Fast Break (11 page)

“Me neither.”

There was an awkward pause, Jayson sure that Zoe felt it as much as he did.

“Well,” Mrs. Montgomery said to Zoe finally, “I'll wait until later to show you the cute things I bought you.”

Jayson said, “I should call Mrs. Lawton and tell her it's time to come get me.”

“You didn't even eat any cookies,” Zoe said, looking upset again.

“It's okay. I just remembered that Mrs. Lawton is cooking a big dinner tonight.”

“I'll probably be upstairs when Carol comes,” Mrs. Montgomery said. “Please tell her I said hi. And Jayson,” she added with a fake smile, “it was a
pleasure
to meet you.”

She gathered up the two shopping bags and left the room.

Jayson whipped out his phone to call Mrs. Lawton.

Wishing he could run away from Zoe's house and back to the other side of town, where he belonged.

THE SECOND HOME GAME FOR
Belmont took place the following Saturday. But it wasn't just any home game, at least not for Jayson. It almost felt more like an away game.

This one was Belmont against Moreland East.

New school vs. old school. New team vs. old team.

New life vs. his old one.

He'd been thinking about it for weeks, having dreams about matching up against Tyrese, Shabazz, and the rest of his boys, but it was no longer just a thought in his mind anymore. It was real life, and game day had come.

His old team was now just another team he had to beat, the best team in the league, even without him at point guard.

It didn't mean Belmont wasn't good enough to beat the Mavericks. It didn't mean that by the end of the year, Belmont wouldn't be the best team in the league. But that was a long way off, and if they were going to reach that point, they would need to improve a lot throughout the season.

He wasn't sure in his heart—looking at the matchups, the
only player who really knew the skills and weaknesses of both teams—how they could beat the Mavericks
today
.

He and Tyrese had been talking about the game all week. Constantly texting and emailing each other. Chirping every chance they got. Each of them telling the other how the game was going to play out. Each of them saying that the other's team had
no
chance against his.

Most of the bragging was coming from Tyrese.

“Tell you what,” Tyrese said on the telephone the night before. “You're gonna be so happy to see me and Shabazz that it won't hurt so bad when we put a whuppin' on you tomorrow.”

“We'll see about that,” Jayson had said. “I hear you're down a pretty big piece this season at point guard.”

“Should send you the stat sheets, dude. Lil' Duane has been ripping it up the first couple of games.”

Duane Wright had taken over Jayson's spot playing the point for Coach Rankin and the Mavericks.

“Kid is
niiiiiiiiice
,” Tyrese had said. “Can hardly even tell that you're not around anymore.”

“Then I guess I'll need to remind you tomorrow what it's like when I
am
around.”

“Looking forward to it. And Snap, don't worry. We'll be nice to you when it's over and only one of us is still unbeaten.”

“We'll see.”

Jayson had tried to watch the Clippers–Warriors game on TV after he hung up, Chris Paul and Steph Curry getting after each other. But he couldn't pay attention to the game.
All he kept thinking about was his game against his old team.

As weird as it was going to feel, as much as he'd been trying to imagine what it was going to be like seeing them warming up at the other end of the court, then going toe-to-toe against Tyrese and Shabazz, one thing still mattered to him above all else: winning. He still hated losing as much as ever.

And this time, it was personal.

He thought about what Zoe had said about her championship game, what had pushed her most, and decided he didn't want to see the smug look on Tyrese's face if Moreland East won.

Jayson made sure Mrs. Lawton drove him to the gym early. He wanted to be there before Tyrese and the rest of the Mavericks showed up, wanted to be on the court when they came through the door. He still didn't feel as if the Belmont court was really his. But he wanted to make his old teammates think he did.

The game was set to start at one. Tyrese came strutting through the door at 12:15. Jayson used to tell Tyrese that he could strut sitting down. There was a big smile on his face, his eyes immediately searching for Jayson, spotting him at the opposite end of the court.

Shabazz walked in behind Tyrese, and said something to him as he pointed toward Jayson, who was shooting around with the rest of the Bobcats.

Get this over with,
Jayson told himself.

He knew he was happy to see them, especially Ty, whom he hadn't seen since he ran away from the Lawtons to the Pines. But this wasn't a reunion. It was a competition both teams wanted to win. Badly.

“Those your boys?” Bryan Campbell asked.

“Not today,” Jayson said as he tossed Bryan the ball, then jogged toward the visitors' bench. Like he was acting as the welcoming committee at Belmont.

Tyrese grabbed Jayson's hand and pulled him in for a chest bump. “This place is so fancy I thought I might have to wipe my shoes off before they touched the court.”

“You mean before we wipe the floor with you?” Jayson said, grinning at him.

“Keep dreamin', son,” Ty said.

Jason greeted the rest of the guys on his old team.

“Dude,” Shabazz said, “it'll be weird playing
against
you today. But I know you're gonna bring it.”

“Won't be the first time,” Jayson replied. “It'll be like we're playing on different teams at the Jeff. And you know I've
brought
it in those games.”

Shabazz smiled, clearly thinking about the time that Jayson had gotten in his face in a heated matchup.

Jayson nodded at Duane Wright, the starting point guard who'd taken his place, the guy he'd be guarding today.

Then Coach Rankin came over and gave Jayson a hug. “How's it going, kid?”

“It's taken some getting used to. Been a little weird,” he said. “Gonna be even weirder playing against you.”

Coach said, “Gonna be weird for us, too. We still feel like you're one of us.”

“Not today, Coach.”

Jayson turned away then, knowing his teammates on the Bobcats were all watching him, not wanting to linger too long. He walked back toward his new team.

When he was back with the rest of the Bobcats, Cameron Speeth came over and put out a fist and Jayson lightly touched it with his own.

“You must be feeling like a guy who got traded, playing against his old team for the first time,” Cameron said.

“Something like that.”

“I just want you to know we got your back today. You don't have to do it all yourself.”

Jayson nodded. “Gonna need all the help I can get.”

“We have as good a shot as they do,” Cameron said. “And no matter how happy they look, I'm sure they're wishing you were standing on their side of the court.”

Jayson looked over at his old team once more, and noticed Tyrese and Shabazz were staring at him.

When the Bobcats were in the huddle, right before the game was going to start, Coach Rooney said, “You boys know why I love this game?”

He didn't wait for any of them to respond.

“Because it's all about matchups. The team with the most
heart, the team that wants it the most, is the team that comes out on top.” He looked around, taking them all in. “So I have a question for you: How badly do you want it?”

Jayson wanted it more than any player in the gym.

His teammates looked like they wanted it, too. Wanted to show they could run with the big dogs.

“You know where we are?” Bryan said. “Our house.”

“Our house,” Brandon Carr said, and then they were all jumping up and down and yelling,
“Our house! Our house!”

As they walked out onto the court, Jayson looked up into the stands to where Mr. and Mrs. Lawton were sitting. They were both looking right at him. He put up his hand in a quick wave. Mrs. Lawton smiled and waved back.

Then Tyrese, Shabazz, and the rest of the Mavericks walked out too, smiles gone, no longer talking trash.

Looking like
they
wanted it, too.

JAYSON KEPT TELLING HIMSELF HE
was back at the Jeff, playing against Tyrese and Shabazz like he had plenty of times in pickup games. He'd always gone at them hard, because if your team won, you got to stay on the court.

This was his court now, whether he'd chosen it or not.

The Mavericks came out hot, mostly because of Tyrese. Jayson had told Marty Samuels where Tyrese liked to shoot from, and warned him that the Mavericks would set screens for Tyrese all over the court. But warnings weren't enough to make that matchup even. Jayson could see after the first couple of minutes that Marty didn't have the quickness to keep up with Tyrese. If Jayson had been coaching, he would have subbed in Bryan first chance he got. But he wasn't coaching. And that wasn't Coach Rooney's style, to give somebody a quick hook that way. He liked to show confidence in his players. So Ty just went off in the first quarter, making four of his team's first five baskets, all from the outside, loving every minute of it.

There was a small group of parents behind the Moreland
East bench, including Tyrese's mom, but Jayson knew Tyrese wasn't focused on her or anyone else in the crowd. He was focused on one person in the gym: Jayson.

“You guys can't guard me,” he said to Jayson after his last outside shot, the longest one yet.

Tyrese wasn't the only problem for the Bobcats. On defense, Shabazz was chasing Cameron all over the court, denying him the ball, blowing up screens, even blocking one of Cameron's shots about ten rows up into the seats. Shutting him down.

It was 14–2, Moreland East, when Coach Rooney finally called a time-out and subbed in Bryan for Marty, who looked gassed already from trying to keep up with Tyrese Rice.

“Everybody take some deep breaths,” Coach said. “They're making their shots, we're missing ours. And guess what? If they keep making shots like this, we're gonna lose. But they're not going to. We're going to get stops on D and make our plays on offense. Move the ball around and play our game. Sound like a plan?”

They nodded.

Coach focused in on Jayson. “Don't force anything. Create space and find your opportunities.”

“One basket at a time,” Jayson said.

“That's what I'm talking about.”

So far, it looked like the Mavericks didn't miss Jayson at all. Duane Wright, their point guard, wasn't outplaying Jayson—that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Jayson wasn't outplaying
him
. Jayson left the huddle, telling himself
that was about to change, that he was ready to show his boys on his old team just what they were missing.

“I
told
you how it was gonna go,” Tyrese said, just loud enough for Jayson to hear. “Been telling you all week. You should've listened.”

Jayson started walking away from him.

“What,” Tyrese said, trying to walk alongside Jayson, “you don't want to talk to me?”

Jayson turned and said, “Got a game to win.”

First play out of the time-out, Jayson got into the lane, drew Tyrese toward him, sold the idea that he was going to shoot it himself, but kicked it to Bryan at the last second. Bryan made his first basket of the game, a wide-open fifteen footer.

One basket at a time.

At the other end of the court, Jayson snuck in on Tyrese's blind side just as Tyrese was settling in to shoot at his sweet spot, stole the ball from him, and took it himself, beating everybody down the court for a layup.

Jayson hustled back to the other end of the court, starting to get back into rhythm. And so were the rest of the Bobcats. With Phil's hand in his face, Ray Bretton missed. Cameron boxed out Shabazz for the rebound, passed it off to Jayson, who threw a football pass right back to Cameron, who was already under the basket, running his butt off, Shabazz trailing behind. Just like that, the lead was cut to 14–8.

With Bryan playing well against Tyrese and Cameron
holding his own now against Shabazz, looking more confident, the Bobcats came all the way back to tie the game by the end of the first half.

Second half coming. New game starting.

• • •

The game was still tied at the end of the third quarter. Jayson had been working Duane Wright and was clearly the stronger player of the two, finding his teammates on any open looks he could. There hadn't been many, but the Mavericks hadn't had many themselves, both teams D'ing up like they were playing in the county finals.

“We got this,” Coach Rooney said to them in the huddle before the start of the fourth. “As well as we've played since we got behind early, I still don't believe we've played our best basketball. We've got the momentum now. So let's do this, boys. Let's forget about how this game started and finish off strong.”

Jayson always felt as if Coach was speaking directly to him, as if he trusted Jayson to take the game in his hands and make something happen.

As they walked back out on the court, he could see Tyrese, still smiling, heading straight for him while the refs toweled off a wet spot on the court.

Tyrese hadn't been talking as much smack in the second half, considering how the game had been going. Jayson understood, because he'd seen it before, plenty of times. For all the
strut and smiling and talk, Ty wanted this game as much as Jayson did.

“We let you stay in the game for a while there,” Ty said, “but now it's time for the big boys to take over.”

“We'll see,” Jayson said.

“Just hope you don't wish that you were back with the Mavs when it's all said and done.”

It was 35–35 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Brandon and Cameron were both in the game, Coach having decided to play his two bigs because he liked the matchups better. It turned out to be a good decision. Jayson knocked away Duane's first pass of the quarter, beat everybody to the ball, and threw it to a streaking Brandon Carr for a layup.

But Marty Samuels was back in the game and back on Tyrese, as bad an idea now as it had been at the start. Coach wanted to keep showing confidence in Marty, but unfortunately, that confidence didn't seem to be helping him very much.

Tyrese made three straight shots, beating Marty off the dribble twice for a couple layups. Mavericks by four.

Jayson came right back, dribbled up the court, crossed up Duane, and answered Tyrese with a rare three-pointer, Duane giving him way too much space, Jayson deciding to make him pay.

Mavericks by one.

The Bobcats and Mavericks kept on trading baskets into the last four minutes. After Tyrese scored his fifth straight basket for the Bobcats, Coach swapped Bryan for Marty again.

When he was back in the game, Bryan came over and said to Jayson, “I can shut this guy down.”

Meaning Tyrese.

“Don't tell me,” Jayson said. “Show me.”

Bryan
did
show him. Tyrese drove to the hoop on the next play, thinking he was cruising for a score, no problem. But there was Bryan Campbell elevating as Jayson had never seen him to block the shot into the seats.

The game was tied with three minutes left. Coach Rankin called a time-out. When the Mavericks walked back onto the court, Tyrese came over to guard Jayson, Duane Wright on Bryan.

“Okay, Snap,” Tyrese said to Jayson, not smiling now. “Let's do this.”

Jayson said nothing. Just walked away.

He came down, dribbling too much, not even calling a play, wanting to make a statement to Tyrese right here and right now. But Tyrese stayed with him. Jayson finally started a drive, stopped himself ten feet from the basket even though he was going full speed, pump-faked to get Ty in the air, and made a jumper over him. Bobcats by two.

He wanted in the worst way to cover Tyrese, but that wasn't his call, so Bryan was still on him. Not looking to get blocked again, Tyrese came down the court, keeping his distance from Bryan, who failed to get a hand in his face, and Ty made a fadeaway jumper to tie the game once again.

Jayson forced a shot, trying to show Ty up. Then Ty fed Shabazz for a finger roll.

Mavericks by two.

Next possession for the 'Cats, Jayson had a really good look at Cameron, who'd lost Shabazz on a switch, but he decided to drive himself, and ended up putting the ball up too hard and too high over Tyrese, who got the rebound. Tyrese threw a perfect long pass to Shabazz, who'd run down to the other side of the court as soon as Tyrese had snagged the board.

Minute and a half left, Mavericks up by four.

Ty stayed on Jayson, but Brandon Carr set a hard, legal screen on him, then rolled off, cutting to the hoop, waving for the ball. But at the last second, Jayson saw a wide-open Bryan standing behind the arc, and Duane coming out to double Jayson. Jayson passed it off to Bryan, who nailed the three to cut the lead down to a point.

For the first time, Jayson realized how loud Belmont's gym had become.

The Mavericks came down and cleared out so that Shabazz could go one-on-one against Cameron. Jayson knew exactly what Shabazz was going to do: He was going to back him down if he could, use his size to post up, turn around, and take a hook from a foot away. Cameron was long, no doubt, but Shabazz was just a little bit longer.

At just the right moment, Jayson ran right at him, thinking if he couldn't get the ball he could at least rush him. But he was a step late. Shabazz had just enough of an angle to bank his shot home, and the Mavericks' lead was back to three.

Thirty seconds left.

Jayson didn't waste any time, came right at Tyrese, managed to get a step on him, and got fouled. He made both free throws, the ball rolling around the rim twice on the second one before deciding to drop through the net. The Belmont fans turned up the volume.

Mavericks 51, Bobcats 50.

Coach didn't call time, just told them to foul. Rashard fouled Ray Bretton as soon as he touched the ball, and Jayson knew Duane had made a mistake by even throwing Ray the ball. Ray was one of the worst free-throw shooters on Moreland East, especially late in games.

One-and-one. If he made the first, he would shoot a second. If he missed, the ball was up for grabs.

Ray missed, Cameron came down with the ball. Now Coach called time-out.

Twenty-two seconds showing on the clock.

The Bobcats could run down the clock and take the last shot if they wanted, but if they missed, the game was over. Their best chance was a quick score, then one stop on defense would win the game for them.

“Get set as quickly as you can,” Coach said to Jayson. “Cameron, don't waste any time, come right up and set a screen. Then we take the first good shot we get.”

He smiled. He always told them that moments like this were the ones you played for in sports.

“Run the new play,” Coach said to Jayson.

“Got it,” Jayson said.

Then Coach put his hand out. They put theirs on top of his. In a quiet voice, Coach said, “Our house.”

“Long way from the Jeff,” Tyrese said when he checked up on Jayson.

“Court doesn't matter,” Jayson said.

“Got that right. Gonna take more than some fancy court and fancy new sneakers to beat us, Snap.”

As he walked back out onto the court, Jayson looked up into the crowd to where the Lawtons were standing, along with the rest of the Belmont fans. Zoe and her friends were a couple of rows in front.

The ref came over and handed Bryan the ball. He inbounded to Jayson, who dribbled toward the top of the key, angling to his left, as Cameron ran up from the low block to set the pick that Coach Rooney called their “key to the ignition,” the pick that started things in motion.

But then Brandon came running up behind Cameron, the new play that Coach had been talking about, setting a back screen for Cameron as Cameron was putting a body on Tyrese.

It all seemed to happen at once: Cameron rolling toward the basket, Shabazz running into Brandon, Shabazz falling a step behind Cameron as the Bobcats' big man made his move to the basket.

But Jayson was open, too, Tyrese having gotten lost in all the traffic of the double screen.

Ten seconds left.

Time to make his move.

Cameron had his long left arm in the air, waving for the ball, his eyes wide, looking right at Jayson.

But in that moment, Jayson felt like it was him against Moreland East. He was going to show them exactly what they were missing.

He found a clear path to the basket, pictured in his mind the layup that was going to win the game for the Bobcats.

And never saw Shabazz coming from his left.

The ball had barely left his hands when Shabazz not only blocked it, but blocked it straight at Tyrese, who caught the ball and dribbled toward the Mavericks' basket.

Jayson chased after Tyrese, hoping he might have a chance to foul before time expired. But Ty cut away from the basket—
somebody
making the right decision in these last few seconds—and there was nothing Jayson could do but watch as time ran out and the Mavericks won the game.

While Tyrese and the Mavericks celebrated, Jayson turned and saw Cameron standing next to him.

“Not that it mattered to you,” Cameron said. “But I was open.”