head said that he saw contact on the wrist."

Jason rolled his eyes "We both know that's a load of bull. That was a clean block. Kyle got nothing but ball on that one."

Coach Swendel grabbed a sports bottle and started dumping some of the ice cold water on to his head.

"I know that and you know that. The only one who disagrees is the ref. We're still up by a lot so it's not worth it to get into a shouting match for now. Let's see how things go."

Jason nodded his head as he agreed with Coach Swendel 'I hope these shitty calls don't go on for the whole night.'

The last two minutes passed as the quarter ended with Jefferson in the lead with a score of 26-14.

Jason was back on the floor to start off the second quarter. On the court with Jason were Vince, Udonis, Nick, and Matt.

Jason called for a play that involved Vince and Udonis setting a double screen for Matt as he made his way from the right corner to the wing.

Vince and Udonis set some solid screens as the defenders got stuck. Matt flared out to the wing wide open.

But before he could get the pass from Jason the referee blew his whistle again. He yelled out as he pointed to Udonis "Foul on number 40! Illegal screen!"

Udonis calmly walked over to the referee "Sorry sir but how was that a illegal screen? I was set before the defender ran into me and I didn't move after contact was made."

The referee didn't bother to look at him in the face even though they were the same height "You stuck out your hips to delay the defender."

Udonis frowned "Sir I didn't. I was still the whole time." It was only the two of them in the vicinity as the referee turned to Udonis.

"I called it that way so that's how it is. So stop talking and go play ball." The referee then walked away leaving Udonis standing there as he gripped the edges of his jersey.

Udonis walked toward Jason as he made his way back on defense "Sorry, my bad." Jason asked "How'd it go with the ref?"

Udonis shook his head "He on something else bro. He kept saying that I stuck my hip out during the screen but I know I didn't."

Jason frowned 'Looks like this dude is in love with his whistle. We might be in for a long night.' Jason patted Udonis on the shoulder "It's cool man. We're still up by a lot."

The referee continued his streak of bad calls throughout the quarter as Tustin began shooting free-throws whenever they threw up a shot.

But despite the bad calls and ghost fouls Jefferson still sat at impressive lead of 33-22 as the quarter neared the halfway mark.

Jason had the ball at the top of the perimeter as Julius stood in front of him. Jason started putting on a show as he started to dribble.

Julius seemed jumpy and on his toes as he kept twitching and moving slightly to all of Jason's moves.

Jason drove toward the right at full speed before coming to a sudden stop just as Julius was about to make contact with him.

Jason then stepped back and did a head fake. Julius thought Jason was getting into his shooting motion so he jumped toward him to contest the shot.

Jason smiled as he saw Julius coming at him. He jumped into the contact as he shot the ball. Jason ended up on the floor as Julius fell on top of him.

He saw the ball swish through the net and started yelling and cheering in anticipation of the foul call that he would make it into a four-point play.

The referee blew his whistle but what he said next made Jason furious "Technical foul! Unsportsmanlike conduct!"

Jason was fuming 'What the hell is wrong with this ref!?' Jason jumped to his feet and started stomping toward the referee.