Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Kawhi walked into the gym with a few of the doctors and trainers that were a part of the meeting in his office.

The first thing that they saw was the game of three on three that was taking place on one of the courts in the gym.

Kawhi pushed up the sunglasses that he was wearing "Huh? Looks like we're little late. They started the party without us Huh heh HAEHH heh."

Kawhi looked at the players that were on the court before turning to Patricia who was standing to the right of him.

"Isn't that the kid you were just talking about?" Patricia looked to the court and saw Jason "Yes, that's him. It would be hard to mistake him for anyone else. He's the only Asian kid here."

Kawhi replied "He must have a ton of energy if he's playing a three on three during the scheduled break time."

Patricia watched them play for a few possessions before saying "I don't think that this is just a simple scrimmage. Both teams are going at it pretty hard."

Kawhi responded "What if they're just playing hard? A lot of hoopers are like that. They take even practice games serious."

Patricia shook her head "Sorry Kawhi, I know that you're a expert when it comes to basketball.

But I'm an expert when it comes to people. And right now I can feel some emotions on the court besides competitive spirit."

Kawhi shrugged his shoulders "Well hoopers are human too. Ain't nothing wrong with settling things on the court. Let's watch and see what these young cats do."

After hearing Kawhi say that the entire group moved to a spot where they could see the game from a good angle without being noticed by the rest of the people there.

- - -

Jason was currently sizing up his defender as he had the ball out on the perimeter behind the three-point line.

Jason called for a screen from Nav once again. But this time after Nav was set Jason used a hesitation move to the right which caused his defender to preemptively jump the screen.

After seeing his defender was already on the other side of the screen Jason crossed over to the left as Nav flipped the screen to give Jason even more space.

Darnell was guarding Nav and had sank on the screen in order to defend the roll. But after seeing Nav flip the screen he tried to step up and cover Jason.

Unfortunately for him before he could even get close to Jason he had already let another three-pointer fly.

Everyone watched as the ball flew toward the basket in a high arc. Darnell was fighting to gain rebounding position in case the shot missed but it ended up being a waste of energy as the ball swished through the net.

Jason and Ricky high-fived as Ricky turned to Darnell "Haha looks like we know who really got the sauce. We up 16 to 10 Darnell. It looking worse and worse for y'all."

Darnell wiped the sweat off his forehead before glaring at Ricky "We playin to 21 Ricky. You best be careful. You might be diggin your own grave."

Darnell's team had the ball again as they tried to feed him in the post. Mack dribbled the ball to the right wing before tossing the ball to Darnell as he posted up Nav.

With the ball in his hands Darnell began to back down Nav. After backing Nav down a few times Darnell turned over his right shoulder as he began to spin towards the basket.

Nav stuck with Darnell through the spin move but there was nothing he could do as Darnell powered his way to the basket.

Darnell saw that Nav was struggling just to stick with him and decided to throw up a baby hook shot as he ran toward the basket.

But just as he was raising the ball in his hand for the hook shot he felt something knock the ball out of his hand.

Darnell turned his head and saw a determined looking Jason with his hand still in the process of swinging down.

Jason had ran over to to Darnell after seeing him commit to making an offensive move. He found the perfect opportunity to block the shot as Darnell didn't expect to have another defender on him at that point.

Jason ran after the loose ball and managed to gain possession of it. Jason called for another screen from Nav.

Nav set the screen on Jason's right side. This time Darnell switched on the screen as he pushed his teammate toward Nav.

Unfortunately for him since Mack wasn't expecting the switch he was a step behind on sticking to Nav.

Nav rolled hard to the wide open paint as Ricky and James were in the corner. James hesitated for a moment but decided to collapse into the paint again.

But Nav was already at the free-throw line by the time he started moving. Jason smiled as he lobbed the ball toward Nav.

Nav saw the pass and jumped as high as he could. He launched off the ground using both feet as he soared through the air.

The pass was in just the perfect place as he managed to catch it with his right hand before slamming it toward the rim and through the net.

Nav hanged on the rim for a second as he spun around a little bit before letting go. As he landed on the ground he pointed at Jason to acknowledge the assist before thumping his chest and yelling.

"Hell yeah! That's what I call sauce! We stay cookin in the kitchen man! Y'all can't take this typa heat."

Jason ran to Nav as they jumped into the air and bumped hips. Nav dapped up Jason before the two of them made their way back on defense.

All the kids from Riverside were going wild as they saw Jason throw the alley-oop to Nav. But all the kids from Moreno Valley were dead silent as they watched the other side of the gym celebrating.

That alley-oop play seemed to have ignited the Riverside crowd and pulled the momentum toward Jason's team.

The flow of the game from that point on was completely in favor of Jason and his team. They would occasionally get the stop on defense before making a three or another play on offense.

Although they weren't able to stop Darnell and his team a hundred percent of the time they were still able to build a lead by utilizing the three ball.

The final score of the game was 21 to 16. Ricky had a huge smile on his face as he walked toward Darnell and his team.

"Guess it's official. We know who really got the sauce and who really be cookin in the kitchen. Guess that means y'all are just the bus boys or the dishwashers haha."

Nav patted Ricky on the back "Cool it Ricky. We won the game and that's all that matters. You ain't gotta rub it in too bad." He then looked at Darnell.

"I remember you said that if we won that y'all would be cool with Young Buckets over here switching to the 16 and up group right?

Well it's time to pay the bill. Y'all want to talk to the trainers or should I do it?" Darnell clenched the sides of his shorts.

"Yeah. A bet is a bet. You ain't gonna hear no more noise from us about Jason switching groups. But y'all can be the ones to talk to the trainers."

After hearing Darnell say that Ricky and Nav made their way to the trainers and explained to them the situation.

Brie and Ben looked at each other with complicated expressions. Ben was the first one to talk "It's great that you guys were able to come to a peaceful conclusion to this.

But just because the other half of the camp is okay with it doesn't mean that we can just switch what group he's in.

The groups are separated by age for a reason. Jason might be skilled enough to handle the drills but what about his body?

There is a reason why doctors and physical trainers don't recommend working out with weights until the person has reached a certain age.

By pushing for Jason to do training that's more advanced than what he should be doing at his age he may damage his body.

It might not be obvious the day after or in the nearby future. But what if years down the road Jason finds himself with nagging injuries?"

Everyone went silent after hearing Ben say that. They couldn't refute what he had just said. Just as the silence was growing they heard a familiar voice.

"Is that what the big problem was? The answer is easy. If the kid is ready for more advanced training then just let him do it. Just remember to have him sign a waiver Huh heh HAEHH heh."