Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Isiah sat on the floor as he ground his teeth while glaring at Jason 'Wipe that smug look off your face bitch! That was a fluke!'

He pounded his fist on the floor before pushing himself back up. He looked at his Center who was already standing out of bounds with the ball in his hands as he gestured for him to pass the ball.

The Center nodded his head before inbounding the ball to Isiah. With the ball in his hands he began to make his way down the court.

When he got across half court he was surprised to see that Jason was the one guarding him. He was his team's Shooting Guard so normally it would have been the opposing team's Shooting Guard that would guard him.

But if he had paid attention back when his coach was breaking down the film that they had of Jefferson he would have known that Jason always took on the duty of guarding the opposing team's best perimeter player.

The surprise was soon replaced by anger as he stared down Jason 'You want to guard me!? Fine, it's about time I show these people what a real star looks like.'

He slowly began to dribble from left to right as he got in to rhythm. Jason was in a low defensive stance with his arms spread open.

Jason smiled at Isiah before reaching down and slapping the floor with both hands. This gesture by Jason worked to infuriate Isiah even more.

'Let's see how much longer you can keep the cocky attitude after I hit you with a taste of your own medicine pretty boy.'

Isiah's upper body dipped down as he explosively drove to the right with a quick crossover. Jason seemed to have predicated Isiah's move as he was already sliding his foot in that direction.

Just as the two of them were about to make contact Isiah switched directions with a behind the back dribble move.

He was ecstatic when he saw that Jason wasn't in his field of view 'Haha! Take that! Looks like he got lost in the first move.'

But then he noticed that the ball had yet to bounce back up to his left hand. He then turned around as he heard the crowd cheering. 

Back when he was first doing his behind the back dribble Jason had already seen right through him. While the ball was still on its way back up he had lunged forward and poked the ball away from Isiah.

Jason was all by himself on the fast break as he easily laid the ball up into the basket with his right hand. The crowd was cheering crazily for Jason as he made his way back on defense.

Before Nashton Academy could inbound the ball their coach called for a timeout from the sidelines. He stared at Isiah as he made his way to the bench.

"What the hell was that Isiah? I didn't call for an isolation play." Isiah lowered his head "Sorry coach."

The coach folded his arms as he looked at all of his players "Don't let the atmosphere get to you and just play your game.

We might be going up against the strongest team in the county and they might have the best player in the county but as long as we stick to what we know we can definitely take this game okay?"

Isiah and all of the players nodded their heads. The coach gave them a nod "Alright. When you guys get back out there run our plays and stick to the plan."

After the timeout close to the beginning of the game Nashton Academy began playing better but it just wasn't enough against a team as talented as Jefferson.

Their playstyle somewhat resembled the Spurs with Kawhi Leonard and LeMarcus Aldridge. A lot of perimeter action with some post play to mix it up.

Their passing was clean and the ball movement was never dead as they never held the ball for too long except for when they would ask Isiah to create a shot in isolation.

The only problem was that even without taking Jason's personal defensive abilities into consideration all of Jefferson's starting five were adept defenders.

They didn't gamble for steals and blocks as they played solid positional defense and they stuck to their defensive assignments well as they communicated on pick and rolls and backdoor cuts.

With Jason directing Jefferson's defense it was impossible for Nashton Academy to create any high quality shot opportunities.

Although they were able to cut down on their turnovers somewhat after Isiah began to play more in the flow of the offense their field goal percentage was still pitifully low because of Jefferson's suffocating defense.

And their weakness on the glass was only magnified as they had to go against a freakish athlete like Jefferson's starting Center.

Kyle's biggest weakness in rebounding and post defense was his willowy frame and lack of strength. But Nashton Academy's Center didn't have the ability to capitalize on this.

With his height advantage and his amazing wingspan combined with his elite athleticism Kyle was able to grab rebounds over all of Nashton Academy's Bigs.

He was laying the ball up after grabbing offensive rebounds as well as kicking the ball out as soon as he grabbed defensive rebounds.

And on the defensive side of the ball there wasn't much that Nashton Academy could do against Jefferson.

They had originally planned to trap and pressure Jason so that he wouldn't be able to control the offense.

But by doing so it only gave their other players like Danilo and Matt a chance to showcase their own scoring ability.

Matt's handles had improved to the point where as long as he wasn't going against an elite defender he would be able to create his own shot.

He was able to take threes coming off of screens, break his defender down and pull up from mid range, and even drive to the basket.

And Danilo had always been an able perimeter scorer with the ability to post up. But with a single Big Man covering him he torched his slower defender with his isolation moves.

He would dribble his way around Nashton Academy's Power Forward and either take it strong to the basket or pull up for the jumper.

And when they started to put smaller defenders on him hoping that they could do a better job of staying in front of him he simply began to post up.

With his strong frame he was able to push them deep into the paint, use spin moves in the post, or give them a quick bump before taking the fade away jump shot.

Nashton Academy eventually went back to single coverage for defending Jason and he immediately took advantage.

He was scoring in every way imaginable as he would call for the ball and run their plays, run around the court and get open from screens, and also setting his own screens for teammates.

Their just wasn't a way for them to contain Jefferson's offense with the caliber of players that they had on their team.

As the game progressed Isiah lost his spirit and vigor as the idea that he was on the same level as Jason disappeared from his mind.

As the last seconds of the game ticked away Jason turned to the crowd and waved both of his arms at the side gesturing for them to make some noise.

The people watching from the bleachers were more than happy to oblige as they clapped, cheered, and whistled.

Jefferson was now 15 and 0 so far in the regular season as they finished with a score of 115 to 41. While Jason lead them with an impressive stat line of 34 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block.

After shaking hands with Nashton Academy's players Jason waited at the side as he saw Gloria making her way over.

Jason had spoken with the principal and Coach Swendel. He had told them that the only news outlet that he was willing to do interviews with after their home games was the one that Gloria worked for and only if she was the one conducting the interview.

Gloria raised her mic up to Jason "So after that incredible display you and your team are now 15 and 0 for the season.

In a season like this where the committee has decided to shorten the season by having the games take place more often, how have you and the team managed to stay in such good rhythm?"

Jason wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his black arm sleeve before answering "This faster season might have been a challenge for some teams but it wasn't really a problem for us.

Stamina has never been an issue for us in terms of our individual players. We have that dog in us that makes us want to play hard every time out.

Even last year when we had a short roster we were playing with everything we had every game in. Now that we have a full roster stamina and fatigue are things we don't even think about."

Gloria smiled as she nodded her head "Great answer Jason. You guys are currently on track for another undefeated season.

Is that something you and the guys talk about in the locker room? And is that one of your goals for this season?"

Jason thought about it for a moment "Honestly, we do talk about our record and how we want to aim for another undefeated season.

But that isn't a goal of ours. We are setting our standards way higher than that." Gloria asked "Oh? And what are your team's goals then?"

Jason looked into the camera that was being held behind her and grinned "We're aiming for nationals. We're shooting to make some real noise this year."