Rebound: A 2nd Chance

After the first two minutes of the second quarter Coach Swendel signaled to the referee as he called for a timeout.

Jason and the rest of the guys made their way over to their bench. Jason dropped into his chair as he grabbed a sports bottle out of the container and poured out a bit of ice-cold water on top of his head.

After he was done wiping his face with his towel the first thing he saw was Coach Swendel looking at him worriedly.

"You okay Jaya? Maybe we should change up the offense. No one expected Rudy to come out as an elite defender this game."

Jason shook his head before looking up to Coach Swendel with a slight grin "We should keep going like this."

He then took a look at the scoreboard before continuing "We're up 24 to 20. That might sound like we cutting it a little close but we're actually in a pretty good spot.

I don't know how Rudy managed to improve so much on defense. But one thing that I know for sure is that I have more left in the tank than him.

This entire year he's been cruising on defense, this is the first game where he's playing this hard on D. I don't think he's used to carrying so much weight.

The more energy he spends on Defense the harder things will get for him on the offensive side of the ball.

Sooner or later he'll start slipping on both ends. Me on the other hand? I've been playing with a hundred percent ever since I first joined the team.

The only time I'm resting is when I'm on the bench. So I'm confident that we'll be able to outrun High Bridge."

Coach Swendel rubbed the side of his face with his right hand as he thought about what Jason had said.

"Alright Jaya, we'll keep going like this. But if you start looking gassed we'll change the focus of our offense alright?

The team we have this year is completely different than last year's. We have the talent to carry the offense without being completely dependent on you."

Jason took a few gulps of water from his bottle before responding "We need to keep things like this. I want to get Rudy as tired as possible as fast as possible."

Coach Swendel nodded his head as he turned around and began directing the rest of the players. He told them to keep playing as they have been and to just stay patient.

- - -

On the other side of the court, Rudy sat on the bench with the rest of his teammates. He was gulping down the contents of his bottle.

His shoulders were moving up and down as his breathing was visibly rough. Honcho walked over and took a seat next to him.

"Yo you good Rudy? It's dope that we can finally show off how much you improved on defense but do you think now was the right game to do it?

You ain't just guarding some nobody, this Jaya we talking about. Ain't no way that dude is a easy assignment. You might be gassed by halftime."

Rudy smiled wide "The whole reason why I spent so much time working on my defense this year was just for this game.

Ima show Jaya that he ain't the only dude that can do it all. This year we'll beat them at full power, ain't nobody putting an asterisk next to this."

Rudy then became silent as he got lost in his own thoughts 'This time I'll finally get the one up on Jaya. Those reporters and writers won't have shit to say after tonight.'

Even though on record Rudy and his team have the edge over Jason and his team that wasn't enough for Rudy.

Last year's win was the worst for Rudy. It felt empty to him because of Kyle not being able to play and Jason having to leave mid-game because of an injury.

And the reporters and article writers never let him forget it as he would constantly see them talking about how Jefferson would have beaten them had it not been for injuries.

Not only that, but before Jason Rudy was considered the best isolation scorer in California. But after his run in the state tournament, everyone was comparing Rudy to him.

And the biggest criticism that he saw was that unlike him Jason was an elite two-way player. He was the focal point of his team's offense while also anchoring them down on the defensive end.

Rudy didn't hold anything against Jason personally. He understood that all he was doing was playing the game the way he knew how to.

But that didn't mean that he didn't feel anything from it. His negative feelings manifested themselves in the form of self-doubt and an inferiority complex.

He tried his best to hide it during the Nike training camp in New York, but he felt a constant need to compete against Jason and show him that he was the real MC.

For him tonight was a chance to finally prove it to everyone as well as to himself 'Anything Jaya can do I can do. You might be my rival but I'm the real MC here Jaya.'

He then stared across the court making eye contact with Jason 'Tonight you're going down bro.'

- - -

The next two minutes of the second quarter were filled with intense defensive possessions as both Jefferson and High Bridge fully exerted themselves on that side of the ball.

Not only was Jason helping to neutralize the effectiveness of Rudy whenever he had the ball in his hands, Kyle seemed to be fully locked in as he carried out his role of rim protector to perfection.

During the pick and roll plays Jason would direct Kyle on when to switch, when to drop, and when to stick with his man.

But after that everything else was to the credit of his own timing, intuition, and athleticism. It wasn't even halftime yet and Kyle had already accumulated four blocks as well as changed the course of a few shots with his contests.

On the flipside, Jefferson continued to run their offense with Jason as the main point of attack. Although the amount of points scored and their field goal percentage would suggest that this was suboptimal at best they continued at the suggestion of Jason.

And finally, as the last minute of the second quarter began Jason brought the ball up the court, a slight grin on Jason's face as he stared down Rudy.

'Hehe, looks like my plan is finally starting to pay off. I had to play for a bit longer than usual but I think the results should be worth it.'

Jason slowly crossed the ball over right to left, left to right, and as he did so he neared Rudy who was standing in a low athletic stand on top of the three-point line.

All of a sudden Jason accelerated, looking as though he were about to drive left. Seeing this Rudy moved a step in that direction.

Unfortunately for him, that would mean that Jason had emerged victorious in their quick battle, his in and out dribble showing its effectiveness.

With the small amount of space that he had created Jason managed to gain enough of an advantage to drive past Rudy toward the right.

Rudy was now running at a full sprint as he chased down Jason. After a few steps, Jason suddenly dribbled the ball behind his back from his right hand to his left.

With his knees bent low to absorb the impact Jason came to a dead stop. Everyone watching processed the moment in real-time, their hands already in motion to begin clapping in celebration.

But Rudy would only come to understand what had happened after his hands came to touch the floor. Jason touched the ball with both hands as he picked up his dribble.

He stared down Rudy as the two of them made eye contact for a split second. Jason stood there clearly about to get into his shooting motion, while Rudy was hunched over with his hands touching the ground.

With a flick of his wrist the ball went flying into the air towards the basket. Rudy stood up straight and turned his head at just the right time to see the ball swish through the net.

For the first time in the night the crowd was going crazy as this. They all jumped to their feet screaming in celebration.

The cheers were deafening as a huge smile spread across Jason's face 'Yo I'm sorry If I'm smiling too much right now Rudy. But the fruit just taste so damn good when the work was that damn hard.'