Chapter 36: Intensity

Udonis was the next one up. Kyle took his spot as the post scorer as Udonis was forced to defend him.

Kyle tried to back down Udonis but he had his body in a low stance giving him a lower center of gravity making it harder for him to get pushed back.

After Kyle realized that he wouldn't be able to get better positioning he simply turned over his shoulder and tried to utilized his height and reach advantage to shoot a hook shot.

Udonis saw how high Kyle's hand was as he held the ball and he knew that he wouldn't be able to block the shot. But he extended his hand as far as he could to try and contest it as best as he could.

Udonis had his hand in Kyles's face but he still managed to get the shot off as the ball left his hand and flew towards the basket.

The ball was too low as it hit the side of the rim before falling back down. After he saw that the shot missed Udonis got ready to defend against the next player.

It was Trell again attacking the basket. Udonis closed the distance before Trell could leap into the air. Without a clear runway Trell wasn't able to build up enough momentum to dunk.

Instead, he tried his best to push past Udonis and jump as high as he could for a layup. Trell launched off the ground as hard as he could but because of the contact from Udonis he wasn't able to get as high as he normally would.

Udonis kept as close to Trell as he could and when he saw Trell jump he followed him a split second later and jumped to contest the shot.

The defensive pressure from Udonis caused Trell to mess up his release. He flung the ball out of his hand as it then crashed into the backboard before falling back down.

As soon as he confirmed that Trell had missed the shot Udonis began scanning the perimeter. He quickly found Matt on the wing on the opposite side from where he was last time.

Udonis ran as hard as he could to close out on Matt. Before Matt could get his shot up Udonis was already close by.

Matt pump-faked which got Udonis slightly. Udonis reached up and almost left the ground but he managed to keep himself from jumping at the last second.

Matt used the small window of separation and started dribbling towards the basket. Matt made it tot he paint and went up for the layup unfortunately for him Udonis had caught up and blocked the shot from behind.

Udonis's husky frame bumped into Matt while they were in the air. Matt hit the floor but quickly got up "Damn UD. Nice block man."

Udonis got eliminated on the second round when he was a little too slow closing in on Matt. Matt drained the three right in his face.

Udonis had sweat flowing down his face as he walked to Jason "Damn this drill kills you. Having to defend nonstop like that ain't no joke."

Jason laughed as he saw Udonis's sweaty and worn-out appearance "Defense is the side of the game where it's easiest to see if a player is tired or not.

When a defender starts getting tired the first thing you notice is that they start having their hands down more often."

Udonis thought about what Jason said for a moment "You right Jason. On my second time closing out on Matt I had my hands down until the very last second."

Jason nodded his head "That's you unconsciously trying to save energy. After you start getting tired the first thing your body starts doing is look for the little ways it can save energy.

Whether that be closing out just a little bit slower or not keeping your hands up on defense. This drill helps build up the physical tools for defense but it also helps you overcome that mental wall.

The more you run this drill the better you get at pushing through the limits of your fatigue on the defensive side."

Udonis laughed after hearing what Jason had to say "Damn bruh. Listening to you talk I almost forgot we was talking about ball.

You sounds like a psychologist or something talking about breaking through them mental walls and shit."

Jason laughed at Udonis's joke before turning his attention back to the team as they ran the drill. Matt got eliminated on the first position.

He couldn't stop Vince as he simply backed him down all the way to the paint before turning around and squaring up as he laid the ball into the basket.

The same thing happened to Nick. He was quickly eliminated because he couldn't deal with Udonis's strength and physicality in the paint.

Vince and DJ were able to make it past the first defensive position of the drill. DJ's stocky build helped to keep him from being easily bullied by Udonis.

While Vince had a combination of strength and height that allowed him to pressure Udonis defensively. They were both eliminated by the second part of the drill.

Even though they were able to defend Udonis his heavy frame and physical play style had tired them out. Afterward, they both struggled to recover to a defensive position to defend against Trell.

DJ was caught flat-footed under the basket as Trell went up and jammed the ball on him. Vince tried to close the distance and block Trell's runway.

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But he was a step too late and Trell had managed to jump before making contact with Vince. Trell had managed to build enough momentum to push through the contact but not enough to dunk.

Trell put up a contested layup that somehow managed to go in. It was finally Trell's turn to be the defender.

Trell had the size and strength to defend Udonis as he posted him up. It didn't matter how much Udonis tried to back Trell down he couldn't get better positioning.

After Trell defended Udonis he readied himself to guard against the slasher. DJ was the one playing the slasher for Trell.

Trell ran and quickly closed the distance between him and DJ. DJ tried to use his frame to push passed Trell.

But that proved to be ineffective as not only did Trell not get pushed back he even closed in tighter than before.

DJ tried his best to ignore the defensive pressure as he made his way to the basket. He gave Trell one last bump as he went in strong for the layup.

The bump caught Trell by surprise so he was pushed back slightly. DJ jumped as hard as he could as he shot the layup with his right hand.

Trell shot forward as quickly as he could. DJ was already in the air by the time Trell had caught up. He jumped as DJ started his shot and blocked it as it was on its way to the basket.

Trell crashed into DJ's back as they both hit the floor. Trell was the first one to get up. He walked over to DJ who was still on the ground.

"You good DJ?" DJ looked up at Trell and smiled "It's all good bruh. That was a nice block bro." Matt was just standing on the perimeter as he waited for Trell to get ready.

Trell looked at Matt and shook his head "I'm out. You could have taken the shot by the time I got up. Next one up."

Trell walked off the court and looked at Jason "Looks like you up Jason. Let's see what you got." Jason smiled as he walked onto the court.

He got into position and started guarding Udonis in the post. Udonis started backing him down and was surprised when he found that he was having a hard time despite his large size advantage.

'This is crazy. He's small so why does he feel so heavy?' Jason was doing the same thing that Udonis did.

He got into a low defensive stance to give him a lower center of gravity. But that wasn't all. Jason was mimicking Udonis's rhythm.

He was predicting when Udonis would push and he was actually pushing back at the same time. This helped to mitigate Udonis's size and strength advantage.

Udonis gave up trying to get deeper positioning as he turned over his shoulder to fake the hook shot. But as he was turning Jason stripped the ball away from him.

Jason then got ready to defend against Trell. The two of them collided as Trell tried his best to force his way to the basket.

Jason stuck to Trell's hip as they both moved toward the paint. Trell tried his best to take advantage of his physicality but Jason wouldn't budge.

As Trell readied himself for the layup Jason used the best angle to contest the shot as he put his hand out.

The ball hit the backboard and then rolled off the rim. Jason didn't even have to look around. He spotted Matt on the edge of his peripheral vision.

Jason ran to the perimeter with everything that he had. His hands were up as he approached Matt.

The defensive pressure that Jason was putting on Matt made him hesitate to take the jumper. He tried to pump fake but Jason didn't fall for it one bit.

Jason then started suffocating Matt with his tight defense. He pressed him with his body as Matt tried his nest to protect the ball from Jason.

Matt tried his best to create something but his handles just weren't good enough against Jason's lockdown defense. He was soon stripped of the ball.

Jason quickly got back into position to defend the post as he got ready for the drill to reset.

- - -

Trell had a serious expression on his face as he looked out at the basketball court "He's a monster."

Kyle gulped and nodded his head as he looked at the basketball court "Monster sounds a little nice at this point. I already lost count. How many rounds has it been?"

Udonis shook his head and paused for a second before answering "He's cleared 4 rounds already. We had to swap the offensive players for his 5 round because they were getting tired."

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