The Desire

Tweet The ball was batted out towards the corner right towards the team bench, in seven seconds they would advance to the playoffs all the ball had to do was go out of bounds...


James woke up suddenly, he quickly hit the sleep button on his alarm something he got quite good at turning it off rapidly over the summer.  He sat up in bed and glanced at the clock display, in bright red letters it read 6:30.  He quickly jumped out knowing that if he lingered any longer he would lose valuable time.  Getting dressed with the clothes he prepared the night before he quietly opened his door and went to the kitchen.  When he opened the fridge he recalled the dream he had, or rather, the nightmare.

Number 17 of the other team runs down the ball, The coach is sure he stepped on the sideline but the refs are having none of it.  Even if they had blown the whistle no one would have heard it over the crowd noise.  17 whipped a pass to the top of the key to his point guard, James is looking at it all from the bench, no one is in position except Tommy who runs out to contest the open 3.  The point guard fakes out the whole gym by making one more pass to the other sideline, a spot occupied by number 3, there is no one within 10 feet of him, the clock reads 2 seconds.


James quickly shrugged it off, he hated thinking about something that had happened over 5 months ago but for some reason even when he avoided thinking about it he would dream about it.  He quickly tried to focus on what had to be done today, the dream only serving as motivation and nothing else.  He slammed the fridge door a bit harder than he would have liked, he wolfed down the meal he made for himself last night, over the summer he learned that these little things like picking out clothes and making a meal in advance would save him a lot of time.  Getting to his door he stepped out "Good" he thought, it had rained, running in cloudy cooler conditions gave him a sense of peace for reasons he did not quite understand, but to him it did not matter.  School was starting up again in twelve days and he was determined to make all of them count.

Number 3 catches the ball in stride and plants his feet.  The look on his face at realizing how much room he had told it all.  For a brief second James hoped he would step inside the 3 point line and tie the game, they deserved overtime at the very least.  They earned the right to make the playoffs with how they played their last 10 games.  Number 3 apparently did not feel the same way,  Launching a 3 in front of the loudest section of their home crowd.  


James took off, he knew the route by heart.




For a moment silence... and then, pandemonium.  Fans rushed the court hugging all the players, the other teams bench erupted and met the fans in the middle of the court, a huge celebration aw the Panthers made their way off the floor.  The shot was definitely on time no doubt about that, Tommy was the first to collapse to the floor the look on his face said it all.  James just stood there, the blank expression on his face hiding how he truly felt.  After being down by 20 in the arena nobody wins in and taking a lead their season was over, they were officially eliminated from the playoffs.  


Up the small hill, down the ravine, around the place he went to middle school.  He had been running for over 30 minutes and felt no exhaustion.  Whether this was because of his memory or his months of training he did not know.  10 minutes later he was back home, he ran inside quickly and grabbed his ball "today 300" he said to himself as he jogged to the local park.  The good thing about getting up so early is that he could be alone on the court and for the last 5 months he was.


Coach O'Brien spent about 2 seconds shaking the other coach's hand and thanking the refs before whisking the team into the change room.  Locking the door he sat down with the rest of the team, opening his mouth as if to say something but then stopping himself.  The noise outside had not yet subsided, this school was known for its intimidation of opponents before and after games.  The cheering from the adjacent locker room did not help much either.


James ran down another errant jumper.  He was at 250 shots and hit a bit of a cold streak.  He found that he lost concentration from time to time but decided to shoot through it rather than stop altogether.  His range had improved greatly since the end of last season.  This year he would not come off the bench for only half of the season.  This year, he was determined to get his school into the playoffs no matter what.

After what seemed like an eternity the noise settled and coach O'Brien could address his squad.  He seemed to struggle for words but finally he said "Guys... today you played like I want you to play next year" he paused before continuing, "We ahh...started off the year way too slow, I consider the fact that we even had a chance at the playoffs a success.".  Nobody was buying it, coach knew how they felt as he looked from player to player his gaze settled on James who was on the verge of tears.  "Make no mistake, I am just as responsible for us missing the playoffs as you are,  I'm going to let you all calm down and find me in my office next week to talk about this, lets bring it in".  The 'Panthers' Chant to break the huddle was not the worst of the year.  The worst was when they were in a 1-7 rut at Christmas.


300.  As James watched the ball find its way through the hoop for his final make he took a deep breath.  He knew he was close to his goals, and the next 12 days would be the hardest.  Across town Tommy was woken up by his dad, something about it being 10:00am.  He got out of bed and thought about the nightmare he just had.  Tommy never dreamed so this was a new sensation for him.  After eating breakfast he and his father drove to a gym they rented for the summer.  His dad threw a bunch of basketballs around the floor and told him "Today lets go for 300 makes".  Tommy knew he was going to be the go-to player for coach O'Brien and he was determined to prove that last season was not a fluke.  "One!" he yelled out as his 18-footer hit nothing but net.