The Final Shot

Chapter 18: Training is Gaining!

The Gators had been decent throughout the season, managing to retain a .450 record, and resulted in 12th place in the Southern Conference. Their team was not that special, except that they had a five-star recruit, Jevon Lee, who was injured for the first half of the season resulting in the Gators being underestimated. King was friends with Jevon, and helped the team in analysing his strengths and weaknesses. Jevon was almost unstoppable in the paint, and could make threes at about 40%. He would probably win Rookie of the Year if not for his injury. The only weakness of Jevon Lee that the Braves could find was that he never played over six minutes in one stretch, his average stretch was about two to four minutes and would rest for about 45 seconds. The Braves would have to utilize the 45 seconds to score as much as possible to minimize the threat of Jevon. As Satan's Training was also started, the Braves had a lot on their plates to fulfill. The Satan's Training consisted of running 5 kilometres in the morning, then making 30 shots from the arch, the free throw line, the corner, and two random spots. After making 150 shots, Coach would start the punishments. For every 5 shots missed, the player would have to do 30 push-ups, 20 squats, and 10 pull-ups. Coach would give everyone twenty minutes to rest before dribbling practices, where you would dribble using a different format (e.g. regular dribble, crossover, through the legs, repeat). After the dribbling, everyone would go into the conference room and start watching tape of the Gators, and each contributed an important point that no one had already said. Coach thought that this was a good idea as it would help improve the players' basketball IQ. "Training is gaining," Coach would say. After five days of Satan's Training, the Braves were completely overwhelmed and exhausted. In two days they would play their first game against the Gators in a best-of-five series. Michael decided to speak up for the team.

"Coach Auerbach, I know that Satan's Training is beneficial ["GASP" from other players] but I think that we should take tomorrow off considering we only have two days left before Game 1"

Coach started laughing.

"Hahaha, did you think that I didn't know that? I'm a coach for a reason! You guys will have a break tomorrow! ["Woohoo!" from other players] After you all run 2 kilometres. And make 30 shots from the free throw line."

They would still have to practice tomorrow, but at least it wasn't Satan's Training. The team got up at 5 a.m. in the morning the next day, drove to Coach's home, and then woke him up.
"WHAT THE !#@$!#@!$#$#!@$!#@$!#@$!#@$!#?" was what Coach said.

King spoke.

"We decided to wake you up, Coach, so that we can start training earlier than usual to relax more."

Coach's frown turned into a grin but turned back into a frown.

"Kiddo, I'm glad you're waking up earlier but there was no @#$!@#!%*& need to wake my whole family up!"

Either way, Coach Auerbach went with them to the university's gym, where they started running laps. After running laps, they each made 30 shots as fast as possible.

"Who are y'all? Usain Bolt shooting balls?!" was Coach's comment. They finished all of that before 7 a.m. and had the whole day off. The next day, they all got on the small bus that the university owned and started their 3 hour journey to the Gators' home court. When they arrived, the Gators' coach Rick Lin and Jevon were there to greet them. When Jevon saw King, they embraced each other in a hug while Jevon whispered slowly in King's ears.

"It's gonna be me and you, King, me and you. Like the old days, eh?"

King responded to Jevon in a cool tone.

"Nah man, I ain't the same King no more. Im tryna be a team man!"

King left from Jevon and joined his team, entering the Gators' court.