Triple Threat (9 page)

JYD patted Kia on the back. He then reached down and grabbed the ball. “I think this belongs to you,” he said as he handed the ball to Ben. The other team had been so stunned that they hadn't even reacted to the shot or the basket.

“Smart,” JYD said to me as I walked by. “You saw the open look and changed the play. That's the sort of thing a good point guard does.”

Kia walked to the top and took the ball check while I scrambled over to cover Devon. Ethan threw
it inbounds to Devon. It was a high, soft, lob pass that was a good three feet over my head. I couldn't have gotten it with a stepladder.

I backed over a few steps as Devon began dribbling. He was so smooth, feeding the ball back and forth through his legs, doing little stutter steps. He had great control of the ball. He broke left, and as I jumped over to cover, he crossed me over and turned the corner on me like I was a traffic pylon. Kia rushed off her man to try to help, but Devon beat her as well. He broke in, hit the paint and went to lay the ball in. JYD reached out and grabbed the ball, pinning it against the backboard.

Again the crowd just went wild! I stood there, stunned, as he dribbled out of the key and past the three-point line.

“Need some help!” he yelled out, and I unfroze and faded out and into the open.

He fired the ball at me. I caught it, but the force of the ball practically lifted me off my feet. I recovered and started dribbling. I expected somebody to rush me, but nobody came. Ben and Devon were all over JYD, and Ethan was fading off to the side, trying to stay close enough to Kia to get in her way if I put the ball to her.

Kia ran over to the far side and Ethan went with her. I had a lane to the net. I hesitated for a split second and then drove.

I was in the paint before Devon split off from his double coverage and came at me. I feathered a pass into the upraised arms of JYD. As everybody converged on him, I kept moving in and he sent the ball back to me for an uncontested, open layup. The ball bounced off the backboard and into the net!

For a third time the spectators cheered wildly, and Kia rushed over and gave me a high five.

“Now that was a power forward move off the give and go,” JYD said. “We're gonna have to try that one again.”

“That makes it five to nothing,” Kia said. “You guys planning on scoring at all this game?”

JYD turned to her and motioned for her to come over. “No trash talk,” he said quietly. “To get respect you have to give respect. Understand?”

“Sorry,” Kia said. She went out to the top of the key as the ball came into play, once again coming to Devon.

He faked and juked and styled with the ball. He was good. It would have been even more
impressive if somebody was covering him. He was out there, way beyond the three-point line, putting on a show.

Ben started yelling for the ball. He was at the top of the key, and Devon bounced in a pass to him. Instantly, JYD was right on his back. Ben started to back in, trying to power through JYD. Ben was big, but JYD was bigger. It was like watching a truck hit a brick wall. JYD stood his ground, finally reaching out and swatting the ball away.

I scrambled after it, but Ethan got there first, bouncing me off to the side, knocking me off my feet. I sprawled forward, my face plowing into the pavement.

“Time!” JYD yelled as he rushed over.

“It was an accident!” Ethan exclaimed.

“Loose ball foul!” Kia screamed.

JYD offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet.

“I'm okay,” I said.

“I didn't mean to knock you over,” Ethan said. “I'm really sorry, man.” He offered me the ball.

I shook my head. “No foul … it's still your ball. We were just both going for the ball,” I said. “It wasn't your fault. You just got there first and got there bigger.”

“You sure you're okay?” he asked.

“I'm fine. I've been hit harder before,” I said, although never by anybody that big.

“Maybe we shouldn't even be doing this,” Ethan said. “I don't want to hurt anybody. These two are just little. Maybe we should call the game.”

“You call it now and we win,” Kia said.

“I just don't want anybody getting hurt,” Ethan said.

“Would it be better if we promise not to hurt you?” Kia asked. “Your ball. Let's get playing.”

Ethan started dribbling. He threw a pass in to Ben, who once again tried to back JYD in. Ben was big—at least compared to Kia and me—but he was no match for JYD. Why didn't he see that?

JYD reached out and swatted the ball away again. Before either Kia or I could react, the ball bounced into Devon's hands. He put up a shot and it dropped for two.

“Nice shot,” JYD said as he recovered the loose ball. He handed it to me. “I'll try to get open, but keep an eye open for Kia.”

I stood up at the top of the court. Nobody came out to cover me. JYD was doubled, and Ethan was halfway between him and Kia.

Suddenly music came spilling across the court. QTMC was standing by the Escalade. The doors
were wide open and he'd turned up the sound system so it was blasting out. It was one of the songs we'd heard yesterday. He bounded toward the crowd, his arms raised in the air, and the people watching all joined in.

It was then that I noticed it wasn't just those dozen or so guys anymore. There had to be three times that many people. There was a couple with a stroller, three guys sitting on their bikes, and what appeared to be a whole team of six- or seven-year-old soccer players, in uniforms, wearing cleats, standing by the fence. It looked like they'd abandoned their practice to watch the game. With the music blaring and everybody waving their hands in the air, it was starting to seem more like a concert than a basketball game.

“Come on, Nick, let's get playing!” Kia called out.

JYD broke toward me and away from the coverage. I tossed in a ball to his open arms. As they closed in on him, he pitched it out to Kia. Ethan rushed toward her, his arms raised to try to block the shot. She put it up, barely getting it over his outstretched fingers. The ball went way up, came down, hit the rim and bounced wildly away. JYD came out of nowhere, grabbed the ball out of the air and threw it down with a thunderous two-handed slam!

The crowd went crazy! People were screaming and yelling and running onto the court, slapping him on the back and just plain jumping around. He accepted a bunch of high fives and then shooed the people back onto the sidelines.

“Sorry about that,” JYD said quietly to Kia and me. “I just couldn't resist.”

“No need to apologize,” Kia replied. “No need to resist. That was … that was … ”

“Amazing,” I said. “Just amazing.”

The people kept on cheering. At that point I realized the crowd was getting bigger by the second. It looked like the whole rec center was emptying out—there was a stream of people coming toward the court. And there were cars … lots of cars … with more coming. The parking lot was filling up. I guessed word had gotten out that JYD was here, and people wanted to see him and find out what was going on. I knew that if I wasn't playing but had heard about it happening, I would have got here pretty fast. I did a quick scan of the crowd—thank goodness I didn't see any of our parents.

Once again Ethan inbounded the ball to Devon. Kia went out after Devon this time while I cheated over toward Ethan. Ben was underneath the basket,
fighting for position against JYD. I watched him battle and lose as, each time he tried to secure his spot, JYD swam around him, arms and legs and body, and overwhelmed him. Ben kept fighting, though. I had to hand it to him. He wasn't giving up. Despite being outsized, outmuscled and out-skilled, he wasn't quitting.

Meanwhile, Devon was putting on a show for Kia, showing her the ball and drawing it back every time she reached out for it. Two things were obvious—he was good with the ball, and Kia didn't have a chance of getting it. He put on a move, breaking her off at the ankles, and drove around her. As JYD came out to cut him off, Devon sent the ball in to Ben. He had an easy lane to the net and laid the ball up and—JYD swooped out of nowhere, swatting the ball away! It went back to Ethan. He turned for the net, measured the shot and then put up a fifteen footer that dropped.

“You got yourself a really nice touch there, Ethan,” JYD said as he came out and gave Ethan a pat on the back.

“Thanks,” Ethan gushed.

JYD turned to Ben. “How old are you, son?”

“I'll be eighteen in September.”

“I'm impressed. I didn't have your size or your footwork when I was your age. Hey, Johnnie!” JYD yelled over to his brother. “These boys can play some ball, can't they?”

“It's like Nick and Kia told you, these boys got game,” Johnnie answered.

We walked out to the top of the key with the ball.

“Why are you being so nice to them?” Kia asked.

“I try to be nice to everybody. Being nice doesn't cost nothing. Besides, they
are
pretty good players.”

“Yeah, but do we have to tell them?” she asked.

“What should we run now?” I asked, before Kia could stick her foot any deeper into her mouth.

“You're the point guard. You call the play.”

“Okay … I … umm … want you to start at the top by me,” I said to JYD. “You break for the net, arms raised, screaming for the ball. I'm going to fake an alley-oop pass to you. Kia, you swing from the left to the right side along the baseline. I'm going to put the ball in to you. Take the shot. If you miss, JYD is there for the board.”

“You got it, chief,” JYD said.

JYD stood right at the top. Ben and Devon were draped all over him.

“Break!” I yelled, and JYD fought through the two players.

“Nick!” he screamed and I faked a pass, drawing all three players to him.

Kia, uncovered and unobserved, spun around, completely open, hands up, waiting for the pass. I sent her the ball. It was slightly off the mark and she had to reach out to get it. Both Devon and Ethan rushed out toward her as Kia put the shot up. It was way long, clearing the net completely and landing right in JYD's outstretched hands. It looked more like a pass than a shot. He could easily put it back down and—he passed it out to me.

“Shoot!” JYD yelled.

I never shot from this far out—maybe this was the time to try.

“Put it up!”

I shot. It hit the rim and bounced away. JYD cleaned up the rebound again, tossing it right back to me. I hesitated for a split second and then put up another shot. This one was long—it hit the backboard and dropped in! The crowd roared out in reaction.

“That makes ten!” Kia yelled. “Ten to four.”

As our opponents walked out to the top of the court to inbound the ball, I walked over to JYD.

“Why didn't you take the put back?” I asked.

“I'm not going to be taking any more shots.”

“None?”

“Remember, it's about respect, not about winning. You two have earned some, now earn some more.”

They brought the ball in and started to pass it around. It went from one player to another to the other and then back again. It seemed like they'd suddenly discovered passing. I guess what they'd really discovered was that JYD could only be in one place at a time. Actually, with his height and reach, he probably could be in two places at once, but he couldn't cover all three of them if they spaced themselves out.

Kia and I raced from player to player, chasing the ball, while JYD stayed in the paint to prevent anybody from driving. The problem was that even if we caught up to the ball, we couldn't get it. They just held it up, high over our heads, at a height that we simply couldn't get. They kept passing the ball, hoping that JYD was going to come out after them. He stayed planted under the hoop, and Kia and I kept chasing.

“Go ahead and take your time!” Kia yelled. “You only get one chance, and if you miss the shot, we own the rebound!”

She was right. We couldn't pressure the shot very much, but if it wasn't in the net, then JYD was going to scoop up the rebound, and there wasn't much they could do about that either.

The ball came out to Devon. He was set just outside the three-point line. He bounced the ball once, took aim and put up a shot. It was a high arching shot that dropped right through the hoop! The crowd cheered—although it wasn't nearly as loud as when we scored.

I took the ball out to the top and checked it with Ethan, who was practically standing on top of me. Ben was on JYD—but was there by himself. Devon was all over Kia. She ran, trying to get free, but he was just too tall and long and fast. That only left one choice. I put the ball in to JYD. He snared the high pass and I broke in. As I broke, I bumped into Ethan. Rather than abandoning me to double down on JYD, he was staying on me! I tried to get free, but it felt like being covered by a blanket. I couldn't get free enough for a return pass.

JYD started dribbling. He was smooth. He looked more like a guard than a power forward as he moved the ball back and forth, eluding Ben's feeble attempts to steal the ball. I knew JYD could
easily beat him and drive for the net. I also knew he wasn't going to do it.