He hesitated for a second, then gritted his teeth and dropped his hand. He can take this one.
Dylan pressed his back against his defender, blocking him out as the ball was passed to him. He stopped for a moment to consider his options before breaking off to the left and running to the hoop.
The defender quickly followed behind, trying to get back in front of Dylan, but was just a second too slow.
Campbell and their centre blocked in front of their men, stopping them from getting in front of Dylan.
Dylan raced into the paint and saw that he was open. He looked at the hoop, then back to the opponent chasing after him.
He didn’t have much time until the man caught up. He wouldn’t even be able to safely go in for a lay-up. So he chose to jump.
It felt, strange, to have to consider all of this. If he was in his heavenly form he wouldn’t have to worry about all of this. He could easily outpace everyone on the court.
His old, human form was so limiting. Then again, they probably weren’t human either, and were most likely limiting themselves as well. His brother was the only normal one physically.
He cleared his mind and calmed himself as best he could. followed through based on his muscle memory and years of experience, and took the shot.
The ball shot out of his hand, arced through the sky, bounced off the backboard and into the net.
Campbell watched from the side as his brother scored. He pushed down all of his emotions and turned around to run to the other net.
The first points of the game were scored within only ten seconds.
Everyone raced to the other side of the court at a steady pace, leaving just the point guards and the enemy centre to get the ball into play.
Nothing spectacular happened. The ball got passed into play and the opposing point guard brought it down to this side of the court while the team’s point guard kept the pressure on him.
Once again, it was man-on-man defence. The point guard was coming down the middle, just outside the three-point line. The shooting guard was waiting in the left corner.
The centre was standing in low post, the small forward was on the right wing, and the power forward was on the right elbow.
Campbell stayed close to his man, giving him no chance to break past and score on him. He may not have played in years, but his body was at its peak, and he still had his experience to fall back on.
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The point guard called for a screen, and Campbell’s man shot forward into position. He stayed there just long enough to block and allow his point guard to break free, then rolled off and made a beeline for the paint.
The ball passed through the air, heading for the open hand of the power forward, but it was destined not to reach it.
Their team’s point guard’s hand shot out, lightly intercepting the ball and knocking it off course. Campbell jumped on this opportunity and caught the ball before making a break for the other end of the court.
Three other people reacted fast enough to this change and followed after him, while the rest lagged slightly behind.
The opposing power forward and point guard were racing right behind them, with the power forward quickly closing in on him.
Dylan was just slightly behind them, but was further off to the side and was completely open.
Come on. I can make it.
He crossed the half court line, then the three point line.
The power forward closed in on him and was almost in front of him now.
His brother was still open, and was cutting in from the outside to the paint.
Campbell had to stop. The other guy managed to get in front of him just enough that he had to slow down.
Damnit.
Analysing the situation, he realised that he wouldn’t be able to reliably score from where he was. His brother had just stepped foot in the paint now, and everyone else was still too far away to catch up to him.
He made eye contact with Dylan, and knew what he had to do.
With some reluctance, Campbell bounced the ball under the power forward’s arm.
Dylan got the ball and scored.
The score was 4-0. About forty seconds in.
The pace slowed down as they made their way back to the other side of the court, and everyone got themselves back into position for the next play.
The point guard took the ball and brought it to the top of the three-point line.
The ball was bounced around between players for a good ten seconds as they tried to create an opening for them to score.
Campbell stayed close to his man, but unfortunately couldn’t get another easy opportunity like before. All he could do was make sure that his man wasn’t open and that he didn’t score.
The ball passed from point guard to the shooting guard, and then back again. All the while, the forwards shifted around to try and break away from their defenders.
The shot clock was ticking down, and there was less than ten seconds left before a violation was called.
The ball was passed to the power forward, who pressed his back against Campbell and tried to muscle his way further into the paint.
The small forward sped up suddenly and crossed in front of the power forward to the other side of the paint.
The ball was palmed off to the small forward in one fluid motion, but Dylan stayed on him and stopped him from scoring.
The ball was passed off to the centre with only five seconds to spare. He muscled his way in from the low post, jumped, and scored with only a couple seconds to spare.
The score was now 4-2.