Rebound: A 2nd Chance

On the screen was Jason as he chased after the ball as it rolled away. Then the defender doing a great job of sticking with Jason.

And with just a few seconds left on the clock Jason leaned back as he shot the fade away three point shot.

The video ended just as the ball swished through the net and the crowd began to flood the court.

Jimmy smiled as he shook his head "Man that was a hell of a shot. Major respect to that young man. Do you guys know his name?"

Kelly smiled as she answered "His name is Jason Yang. He just started playing basketball for the first time a few months ago.

But the impact that he has had on his team is incredible. Just last year Jefferson Middle School was one of the worst teams in their county.

But after adding Jason to their roster they had their first ever undefeated season and won their first county title."

Jimmy put both of his hands on the table as he looked at Kelly in shock "He just started playing basketball a few months ago?"

Tyler leaned back and whistled "Dang. I remember when I first started playing and I definitely didn't have a highlight like that one."

Bam nodded his head "That was one tough shot. The defender did everything right. He didn't fall for any of his moves and he stuck with him.

But he just nailed that shot right over him. Sometimes that's just how it goes. Sometimes good offense just beats good defense."

Kelly looked at Jimmy "So coming from a player that was counted on late in the game, how would you rate that shot in terms of clutchness?"

Jimmy scratched his beard for a moment as he thought about it "Man I gotta give that one the credit it deserves.

I give that shot 8 Jimmy G buckets out of 10. The only thing that could have made it better was if he had hit that shot on a bigger stage with another defender on him."

Kelly chuckled before saying "That game was actually to determine the county champion. His team was down by two before he hit that shot."

Jimmy looked at Kelly with a face that screamed 'Are you kidding me?' He looked the other way before putting giving a thumbs up.

"Bump it up. Gotta bump it up. I'm bumping it up to a 9. The only thing that could make it a better shot is if he was in the league or if he had another defender on him.

Not only was that shot hard as hell to make. He took it with all the chips riding on it. Just having the courage to take a shot like that is commendable."

Jimmy looked at the camera "Hey if you watching this Jason you clutch as hell. I hope you can keep this up."

The rest of the show was them looking at other clips as well as talking about their championship some more.

By the time the episode was over Jason still had a smile on his face thinking about how another past star had nothing but nice things to say about his game.

- - -

The next day Jason called everyone except for Kyle to organize a practice session in the afternoon.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday but no one complained as they all went hard at practice.

Jason lead by example as he ran the three level defense drill. Although Kyle's absence was dispiriting everyone worked hard in order to ensure that they lasted long enough in the state tournament to wait for Kyle's recovery.

After two hours of intense practice everyone was sweating and panting. But while they were taking a break to catch their breathes Jason was running laps around the court.

Trell saw this and took off his shirt. The shirt plopped to the floor showing how much sweat it was carrying.

Trell then joined Jason as the two of them began running laps around the court. Seeing those two work so hard lit a fire in the rest of the guys as they too joined in on the run.

After running for another hour Jason finally came to a stop. He made his way over to the sidelines and picked up his sports bottle.

He took a few gulps before dumping the rest over his head. As the ice cold water splashed against his hot skin he smiled "Damn that feel's nice!"

Jason opened up his eyes and saw that all of the guys except for Trell were laying on the floor in exhaustion.

Jason laughed "Good workout guys. Go ahead and wash up. I called Kyle before practice and he said that he would meet us up to celebrate our county title."

Jason and the rest of the guys made their way to the locker rooms. They hit the showers and got cleaned up before making their way to the restaurant that Kyle's mom picked.

All of the parents were on one table with the kids on another. Everyone high fived Kyle and greeted him as soon as they saw him.

As they were taking their seats Jason turned to his right and asked Kyle "So you got checked out at the hospital right? What did they say?"

Kyle sighed before shaking his head "The doctor told me the same thing that my mom said. It was a bad sprain that should take about 2-3 weeks to heal."

Everyone shook their heads after hearing that. Jason patted Kyle on the shoulder "Don't worry bro.

We're going to put in the work and make sure that we stay in the tournament as long as you need so just focus on getting better."

The rest of the guys had a fire burning in their eyes as they nodded their heads in agreement with Jason.

Jason saw that Uncle Jin was sitting at the table next to Kyle's mom. He tapped Kyle on the shoulder "Does Tory have another competition coming up?"

Kyle nodded his head as he chewed on a bread stick "Yeah. She's trying pretty hard to cut weight. That's why she didn't come tonight."

Jason nodded his head after hearing that. After a few minutes a waitress came by the table to take their orders.

She was smiling as she took their orders. She started at one end of the table and made her way down.

She got to Jason and paused "Hmmm?" But then she continued "Hey sweet heart. What can I get you?"

Jason found her pause a little weird but he was starving so he gave her his order without thinking about it too much.

"I'll have the chicken parmesan, one order of the pasta carbonara, one order of the hearty lasagna and a order of the baked eggplant parmesan."

She began writing it down "Okay, so you wanted to do the sampler plate right? We can only do 3 dishes on the sampler."

Jason shook his head "I don't want to do the sampler plate. I want one order of each of the dishes that I told you."

The smile on her face dampened a bit as she asked "Are you serious?" Jason nodded his head again.

The waitress looked like she wanted to say something else but she held it in as she turned around and made her way to the parents table.

Kyle laughed as he saw her walking away "Wow thanks Jaya. You broke the waitress." Jason laughed before saying.

"She's probably going to tell the parents table about me. I think she just wants to make sure that it's okay for me to order all that."

Kyle nodded his head "You could be right. If I was taking orders and some kid told me that he wanted a mountain of food like you did I would probably double check with the parents before adding it to the bill."

After a quick talk with the parents the waitress made her way back to their table. She smiled at Jason "Sorry about that. Just had to make sure you weren't just pulling my leg.

So I have you down for one order of the chicken parmesan, one order of the pasta carbonara, one order of the hearty lasagna and a order of the baked eggplant parmesan. Is there anything else I can get you?"

Jason thought about it for a second "You know what, how about adding one order of the fried calamari. Oh and could you please refill the bread basket?" Jason smiled as he politely asked.

The waitress laughed "Sure thing hun." She then took Kyle's order before making her way to the kitchen."

After a few minutes she came back out with a basket of freshly baked bread and a few cups of room temperature butter.

Jason and the rest of the guys attacked the bread basket as soon as the waitress had put it down on the table.

After a few more refills on the bread the guys were smiling and laughing as they talked about all sorts of different things.

Jason was just about to inhale another bread stick when Udonis called out his name "Yo Jaya check it out. You on TV again bruh."

Jason turned his head to the TV that the restaurant had set up for their customers. It was a local channel with it's own sports show.

They showed two guys dressed in casual wear sitting in front of a table and Jason's face was on the side of the screen.

One of the men said "Don't get me wrong. I'm all for supporting home grown talent. But this kid isn't the next Tyreek.

I think that the kid is good and all but all of this hype is because... well you know. He doesn't look like the typical basketball player.

It's all shock factor. And the more I hear about these bigger names talking him up the more I get embarrassed.

It's like Riverside is so devoid of talent that we have to cling on to the smallest things that fall our way."

The other man looked at him with a confused look "How can you even say that? The kid was one of the top scorers in the county, one of the best play makers in the county, and I can say without question that he is the best defender in the county.

And he lead Jefferson Middle School to an undefeated season and their first ever county title. I think that the kid is the real deal and I can't wait to see what kind of noise he makes at the state level."

The man who had originally been talking laughed as he waved his hand "Please. You think all of the credit for Jefferson's great season goes to this kid?

Do I need to remind you that Jefferson made two other huge additions to their roster this year? Trell and Kyle are the biggest reasons for Jefferson's success in my eyes.

And you said that you were waiting to see what kind of noise Jason makes at the state level? I hate to break it to you bud but I don't think they get past one game.

They lost their starting Center who by the way lead the county in blocks this season. And their already short roster is gonna be even shorter.

They don't have a snowball's chance in hell of making it to the state finals."