Jump Shot (13 page)

Sugar was silent in the locker room, but everyone else was excited, even if they were exhausted by the effort they'd just given. They all high-fived Sugar, and
one another, knowing that they'd lifted their game to a higher level as a team.

But Ronde—and Sugar—knew that was not going to be enough by itself to beat the Panthers today. Their opponents were bigger, stronger, and overall, faster, not to mention deeper.

If the Eagles were going to beat them, it would have to be on the strength of their desire. They would have to have the hearts and souls of hardcourt warriors.

Ronde wished that Tiki were there in the locker room with them. With both of them revving up the team, he knew these Eagles would find the inner strength to win.

But on his own, tired as he was, he was afraid that he just couldn't manage it. He was still breathing too hard to talk, and his heart was pounding so loudly he was sure everyone could hear it.

By the time he'd recovered enough to consider saying something to psych up the rest of the team, it was too late. Coach was already ushering them back into the gym, where the bleachers full of screaming Eagle fans were yelling so loudly Ronde couldn't even hear himself think!

Coach Jackson pointed to him, indicating that Ronde was going to start the half at shooting guard. He high-fived Rory, who was still panting heavily, and went out to join Sugar and the rest of the team.

This time, as before, the tip-off went to the Panthers.
But this time, they were clearly trying a different tactic. Instead of rushing the ball upcourt, they went slow and steady, with the point guard dribbling in place for several seconds, surveying the battlefield as his teammates made their moves. Finally, he found the center free for a long pass and a quick layup.

On defense, the Panthers kept up their fierce pressure. Sugar was able to avoid it the first few times, but now the defenders were anticipating him passing off. They faked double-teams, only to back off when Sugar had stopped dribbling.

Suddenly, it was hard for the rest of the Eagles to get free. Sugar wound up taking a flat-footed shot that clanged off the rim, short.

Over the next few minutes, the lead seesawed back and forth. All the Eagles' points were on awkward shots by Sugar, who, despite not being able to shoot in rhythm, was managing to sink half his attempts.

The rest of the Eagles were exhausting themselves on defense, trying to keep up with the many passes the Panthers were making, spreading the defense thin and tiring them out.

Soon, the Eagles were getting themselves into serious foul trouble. Bobby Dominic had to sit down, and so did Ronde.

Then, Coach J. gave Sugar a rest too. It was like a smoke signal to the Panthers, who proceeded to reignite
their running game. Without Sugar and Ronde on the court, the Eagles soon found themselves behind by five, and fading fast.

Sugar wanted to get back into the game as much as Ronde did. But he was so out of breath he couldn't even manage to ask the coach to put him back out there.

Ronde began to have a terrible, sinking feeling. After all the progress they'd made, were these Eagles about to lose this final, most important game of the year?

By the time Sugar got back in there, they might be too far behind to catch up!

Ronde bit his lip, worried. If only something could flip that energy switch back on—the energy that had lit up the Eagles at the start of the game. . . .

That's when Ronde saw the doors at the far end of the gym open and two new spectators enter the room.

Ronde stood up and waved excitedly. “Tiki!” he yelled. In spite of the noise in the gym, Tiki spotted his twin and waved back, grinning broadly before finding a seat in the bleachers.

That's when Ronde noticed who the other new arrival was—
Sugar's mom
.

Ronde turned to look at Sugar, and was surprised to see a tear trickling down his cheek. Sugar hurriedly wiped it away, hoping no one had seen it—but when his mom waved to him, smiling hopefully, Sugar waved back.

That made Ronde smile inside. As important as it was for him to see Tiki walking in, what must it have meant to Sugar to have his mom show up, after all they'd been through?

Coach Jackson tapped Ronde on the shoulder. “You're back in,” he said. “Sugar, you ready too?”

Sugar's eyes were on fire. “You bet!” he said. “Come on, Barber, let's show these clowns who's boss!”

They high-fived each other as they jogged back onto the court. The score was 45–40, Jefferson, with eight minutes left to play.

Plenty of time,
Ronde told himself, suddenly confident deep inside. He had a feeling this was going to be ten minutes of action he would never forget.

No sooner did play resume than Sugar went on a tear, streaking down the court with the ball, putting on impossible moves, sinking shots, making no-look passes, stealing balls, rebounding, and generally taking over the game.

In all of that, though, he never forgot that there were four other Eagles on the floor. In the scoring blitz that followed, every one of them had at least four points.

The Panthers were in chaos at first, but once their lead had disappeared, they seemed to find a way to stay even with the Eagles. Ronde could see that this one was going to come down to the wire—but he never doubted that the Eagles would end up on top.

Behind by only a few points, the Panthers struggled furiously to win the game. They couldn't stop Sugar, so they began to foul him, hard. He cried out in pain a couple times—but he sank every one of his free throws.

When the Panthers saw that their strategy was backfiring, they came at the other Eagles instead. They would foul Ronde or one of the others in a one-and-one situation. If the first free throw was missed, there was no second shot, so the Panthers would get the ball back, and could catch up.

But this strategy didn't work either. No matter how inaccurate their normal shooting touch was, on this occasion—at this critical moment—
every
member of the Eagles sank
every
free throw he took. One . . . and one . . . and
another
 . . . and
another
 . . .

With only two minutes left in the game, the Panthers' point guard hit a three-pointer to bring Jefferson within one big shot of tying the game. Now they stopped fouling, just playing tight defense instead—not overreacting to Sugar's moves, but not letting him penetrate to the basket either.

Sugar made a perfectly good pass to Larry Budnick, but one of the Panthers saw it coming, made the steal, and raced the other way. Ahead of everyone, he could have pulled up and tried for a game-tying three-pointer. But he went for the easy layup instead, figuring a sure two points was better. There was still enough time for
another possession—if the Panthers could get a stop.

It had all come down to this last minute, Ronde thought. Could the Eagles stave off the Panthers' furious comeback?

Sugar went slowly, walking the ball down the court, letting the precious seconds tick down. He must have known the Panthers would panic and come after him sooner or later. And they did.

With only twenty seconds on the clock, he faked a drive, then dished off to Ronde at the point.

Afterward, Ronde was never sure whether or not he actually heard Sugar yell “SHOOT!” But whether the voice was in his head or for real, Ronde didn't think twice. He heard “SHOOT!” and he
shot
.

SWISH!

The roar of the crowd as they leaped to their feet echoed off the gym walls as Ronde threw his hands over his head in triumph.

But the ref quickly signaled that it was only a two-pointer, because Ronde's foot had been on the line.

“Dang!” Ronde moaned. That meant the Panthers would have one more shot at it, with fifteen seconds to play after their time-out.

Coach J. huddled the Eagles together. “We've really played like a team today,” he told them. “And we're gonna win this game if we keep it up for fifteen more seconds! Now get out there and WIN!!!”

Ronde had never heard or seen the coach sound so excited. He'd never really stopped to consider what this all must mean to Coach J. But it felt good to know that he and Tiki had been a part of changing this team for the better.

The Eagles went back out there. One more defensive stop, and they would go down in the record books as a winning team.

The Panthers inbounded, and their point guard, pressured by Sugar, passed it to Ronde's man.

There were only ten seconds left as Ronde tracked his man's dribble. He knew the kid had to be nervous—so he faked a sudden grab at the ball.

Sure enough, it threw the kid off, just enough to lose control of his dribble slightly. By the time he'd recovered, Sugar was there too, on the double-team. The panicked Jefferson player threw it up for grabs, hoping that one of his teammates would come up with it. . . .

But it was Bobby D. who held the ball when the buzzer sounded! Eagles 82, Panthers 80!

The crowd erupted, flowing out of the bleachers like lava. The whole place was shaking from their feet pounding on the floor.

Tiki ran up to Ronde and hugged him, both of them jumping up and down.

For Ronde, at that moment, life was every bit as beautiful as when the twins had won the state
championship in football. Even though this was only a game that brought the team above .500 for the season, and these Eagles would not be going to the play-offs, it didn't matter. What mattered was that they'd done what they came to do—they'd helped straighten out a team that was a mess before they got there, and turn it into a winner.

Next year, with Sugar in ninth grade, and all the rest of its starters returning, these Eagles would surely contend for a play-off spot, maybe even the league championship.

Ronde wanted to tell Tiki how much it meant to him to look up and see him there in the stands. Tiki had arrived at the key moment, and him being there had given Ronde the strength to overcome his exhaustion, both mental and physical.

He wanted to tell Tiki that, but he didn't. It was hard to say things like that, even to your twin brother. Besides, it was noisy as all get-out in that gym.

So Ronde simply said, “How'd you get here?”

“Ralphie covered for me,” Tiki said with a big grin.

“His aunt took care of his mom?”

“Even better!” said Tiki. “His mom's doing much better.”

“Really? That's fantastic!”

“Yeah, the money she got from Mr. Landzberg helped her get a new kind of treatment. She said Ralphie could go back to work full-time from now on!”

“Wow!” Ronde was blown away. There must have been a whole lot of money in those envelopes he and Tiki had delivered.
Another important mission,
he thought.

Mr. Landzberg and the people who worked for him were like another kind of family, really. Just like this basketball team was a kind of family.

But Ronde knew there was no kind of family as precious as your
real
family. He looked over to the far side of the gym, and saw Sugar and his mom hugging each other. It felt really good to Ronde to know he'd been part of that, as well.

“Come on, Tiki,” he said. “Let's get out of here. I want to take you over to Kessler's and get you your favorite ice-cream sundae—on me!”

“What?”
Tiki said, pretending to faint. “
You
, pay for
me
? Excuse me, would you give me a pinch on the arm. I must be dreaming!”

“Come on, man, cut me some slack. I've been saving every penny for Mom,” Ronde said.

“Oh! I almost forgot to tell you!” Tiki gasped. “Mom got a raise—and a bonus, too!”

“She
did
?”

“Yeah—I saw her after school on my way to Landzberg's, and she was all excited. She said we didn't need to hand over our paychecks anymore!”

“Cool!” Ronde said. “In that case, I'll buy you
two
ice-cream sundaes!”

“You know what I was thinking, though?” Tiki said as they exited the building and headed down the street toward Kessler's Ice Cream Parlor. “Baseball tryouts are next week. And they've got
lots
of openings. . . .”

“You mean . . . ?”

“What do you think? I think we'd look good out on the field together.”

“Word!” Ronde agreed. “But I'm playing center field.”

“No way. You play left or right. I'm a better outfielder than you.”

“Get out! I'm faster than you!”

“But I get a better jump on the ball.”

“I've got softer hands.”

“I'm a better hitter. . . .”

And so it went on as they entered Kessler's, ordered, and wolfed down their sundaes.

One season might be over, but another one was just beginning. And Tiki and Ronde would always be up for the challenge.

Cut:
An offensive move where a player who is not holding the ball quickly changes their position on the court to a better spot. This may be done to receive a pass from a player or to help defend a teammate.

Double-team:
In this defensive strategy, a coach puts two defenders on one offensive player to keep the opponent from making a shot. However, this takes a defender away from another teammate who can make the shot while no one is blocking him or her.

Dribble drive motion:
Players on a team place themselves near the layup and three-pointer lines with the shooter in the center, in this play. Similar to isolation, this allows the shooter to go one-on-one with the defender and dribble toward the basket. If another defender comes in to help block, however, the shooter passes to the open teammate, who makes a layup or three-point shot.

Fast break:
The defender for a team blocks their opponent's shot and quickly takes the ball in this offensive play. The defender then runs to the opposite side of the court and quickly shoots the ball before the opponent can set up defenses.