Chapter 170: Game 3 of the state tournament: part-9

After a moment of celebration Jason and the rest of the guys calmed down as they all got into position for the free throw.

Jason walked up to the free throw line and accepted the ball from the referee. He took a deep breathe before dribbling the ball a few times.

As Jason brought the ball up he couldn't help but swear in his head 'Jesus! I'm just using my left hand to guide the ball and it's still hurting like a bitch.'

As the ball left his hand Jason could already tell that the shot was way worse than any other free throw that he had attempted this whole season.

His left hand had faltered and moved a bit right before he could release the ball. The ball flew through the air and ended up hitting the rim before bouncing off the backboard.

The ball bounced around on the rim a few times before finally falling off. Jason sighed a bit in disappointment 'Looks like my finger is bothering my shot more than I thought it would. I'm surprised that I actually managed to make the three pointer earlier.'

Udonis walked over to Jason and patted him on the shoulder "Everyone misses one. Ain't nobody shootin a hunnid from the line bro. Don't let it get to you."

Jason looked at Udonis and nodded his head "Yeah. You right UD. I guess I was just surprised by how much my finger is messing up my shot."

The two of them then made their way back on defense as High Bridge inbounded the ball after Jason's missed free throw.

Their starting Center inbounded the ball to Rudy who then began to make his way up the court. After his Center managed to cross half court alongside him he called for a screen.

Their starting Center went to go set the screen on Rudy's left side but then Coach Kaminsky's loud voice rang out.

"Attack his left! Attack the left side!" After hearing what his coach had to say Rudy instantly knew what he meant.

'Coach Kaminsky wants us to attack Jason's left side because of his injury.' Rudy signaled for their starting Center to flip the direction of the screen.

Their Center nodded his head as he moved and repositioned himself to Rudy's right side. In the meantime Jason didn't just sit around and do nothing.

He was on the high alert as he stood on the balls of his feet ready to move in whichever direction should the need arise. 

As the Center moved and repositioned himself Jason calmly and methodically did the same. He didn't make any big movements but he made tiny adjustments to give him the best angle to defend the pick and roll play.

With the screen set on Rudy's right side he began to drive in that direction. As soon as he saw Rudy begin to move toward the screen Jason jumped ahead and wedged his body in between Rudy and their Center.

This preemptive move allowed Jason to have an extra step in closing in and keeping Rudy from creating space but he also ended up feeling some pain in his hand as his finger bumped into the Center as he tried to squeeze by him.

Jason raised his left hand as he needed to ensure that he could contest any shot should Rudy decide to try and pull off a quick jumper.

Udonis had stuck with the Center as he began to roll toward the rim after the pick and roll play with Rudy.

Rudy raised the ball and tried to fake a pass to his rim running Center before firing off a quick long distance two point shot.

Unfortunately for him Jason didn't even fall for the fake in the slightest as he closed the distance and contested the shot.

Maybe Jason was fired up from making the three pointer after being fouled or maybe he was trying to make up for missing the free throw with some extra intensity.

But for whatever reason it may be Jason had a little more oomph in his closeout this time around as he actually got a bit of the ball as it left Rudy's hand.

But this time it was Jason's turn to be the unfortunate one as the hand that he had used to block the shot was his left hand.

As the ball smacked against the top half of his fingers Jason bit down as he tried his best not to let out any sounds from the pain.

As the ball was up in the air both Jason and Rudy began eyeing it as they both knew that it would land somewhere near them.

Jason instinctively turned his body and began boxing Rudy out as soon as he felt that he had gotten a part of the ball during the shot.

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As the ball began to fall Jason was getting ready. Although Rudy was taller and had an advantage there Jason had had the chance to boxout early and gain good position for the rebound.

Jason couldn't safely secure possession of the ball from the initial rebound so he had to tap it up and away from him and Rudy.

He then left Rudy as he began to run after the ball. With two steps Jason had managed to secure possession of the ball as he began to push the fast break. 

Rudy was now too far to be able to do anything to affect Jason on defense. After he had gotten his shot blocked and lost the rebound he just stood around and tried to complain to the referee instead of trying to catch up with Jason.

But that didn't meant that Jason had an easy basket in sight. From the corner of his vision he could see an incredibly fast figure approaching him.

After a brief moment Nate had managed to catch up to Jason despite having been on the opposite wing when they had had the ball on offense.

He began to put his body on Jason as he stuck to his hip and tried to maintain contact. As Jason continued to drive down the court he would occasionally give Nate a nudge here and a small bump there.

All while making sure that he was doing it at an angle where the referee couldn't see it. Finally the two of them crossed the three point line as they were now driving toward the paint.

Nate was still all up on Jason as he didn't give him the slightest bit of room. Ready to jump and block the shot as soon as the moment called for it.

As they got closer and closer to the hoop Jason smiled and said "You're fast. But too bad you're not the only one with a turbo engine."

Jason did a behind the back pass from his right hand that went left. Nate turned around and saw Trell as he was catching the ball.

With the ball in his hands Trell planted both of his feet down into the ground before exploding into the air the very next second.

Both of his arms tilted back before slamming the ball down into the rim with both hands. He hanged on the rim for a second before coming back down with a fist pump.

"AHHHH!!!" After a few more fist pumps he turned to Jason and pointed at him to acknowledge the assist. 

Jason smiled as he walked his way over. The two of them jumped into the air and bumped hips. Jason smacked Trell on the back "Crazy dunk bro."

Coach Kaminsky called for a timeout right as his Center was about to Inbound the ball to Rudy.

With the call of a timeout the game was put on pause as both teams made their way to their respective benches.

Coach Kaminsky drew up a few plays and explained them to his guys. He then looked at all of his players and asked "You guys understand?"

They all nodded their heads after hearing him ask that. Coach Kaminsky then continued "On offense and on defense I want you guys to focus on attacking Jason's left hand.

Obviously you can't do anything dirty or flagrant. Keep it to the limits of a basketball play. But if he's guarding you make him use his left hand. 

If he wants to contest or block a shot make it so that he has to use his left hand for the best chance. If he wants to get a steal make sure that he needs to use his left hand to get it.

On offense I want you guys to sit on his right and force him to drive left. It doesn't matter if you get your ankles broken, destroyed, eviscerated, or turned to powder. Just make him use his left! Got it!?"

All of the players nodded their heads. Coach Kaminsky shouted out "What do I want you guys to do!?"

Everyone except for Nate and Rudy all shouted out in unison "Make him use his left hand!" Coach Kaminsky nodded his head after hearing his team's response.

The clock then buzzed indicating that it was the end of the timeout and that it was time to resume the game.

Coach Kaminsky looked at all of his players "Alright guys. You know the plan. Go out there and play hard. Let's win this for High Bridge. This is our year!"

All of the players gave a unified shout as they then began to make their way back to the court.

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