"Allan!"
Kingsley roared as he tossed the ball in the air towards the hoop. Responding to his voice Allan jumped and caught the ball mid-air before slamming it into the hoop effortlessly.
Lance and Nathan who were near Allan at that time couldn't react and helplessly watched the other side score.
"Woah! Another Alley-oop!!!"
Jonas exclaimed as his eyes glimmered in amazement while looking at Allan's great finesse.
"Hahaha! I am getting addicted to this!"
Kingsley pumped his fist into the air when Allan dunked the ball and laughed as he looked at Allan with a look that looked like he has found a new toy. It was his 3rd time to toss the ball into the air whenever he finds Allan near the rim.
Everyone looked at Kingsley and sighed at his attitude.
"Kingsley, he is the oldest of the group and the one who became our captain."
Nathan noticed Gray speaking and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Gray looked at him and said, "His data."
"Data?"
Gray looked at Kingsley once again as if he was a living data. Then he spoke and told Nathan what he knows which made the latter's eye bulge in disbelief.
Name: Kingsley
Age: 17 years old
Position: Shooting Guard (SG)
Height: 5 feet 11 inches (180cm)
Weight: 158lbs (72kg)
The oldest member and the Captain of the team 'Chubby Bunny'.
Listening to Gray's information, Nathan could not help but wake himself from being shocked and ask, "Where do you even get that information?"
Gray smiled mysteriously and replied.
"I have my ways."
Nathan got chills and hugged himself.
He looked at Gray's wimpy body and wondered how his mind works.
Lance nudged Nathan and chuckled.
"Come on. It's not like you aren't different, Mister Three-Sizes Bank."
"That is different!"
"I don't see any difference, though."
Lance looked at gray, impressed. Although it sounds creepy to others, information is important in competitive sports. It is important to know the weaknesses and strengths of not only your opponents but of your teammates after all.
"Speak more."
Lance spoke while he moved closer to Gray while in defense.
"What?"
Gray turned his head and looked at Lance. He was clueless about what Lance meant.
"Eyes on the court. Focus on the ball and your mark..."
Gray looked at the where the ball is and the mark he is guarding.
"What is he good at?"
While defending, Lance spoke once again and asked Gray who is near him. Gray was about to shift his eyes towards Lance when Lance spoke, "Don't look at me."
"... Sorry!"
"Tell me what you know and observe the opposing offense."
"Huh?"
"Kingsley... What have you observed about him?"
"Kingsley? ... Oh, the Captain!"
Lance checked his mark before he looked at Kingsley who is dribbling the ball outside the line.
"What is he good at and what he is bad at?"
"..."
Gray looked at Kingsley and observed for a while. Lance did not say anything and waited.
"From what I have observed, he seemed really good at inside shooting. He is comfortable at free throws. He is a clumsy dribbler but it is enough since he is a shooting guard, he does not really need to drive inside to score..."
Lance looked at Kingsley and took in mind what he had just heard.
"... lastly, he would look at the one he would pass the ball to while pulling his arm a little higher than usual which increases the hang time of the ball while dribbling..."
"... Like now!"
Gray noticed Kingsley look at Allan who is inside the paint free of any guard. The situation was perfect for an alley-oop.
When Lance heard Gray and looked at Kingsley who was really preparing for an alley-oop, he quickly dashed inside leaving his marked man.
At the right moment when the Kingsley tossed the ball in the air, Allan jumped near the hoop with his hands up preparing to catch the ball but he was not the only one who jumped.
Lance also made a huge jump trying to intercept the pass and alley-oop!
Kingsley noticed this as soon as the ball left his hands which made retract his arm back to his body as if regretting what he just did.
"Oh, sh*t! Wrong call!"
He did not expect someone to react to the alley-oop but deep inside he knew that the toss won't be intercepted because it was too high.
Everyone looked at the two first-years soaring in the air. One waiting for the ball and the other trying to intercept it and stop the alley-oop.
Allan saw Lance and frowned. His eyes looked at the ball slowly moving towards his hands in the air while also looking at Lance's hand extending and trying to intercept the pass.
Mid-air, Allan and Lance's eyes met with a spark.
For both of them, the time seemed to have slowed down but everything immediately finished in an instant.
Lance only managed to scratch the ball mid-air barely changing its direction but it was still heading towards Allan. At the same time, Allan made adjustments mid-air to catch the ball that changed direction to dunk it into the hoop!
Bang!
A loud sound resounded as Allan made the dunk with full force!
"What was that!"
"Hiss... That was harsh!"
"Is he trying to break the hoop!?"
They saw Allan abandoning the notion of initially using two hands and into using just one. With one hand he caught the ball in the arm and pulled his arm outwards before making a tomahawk dunk!
"Did it go in?"
"Tsk!"
Lance looked at Allan who felt irritated because he missed the dunk.
Only then did everyone notice the ball that Allan failed to dunk ricochetted to the far opposing end of the court.
"What was that dunk?"
At this moment the other teams gathered near the court to look at what was happening. They knew that Allan loves to dunk but the loud bang of the ball and the hoop clashing was too loud and it caught everyone's attention.
Fin and Calude also came in with their team to look at what happened.
"Allan missed a dunk?"
"What he missed?"
"Never seen him, miss! Its a shame that I wasn't watching!"
"Still holding grudges Baron?"
"Shut up James!"
Ignoring all the commotions Claude looked at the time and noticed that it is time for another team to use the court.
"Chubby Bunny! Times up! The next team can now use the court!"
Everyone in the Chubby Bunny reluctantly left the court. They were either sweating or catching their breaths but they still had their fun.
The team sat on the bench near each other and talked about the game and their chemistry.
"... Everything was good! Especially, Allan makes a good partner in doing an Alley-oop!"
Kingsley looked at Allan while holding a huge thumbs up in front of him but Allan did not even spare him a glance and said, "You suck."
"Geh- I wasn't that bad right?"
Kingsley looked at the others to comfort himself after being stabbed by Allan's harsh tongue.
While the others are speaking Lance is still watching the other team play while reflecting on his mistakes as a player.
"Speaking of which, how did you even react to the ally-oop so fast?"
Kingsley tapped on Lance's shoulder once and spoke.
Lance looked at Kingsley before shifting to Gray.
"Gray told me your pattern?"
"I also heard what he said. I can't believe he even noticed that. I was the one he was guarding earlier so I heard them talking about you pulling your elbow upwards more than usual when you are about to pass the ball."
Ronnie spoke and nudged Gray while speaking.
Everyone looked at Gray and felt quite impressed. They didn't know he observed Kingsley.
"Was it that obvious?"
Kingsley looked at his teammates and asked them.
"Didn't even notice it."
"Were you doing that when passing?"
While the sophomores are talking Lance decided to talk and catch their attention.
"Excuse me. I have a suggestion to make so that we can maximize our team chemistry."
"What?"
"Actually, I believe Gray not only noticed senior Kingsley's habits but of all of us."
Nathan's eyes brightened as if he remembered something.
"I remember now! I believe Gray has data on all of us. We can use that to tell what we excel in what we are lacking so that we can cover them and utilize better chemistry."
Kingsley and the others listened to the suggestion and looked at Gray who seemed to know a lot. Kingsley also remembered that Gray noticed his habits so it wouldn't be strange if he is familiar with all of the member's habits.
"Alright, that is a good suggestion but we have a problem."
Everyone looked at Kingsley who turned serious.
His eyes laid on the court and spoke.
"We need a place where we can practice. There are 5 teams that are sharing the gym so... you know what I mean, right?"
"... Only when we can play a lot can we make good chemistry."
"..."
"So the problem is a place to train?"
"Isn't local court free to use?"
"No, that won't do. There are a lot of people who play there so we might not be able to play."
"Gray, any idea?" Kingsley asked.
"... The ones I know are private places, so... We can't use them and they cost a lot."
"..."
Suddenly, Lance remembered something and stared at Allan.
Allan noticed him and spoke in a cold voice, "What?"