Desire Part IV

Tweet James sprinted over to the man Tommy was guarding and took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his shorts, his heart was racing and he was overwhelmed with emotion but knew he had to settle down quickly.  He stole a glance at the scoreboard (Visitor: 45 Panthers: 32) right before Summer-side in-bounded the ball and knew that a win was unlikely.  James quickly forgot everything he was thinking when his man caught the ball and instinct took over. He let the defender get a step but James quickly shuffled his feet forcing the defender to pick up the ball in the corner, after a few seconds of pressure he reached in and almost swore at himself when he heard the whistle.  The sound of coach O'Brien yelling good job surprised him, he turned to look at the ref who had signaled a traveling violation.  A wave of relief washed over James followed by a smile 'this is easy' he thought to himself.   

"Run flex!" the voice belonged to Jamie who was in the game at the point, this was the only play James knew and ran to the top of the key as Jamie drifted to the left side of the court.  'Flex' was essentially a baseline cut by the shooting guard using a screen set by the power forward on the baseline three point line.  As the cut was made the point guard that drifted to the left would fire a pass to the top of the key and then if the cut was open, the forward at the top would feed the cutter.  This is exactly what happened as James fed a player he only knew as 'Jimmy'.  Catching the ball in stride and converting the lay-up Jimmy turned and pointed at James, a quick way of saying 'nice pass', the score was now 45-34 with about 4 minutes to play in the third quarter. The two teams exchanged baskets for the next two minutes, a streak that was broken by a steal and a fast break lay-up by James to make it 49-40.  After another defensive stop James was fed on a cut to the hoop, took the contact and threw a prayer that somehow went in at the buzzer.  He walked over to the line and sunk the free-throw to cut Summer-side's lead to only 6 with a full quarter to play.  When he jogged over to the bench he was greeted positively by all of his team-mates including Tommy who high-fived him without making eye contact.  "Just keep running the offense and keep it simple guys!" coach O'Brien reminded the team as they went back on the court.  James went over to inbound the ball to the starting point-guard who's name he did not know.  On his way he noticed Summer-side pushing up in an attempt to press, as he walked by Tommy he told him "Run" and took the ball from the ref.  Standing on the sidelines, coach O'Brien cursed at himself for not talking to James about their press-break.  Just as he turned to call in a player who knew what to run the roar of the suddenly loud home crowd turned him back to where the action was.  Tommy, catching a beautiful pass in stride and with one step going up and finishing a lay up while being dragged down by a defender. Coach looked at the ref who nodded his head and enthusiastically signaled for an and-one. Satisfied, coach turned to the baseline where the pass came from and forgot about substituting James "Do that everytime!" coach yelled to him, the first time he smiled in three weeks.  

The Panthers played with incredible energy in the fourth and went up by two points when James faked a pass that threw the entire defense off enabling him to drain an easy 15-footer with a minute and a half left. After a defensive stop James corralled the rebound and dribbled into the front-court, he looked to his right and threw a pass to Tommy who was isolated on the right side against a Summer side defender. Tommy took a hard dribble into the paint and stopped on a dime.  He rose for a jumper that looked good until it hit the back rim and popped out.  Anticipating a miss, James leaped for the rebound before anyone else did, he caught it, and fired a pass back to Tommy who had followed his shot.  The crowd exploded as Tommy laid it in extending the lead to 62-57 with :48 seconds remaining in the game.  The Panthers would take care of business at the free-throw line and were now 2-7. For once, the post-game locker room talk was positive and the team looked rejuvenated.  The older players congratulated Tommy on being the leading scorer, but coach O'Brien knew why they won the game.  As the players exited he made sure to find James before he left and told him "I expect much more from you, I am making you the sixth man, do not disappoint me".  He knew that this should be enough to keep James motivated, he did not seem bothered by Tommy getting most of the credit and this pleased coach O'Brien, he needed players like James.

"Hey who was that #12 player?" the question snapped Tommy out of it "Some new kid, he just got onto the team" Tommy said to his father who was in the drivers seat. "I liked what he did, he is really smart for a player his age" Tommy did his best to hide his irritation, his dad did not even say a word to him about his performance yet, he just kept talking about James as if he did anything special. "Yeah, he was OK I guess" Tommy said trying to get past this subject.  "You are aware that you would not have led all scorers if it wasn't for him right?" "What do you mean?!" Tommy snapped back, he couldn't help it. Mr. Johnson just smiled at his son forgiving him the outburst. "Tommy, you know I've told you a million times that you have not mastered the qualities of a winner yet, and this is another example of it" Tommy sighed, he hated when his dad told him this, he always gave some obscure and ambiguous examples of what a winner was supposed to be but Tommy could care less.  In his mind he was easily the best player on the Jr. team now that Michael was out for the year and felt that his teammates were not stepping up how they should be. "Forget it, the team gave me support today and we were able to win, you think we would have done anything without my 21 points?" Tommy looked over at Mr. Johnson who just smiled and replied: "There was only one thing different about this team from the one that lost the last 6 games" he paused for dramatic effect, and also to allow his son to see what he was getting at.  Although Tommy knew exactly what his dad wanted him to say he refused to give him the satisfaction.

Coach O'Brien popped in the game tape that one of the students he hired had given him at the end of the game.  Being thorough was his motto and he often had two students film all of the Panthers home games in return for a credit in Gym or some cash.  No one ever took the credit.  He went over the game paying careful attention to the games last 14 minutes jotting down notes.  Mike O'Brien hated looking at stats because he knew that they could be misleading, but glancing at James Miller's 9-point (on perfect shooting from the field), 5-assist, 4-rebound, and 2-steal performance (not to mention the other turnovers he caused, 2 forced travels and pressure that enabled a teammate to get the steal) he knew that nothing about these numbers was a lie. He rewound to the key play, James' rebound and pass to Tommy for the lay up and something caught his attention.  Coach O'Brien decided to look at all of James's assists and found that 4 out of the 5 were to Tommy. Coach flipped back to his playbook and took a look at some plays, then he grabbed some of his coaching books, it was time to alter the playbook.

The Desire Part III

Tweet James forgot what it was like to wake up at a normal time, in this case 8:15am on a warm Monday morning.  It was September first and it was the first day of school, he decided to skip his last training day and get some rest so he could kick off his year with a good start.  Last year his family moved in the middle of October and he had to go through being the new kid in school and that was something he chose to stop thinking about at that moment.

"What is this coach?"  It was Tommy, the last person coach O'Brien expected to say anything at this moment, then he remembered what Mr. Lopez told him about James and him having issue with some players on the team.  "Try-outs ended a long time ago" Tommy tried to sound innocent but the look he and James were exchanging told coach all he needed to know.  "Now, Tommy, James moved here after the try-out so I decided to give the boy a chance.  After all," coach continued "Michael's injury has left a spot open anyways".  Most of the team didn't care, the Panthers were 1-7 and had 13 games remaining, if it were up to them they would have given up on the season then and there.  Tommy Johnson however, kept his eyes locked at James, he couldn't believe that HE was going to be his teammate, what hurt him the most was probably the fact that he knew James would nail this try-out.


Tommy picked up his time-table from a box labelled 'J' (for Johnson).  The school thought that assigning time-tables for students who could not chose their electives yet was a good idea, everyone really knew it was the principal's way of separating the troublemakers.  As Tommy walked into his home room class (English) he paused.  James Miller stared back a him from one of the desks. "No way!" Tommy thought, admittedly he hated the guy way less than he did last year but he still despised him.  Now he was going to spend an entire semester with him in homeroom.  Tommy sighed and sat in the furthest possible seat he could, he was soon joined by Jamie Smith, the back-up point guard from last year and quickly forgot about James.  Mr. White, Forest Hill's English teacher glanced at the memo on his desk, read it, and decided not to question the vice-principals motives.  "Mr. Johnson" "Yes sir?" came Tommy's reply. "Please switch seats with miss Adams"  Tommy looked around for Rachel and saw who she sat next to "Sir. why--" "Please Mr. Johnson no questions right now" Mr. White said sternly in a way that Tommy realized it would be useless to argue.  He sat down next to James and didn't say a word for the rest of the period.

The Desire Chapter II

Tweet Coach O'Brien sat in his office and rummaged through some paper work, in addition to his Jr. team coaching duties, he served as the schools administrator for athletics and he knew that a lack of organization now would cause nightmares when school started tomorrow.  In his mid 50s he put on a bit of weight over the years but much to his relief he still did not feel old.  The stress of coaching had caused his face to have some wrinkles, but nothing he couldn't live with.  As long as he felt good he would coach, this was his motto.  Coach O'Brien always left the basketball schedule last because he always spent the most time on it; and on this particular day he was very excited to get to it.  He had a rough idea of how he wanted to set up his team this year and could not wait to get started, even a trivial thing like printing out the season schedule gave him an excuse to plan for the season.  He knew that he would be without a few players, some told him that they were done with basketball while others would join coach Malcolm Floyd on the varsity team.  He knew for sure that he already had eight players who were committed to the junior varsity squad and knew that the team had a chance to be really good this year.  Having done this for a long time he knew when he had something special, and the run that the Panthers made from mid-December through the end of February of last year convinced him he did indeed have something special.  He chuckles a bit to himself when he recalls the day it started coming together.

"Are you allowed to be in here?"  Coach O'Brien yelled out from the other side of the gym as he briskly closed the distance between him and the startled young man he was confronting.  The time was close to 7am and he was not used to being at school this early, but he had received quite a few complaints from the school custodian about the big gym doors not being locked in the morning and had to investigate.  He suspected that whoever was opening the gym doors was a student from the school.  The gym stayed locked on Saturday's and Sundays and at night.  Mike O'Brien knew that the student had to do it very early, before any of the schools staff came in.  As he approached the youth he recognized the school's gym uniform.  "You know you could be suspended for breaking in here" He said calmly looking at the boy.  If the boy was afraid he did not show it.  He brushed sweat from his messy brown hair and placed the basketball that he was holding on the floor. "Sir..." he seemed to struggle for words, unsure if he should say anything but realized he did not have much choice so he continued.  "Actually, I sort of have permission sir, Mr. Lopez gave me a key".  Coach O'Brien almost laughed at the absurdity of what the boy said until he produced a key.  "Follow me" He said, "Mr. Lopez should be here" coach said glancing at his watch.  'why would he give him a key?' was the thought racing through his mind as he led the boy through the school.  The walk to the athletic administrations offices was a long and silent one; when they got to a door that said 'R. Lopez' coach O'Brien knocked and was let in.  "Already in trouble James?" said Mr. Lopez as he sat back down at his desk seemingly oblivious to the tension. "Robert?, you know who this is?" asked Coach, "Of course Mike" came the reply.  "I gave him the key, the kid has too much talent to be punished for moving here a month after tryouts, so I let him use the gym during the winter so he could stay sharp".  Coach O'Brien was having a hard time processing all of this.  He looked from Robert, a former player of his who now taught physical education here to the boy whose calm demeanor showed a maturity beyond his young complexion. "Mike, lets sit down shall we?" said Robert, he had been waiting for this opportunity and did not want to blow it. "You too James" he said beckoning the boy to an empty chair. "You have some serious explaining to do Robert" Coach O'Brien said, the slightest hint of a smile forming on his face.


A knock on his door broke coach O'Brien's train of thought "Its open" he called out lazily his expression went from boredom to surprise when he saw who walked in. "Mr. Johnson" Mike said standing up and shaking the mans hand "what a nice surprise".  Mr. Johnson, a very tall man with dark hair and a serious but friendly complexion smiled back "I just came by to tell you that I will be providing funding for this tournament I hear you may or may not be hosting" "How did you know?" Mike asked bewildered.  He was sure that only he and vice-principal Jeremy Roberts knew about his plan. "Its no secret that you have been asking for sponsorship help coach" Mr. Johnson replied smiling, "and given how you guys played last year I was too happy to provide. "Gary, you should'n.." "I did, its over".  Mike let out a deep sigh.  Gary Johnson was one of the best players in school history as well as one of the best students of his time.  His basketball career did not pan out the way he wanted it to but he was now a very prominent figure in 'Nextex' a pharmaceutical and physiotherapy company.  Mike O'Brien knew that he could not turn down this offer and decided to offer his former player some coffee.  Gary obliged and they began reminiscing some war stories from back in the day.

"Let me get this straight," coach paused before continuing: "James here" said Mike nodding at James who was sitting patiently in his chair "moved to the school in October and was told that he was not allowed to ask to play for us?  You know very well that I have an open practice policy until the 15th allowing late comers to come to practice and try out" Robert nodded politely  "But you felt that he should wait a year? why?" at this James displayed some emotion for the first time, Mike was convinced that the boy was nervous. "He has had ahhh some run-ins with players on the squad coach-- wait!" Robert held up a hand to stop the coach from protesting "He just moved here, he needed to accommodate to his surroundings and I felt that next year would be a better option, that's all".  Coach O'Brien glanced at the kid, then back at Robert. "Is he good, he must be if you have taken such an interest" Upon hearing this James almost fell out of his chair with excitement, he knew that this was the moment he wanted, a chance, and he was about to get it. "Have him practice coach, you will see for yourself, and at this point you guys do have a roster spot open I believe?"  It was true, Michael Gray had back surgery after the third game of the season and was out for another four months.  He was easily the best player on the team and coach O'Brien based the entire offense around him.  Sadly, since his injury, the losses had started piling up as the young and inexperienced team struggled on all fronts, sitting at a 1-7 record, they were the laughing stock of the league. "3:45 I want you in the gym ready to go, I'm giving you one practice to impress me James" "Thank you sir!" James did not even bother hiding the excitement in his voice "You are lucky that I trust Robert's opinion when it comes to these things, now get out of here".  James scampered out of the office, giving a very grateful look to Mr. Lopez as he went back to the gym to grab his things. "How often?" Asked Mike when he closed the door. "Every day since it got cold outside Michael" Robert replied. "The kids passion for the game is incredible" Sitting back down and unbuttoning his suit to get comfortable Mike looked at Robert and said "we need more than incredible to save this season".


Gary Johnson pulled into his driveway.  He stuck around longer than he would have liked but he had not seen coach O'Brien in a while and catching up never bothered him.  Besides, the joy he had for the second half of last seasons run was one that brought him back to his playing days.  Locking his car and stepping into his house he heard noise from the kitchen.  He greeted his wife Brianna and sat down. "You ready for tomorrows try-out?" He asked his son casually.  Tommy glanced up and went back to his food "I'd be on the team even if I didn't show up" he said.

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.  

Why Dallas must win

Tweet Lets examine this year in the NBA as a whole, starting of course with the decision.  Now, everything that needs to be written about the decision has been written, I will not waste your time by re-hashing it, I will simply skip right into the start of the regular season.  I found that with each night in the NBA, there was something compelling to watch, every game had some interesting sub-plot, or performance worth following.  We wanted to see how a team (Miami) with 2 out of the top 5 players (some may even argue 2 of the top 3) along with a top 25 player would co-exist.  We wanted to see if Phil Jackson could go for an impossible-seeming fourth 3-peat.  We wanted to watch young stars breaking out (Kevin Love 30-30 anyone?) Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Brandon Jennings, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Steph Curry, Monta Ellis and a slew of other exciting players were putting up ridiculous numbers, making every night mean something in the league.  It was the first time, in a long time that every team had something going for them (except Cleveland, which is a whole other story).  It was the first season in over 20 years that games such as Knicks-Celtics or Bulls-Knicks mattered again, all the big market teams were going to make the playoffs, and the league never seemed healthier.
By the time the NBA all-star weekend and trade deadline passed, the general thoughts were that the Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Heat, Thunder, or Spurs were on the short list to win the NBA title.  Few disagreed with this view.  These were the best teams on paper, had the most stars (old and new) and were playing championship caliber basketball.  Fast-forward to the start of the playoffs. Miami suddenly looked invincible as teams discovered that Wade and James could destroy them as scorers, passers, or defenders.  The Miami team suddenly looked like the juggernaut that everyone expected them to become, and fans everywhere feared that title 1 of 7 was on the way.
If this were a movie the script would be brilliant, picture it:
                                               

***cue the star-wars introduction***

...It is a period of great despair to NBA fans outside Florida

The Evil heat Empire has conquered the Bulls and is on the cusp of greatness

Emperor Pat Riley sits on his throne counting his NBA rings

while loyal servant coach 'Spo' leads the mighty heat onwards

It seems as if nothing can stop this Miami team However,

In a not-so-distant conference, a scrappy challenger to the Heat throne rises

Dirk Nowitzki, leads a group of unlikely heroes into Florida

Though they know the mission is unlikely, they also know that NBA fans everywhere are counting on them...

                                                              ***end of introduction***

Kinda catchy isn't it?

And on that note we get to the Dallas Mavericks.  They have made a habit this year of shocking everyone. No Caron Butler? No problem.  Too old? That's OK. 
This resulted in the unlikeliest of re-matches: Heat Mavs II.  On one side: Lebron, Wade, Bosh and the 'Heatles'.  Throwing a champiionship celebration before a pre-season game was played, arrogantly proclaiming that they would win 7 titles, and carrying themselves as if someone already crowned them.  On the other side: Dirk Nowitzki and his Mavericks.  Few people remember that Dirk was a free agent last year, lost in the hoopla of the decision was his loyalty to his Mavericks, who (at that time) did not look like getting to the finals.  He understood this.  He knew that if he left, the slim chances Dallas had would be reduced to 0.
So he went to the gym, he worked on his game, and he gave it his all hoping for the best.  Then something happened, and though no one knows how or when it happened, there is no question it did.  Dallas was tough, Dallas played D, and Dallas, most importantly of all: believed.  You can see it in their team huddles, they are united, they play hard, and they never give up.  A group that seems like its going for a 5th title rather than a 1st, they exuberate a quiet confidence which spurs them on.  In the book 'When the Game was Ours' an account of Bird and Magics impact of the NBA, Magic lamented that guys in today's league take things for granted and do not work hard enough.  Reading between the lines, it seems that if players (not just stars but everyone) started to care and busted their asses every day, that the league could return to the glory of the 80's.  There is no better finals match-up to drive that point home.  Hard work, toughness, and the hard path vs. talent, fame, and the easy path.  This is why Dallas must win.  To encourage players to work harder in the future rather than latch on to a winner.  If Dallas wins, there will be proof that if you work hard enough, and believe in your team mates, you can beat anyone.  Best of all, it would be ultimate karmic justice for 06' and for the decision.