Joseph dribbled the ball slowly past the half court line before standing there to take a few deep breaths.
Harley, not wanting to let him get a chance to recover, stepped up to him. Joseph looked around and passed the ball to Theodore, who caught it.
Joseph paced around, not getting too involved in the offence.
Theodore faced up against Ainz, who was standing all the way at the three-point line, guarding Theodore.
Theodore glanced around.
The other Beasts were not moving. Normally, the offence was officiated by Joseph, and it had worked quite well at the beginning too.
With Joseph taking a step back, they had no real playmaker.
Theodore jabbed to the left before driving to the right. Ainz stood in his way.
Theodore was unable to stop himself before he hit into Ainz, both of them tumbling to the ground.
'BEEEP' (whistle)
Theodore got up, staring at the referee.
"#15 Blue, Charging Foul. Purple ball." (Referee)
Theodore sighed. Toby gave him a hand and helped him onto his feet as the Beasts ran back on defence.
Joseph still stood between Harley and any of the Jesters with the ball.
With Joseph's back to him, Harley pointed upwards.
Leonard caught the inbound and threw the ball high.
Harley ran backwards, looking up at the ball.
Joseph followed after him, making sure he would not be able to catch it.
Harley stopped, forcing Joseph to stop as well. Joseph tried getting around Harley, but Harley shifted his position once more.
The ball landed in front of Harley.
Harley caught the ball and was about to run towards the rim when Joseph reached out and blatantly slapped Harley's arm.
'BEEEP' (whistle)
"Tsk." (Harley)
Harley dropped the ball and walked towards the right sideline.
"#1 Blue, Reach-in Foul. Purple ball." (Referee)
"Good foul." (Theodore)
Joseph stood in front of Harley, extending his hands to either side of him. Harley stood out of bounds, ready to inbound the ball.
'BEEEP' (whistle)
The referee passed the ball to Harley, who stood there casually, looking around. Joseph made sure his body was disrupting Harley's line of sight.
Joseph adjusted his right arm above him.
Harley threw the ball high in the air. The ball arched high before falling down towards the rim. Thomas was too out of position to have caught that alley.
Crox jumped for it, but decided to not touch it.
The ball bounced off the backboard and into the rim.
"Ah… my bad!" (Harley)
The basket did not count.
Joseph caught the inbound pass from the Beasts. He was getting tired, and the rest of his team was also getting tired. However, unlike the Beasts, the Jesters seem to be doing relatively well stamina wise.
In particular, Harley Snyder only looked slightly tired, which made sense considering his inactivity on offence.
Harley stood far back from the three point line. Joseph, who had brought the ball up, stood there, wide open.
He looked around.
"All yours!" (Toby)
Joseph held the ball with both hands and went up for the shot. Joseph, worried about being blocked, had looked in front of him. Harley made eye contact with him, and gave him a smile.
Joseph let the shot fly.
The ball went off course and bounced off the backboard and into Thomas' hands.
Thomas passed to Harley, but Darius stepped into the passing lane and tapped the ball aside.
Joseph ran for the ball and held it with both hands securely. Once again, he realised he was wide open, even from the midrange.
Harley was to his left, having not moved from the previous defensive position.
Joseph hesitated with the shot.
He had waited a little too long before taking the shot.
When he went up for it, Harley jumped from the left. And snatched the ball out of the air. Harley did not just block the shot, but jumped high enough to grab the ball out of the air.
Harley landed and instantly ran towards the basket.
Joseph, in an attempt to stop him, reached out and grabbed his arm.
'BEEEP' (whistle)
"Clear Path Foul, #1 Blue. Two free throws, Purple ball." (Referee)
Joseph was breathing too hard.
Joseph looked back to the bench. There was a substitution.
Thankfully, as Joseph requested, it was not for him.
Theodore walked out, high-fiving John Harper.
***
Zodiac Beasts substitution:
#15 Theodore Hatchet subs out for #0 John Harper
Homer Jesters substitution:
#54 Ainz Waters subs out for #3 Yom Dumars
***
Joseph recognised Yom, because he was the sixth man they had reviewed footage on. An average player overall.
However, Joseph was concerned as to the reason why the Jesters were running a double PG lineup.
With Harley disengaging on offence, it made sense for them to put in another Point Guard to run the offence.
Yom, 5'11, the shortest player on the court.
Harley stood at the free throw line, rubbing his hands together.
The referee made sure everyone was in position before passing the ball to Harley.
Harley spin the ball in his left hand before taking a single dribble, the shot going up right after.
The shot went in. (1/1)
Similarly, the second shot also went in. (2/2)
John approached Joseph.
"Coach wants to tell you to be careful. You already got three fouls." (John)
"I'll be careful, no worries." (Joseph)
***
Time: 3:47
Score: 22-21 (Jesters lead by 1)
***
Joseph walked over to Harley, who was not inbounding the ball from the sidelines this time.
Yom caught the inbound pass, John having followed him out. Yom threw the ball over to Leonard, who caught the ball and immediately passed it cross court to Samuel.
Samuel stood at the three point line, where Toby was not willing to step up.
Samuel shot a three ball. The shot went wild and completely missed, hitting the rim.
Toby rebounded the ball and threw it to John, who was making a break for it. No one was in sight, Yom chasing him from behind.
John managed to get an easy layup.
Yom stepped out and inbounded the ball.
Joseph's concentration had slipped for a moment, and it resulted in Harley being able to hold the ball.
Joseph made sure he remained in front of Harley, and was not going to allow anything from him.
Harley dribbled the ball with his right arm. Almost as if he lost handle of the ball, the ball bounced too far in front of him.
Joseph reached out to steal the ball.
Harley extended his left arm and brought the ball to his left with a crossover.
Joseph caught himself, but Harley was already past him.
In an attempt to help, John left Yom to move in front of Harley.
At the same time, Leonard cut to the basket from the left. With Yom to his right, John fully expected Harley to pass to Yom, or to take a shot.
Joseph was hot in pursuit behind Harley.
Harley stopped. With his left hand, he brought the ball behind his back, an obvious behind the back pass to Yom.
John stepped towards Yom.
Harley twisted his boy right, his right arm reaching back. The ball, from a behind the back turned into an elbow pass to Leonard, who was cutting to the rim.
John, who had not seen the pass, looked around, confused before he saw Leonard.
Leonard extended his right arm and dunked the ball in. He landed and bounced, excited. Harley high-fived Leonard on the way back.
"What was that?" (John)
"Some Jason Williams bullshit." (Joseph)
Joseph dribbled the ball up the court once again, observing the court. After having sprinted after Harley in a useless attempt at defence, he felt more tired than ever.
His throat was getting dry too.
He walked up the court, his breathing becoming more laboured as he heard the chatter from the people watching on the second floor.
Joseph stopped at the three point line, once again open. He shot the ball, slightly calmer than previously.
He left his right arm in the follow through, having a good feeling about the shot.
The ball bounced around the rim before falling through the rim.
Joseph clenched his right hand into a fist, a shot finally going through.
Joseph then ran up to Harley, playing the same defence as usual.
Harley started running down the court.
Joseph tried running after him, but was unable to run fast enough. Joseph tried putting more speed into it, but could not catch up to Harley.
Harley caught the long pass and drove to the rim.
He was in front of Crox, their rim protector, Toby nearby as well.
Harley did a slight hop between the two big men, slipping between them. He brought the ball to his left hand, Harley to the left of the rim.
He threw the ball up before either Crox or Toby could block it.
The ball bounced high off the backboard and into the rim.
Harley ran back on defence, pointing to several spots on the court as he instructed his team.
Joseph stood at the half court, bent over as he tried to catch his breath.
The Beasts went up to offence, but Joseph still did not move.
He felt lightheaded, especially after the latest sprint.
"Are you alright?" (Crox)
"I'm… fine…" (Joseph)
Joseph stood up and caught the ball, dribbling it. He took time off the clock by dribbling it, the quarter about to end anyway.
Joseph placed his right hand under the ball and threw a scoop pass.
The ball arced high, and Crox tried jumping for it, but it was not meant to be. The ball flew over the backboard, going out of bounds.
Joseph staggered towards Harley, who simply caught the inbound pass. Joseph tried to stick in front of him, but Harley spun to Joseph's left, passing by him easily.
Harley drove to the paint, stopping to go up for a floater. John had moved over to defend, jumping high enough to block Harley.
Harley flicked the ball back to Yom, who shot the three-pointer.
'Swish' (net)
'BEEEP' (whistle)
"Timeout Blue!" (Referee)
***
Time: 2:23
Score: 29-26 (Jesters lead by 3)
***
"I'm subbing out Quinn." (Dom)
Jospeh slumped down on the bench and was passed a bottle of energy drink.
Joseph took a long drink before he started gasping for breath. He was swearing too much.
"I…" (Joseph)
"Shut the hell up." (Dom)
Dom pointed to Theodore.
"Hatchet'll be subbing in for Quinn. John, play the point. Don't worry about the game, from what I can tell, we'll be losing this anyways." (Dom)
Joseph remained speechless.
"It's only a practice game, there's no need to worry." (Dom)
'BEEEP' (whistle, end of timeout)
***
Zodiac Beasts substitution:
#1 Joseph Quinn subbed out for #15 Theodore Hatchet
Homer Jesters substitution:
#17 Harley Snyder subbed out for #54 Ainz Waters
***
Harley sat on the bench, chatting with some of the other guys on whatever strategy he was scheming.