The Beasts gathered at their bench.
"Good effort, keep the offence going, keep taking shots. If you're open, shoot it. Keep up the momentum, build a lead." (Dom)
Joseph drank some water as he looked over at the Gunners bench. So far, the Beasts offence was overwhelming the Gunners defence.
"They aren't making shots outside of Frank, so I'm going to need Devonte to break up any passes to Frank." (Dom)
Dom faced the rest of the boys.
"Keep up the energy, play good defence, we win the game." (Dom)
Meanwhile, at the Gunners bench.
The Gunners Coach was not happy.
"What was that?" (G Coach)
The team stood around as the Coach started going off.
"Sloppy offence! Sloppy defence! What have all of you been training for?" (G Coach)
Lelo stood quiet as his Coach jabbed him in the chest.
"If you keep up this kind of weak effort, you might as well not play! You, Montez, you're the captain, what kind of plays are you running? Where's the communication? Where's the energy?" (G Coach)
Their manager stepped up and tried pulling the Coach away. The coach took a deep breath before he sat down again.
"Put more energy into the game, or you lot won't be seeing the court for some time." (G Coach)
The Manager glanced at Lelo, who was staring at the ground.
'BEEEP' (whistle, end of timeout)
Both starting fives walked onto the court. Lelo let out a long sigh before scratching his head.
The ball was inbounded to Lelo, who dribbled up the court, Joseph in front of him. Lelo glanced left, dribbling the ball across the half court line.
He glanced at the shot clock.
He moved the ball away from Joseph, who had tried to reach in for a steal. Lelo dribbled the ball behind his back and stepped forward.
Joseph pulled his own body back and tried to get back in front of Lelo. Lelo slung the ball to Frank, who was inside.
Frank caught the ball high, Crox posting him up. The two Centres were about halfway in the paint.
Frank took a single dribble, pushing against Crox to no avail. Toby ran in and tried to steal the ball. Frank brought the ball up, extending with his length and height. With a flick of the wrist, the ball was in the air.
The ball went in smoothly, another skyhook.
"Tsk." (Crox)
Lelo back-pedalled to defence.
"You know coach wouldn't like this." (Frank)
Lelo did not respond, instead, just looking forward at Joseph as he brought up the ball.
Joseph slung the ball ahead to Theodore at the left wing.
Theodore held onto the ball until Leonz ran over from the left corner to set a screen. Theodore denied the screen and drove right instead, forcing Tony(SF) to stay on his left.
Frank stepped forward, arms ready to extend and block any shot. Theodore jumped, Frank extending his hand towards him.
Theodore then scooped the pass over to Crox, who was behind Frank.
Frank turned around as quick as he could. Crox laid it in easily before Frank could jump towards him.
The Gunners coach fumed on the bench as their manager tried to calm the coach down.
Lelo caught the inbound pass, but passed it to Dominico to bring it up the court instead.
Dominico, facing Leonz, passed to Tony.
Tony held the ball. He considered passing the ball in to Frank, but Crox would have likely broken up the play.
Lelo jogged in, Joseph close by.
Tony dribbled the ball, hopping to the right before he did a right to left crossover. Tony drove in from the baseline, Theodore pushing against him as he drove.
Tony threw the ball out.
Lelo jumped and caught the ball over Joseph, landing along the right baseline, back towards the rim.
Joseph tried poking it, but was unsuccessful.
Lelo took a single dribble before performing a half spin, his right foot stepping back. He turned his body back, swinging his right foot over as he held the ball with both hands.
When Lelo jumped, he leaned back on the shot. Joseph tried to jump for a block, but was unable to reach where the ball was.
The ball hit the front rim before falling in.
Lelo landed and took a few steps back as he watched the shot go in. He turned and jogged back on defence.
Joseph inbounded the ball to Leonz, who passed the ball back as they jogged towards the Gunners defence.
"Let's slow things down." (Joseph)
Leonz nodded and jogged to the right corner.
Toby ran up for a screen, but Joseph waved him off. Instead, he pointed at Crox before signalling to him.
Lelo noticed what was going on and took several steps back. Joseph waved off the screen, once again finding himself wide open at the three point line.
The shot clock was winding down.
Joseph stared at the rim before getting into his shot. He remembered the training he had gone through. He only needed to repeat what he was capable of doing.
He went up for the shot.
Lelo had noticed Joseph's hesitation to take a three. While Joseph was staring at the rim, Lelo ran up.
Lelo swatted the ball from Joseph's hands. The two point guards ran for the ball. Lelo, having been facing the ball, got to it first.
He ran down the court at about the same speed as Joseph.
He glanced back before laying the ball in, Joseph giving up on the chase down.
Joseph grabbed the ball. He stepped out of the baseline before throwing the ball to Theodore, who had ran back to the half court line.
As Joseph slowly jogged up the court, Lelo was already there, waiting. Theodore ran the offence.
He passed the ball to Leonz, but Leonz was too tightly guarded by Dominico to pull off a three.
Leonz threw the ball in to Toby, who posted up Bash(PF). Bash pushed against Toby, managing to keep Toby from getting much progress. With the rim protector Frank, Toby was unable to do much anyways.
Theodore ran in, Tony following closely. Toby passed the ball to Theodore, who threw the ball back out to Joseph almost instantly. Joseph caught the ball and drove in too, blowing by Lelo.
Lelo chased after him. Dominico stepped away from Leonz slightly.
Leonz ran along the three point line, running from the right to the top of the three point line.
Dominico ran after him. Joseph threw the ball back into Leonz's hands. Leonz caught it.
Dominico made a quick stop. Leonz prepared his shot and jumped, shooting his shot.
Dominico had expected a pump fake, so he only closed in, extending his hands above him.
The ball arched high in the air, a little too high. Leonz watched the ball, already knowing what was going to happen.
"Short!" (Leonz)
Joseph ran in, three Beasts crowding the paint.
The ball bounced off the front rim, headed in Joseph's direction. Joseph jumped, but a long arm reached from the right, grabbing the ball.
Frank landed, hugging the ball close to his body.
"Back on D!" (Joseph)
When the Beasts cleared the half court, Frank passed the ball to Lelo. Lelo glanced around before passing the ball to Dominico.
Dominico dribbled the ball once. The ball got poked away by Leonz. Dominico caught the ball before it could go out of bounds.
The two SG were at the right wing. Leonz's body was low as he kept close to Dominico.
Dominico tried passing the ball back to Lelo. Lelo caught it and brought it over his head as Joseph tried reaching.
Joseph stayed back slightly, the both of them quite some distance away from the three point line. Lelo glanced at the shot clock.
He simply threw the ball at the rim with one arm, almost as if he was throwing the ball away.
Frank jumped to try and catch it. Crox jumped too, smacking the ball out of the air. Toby ran in with Joseph, Lelo already backpedaling.
Tony dived, grabbing the ball as he tumbled to the ground. His body slid on the ground as he looked around.
Joseph ran up to him, trying to grab the ball.
Tony threw the ball up, Dominico catching it. Dominico was about to drive to the rim when Leonz poked it out of his hands from behind. Tony reached out, the ball just out of reach.
The ball went out of bounds.
'BEEEEP' (whistle)
"Out of bounds, red ball." (Referee)
"Tsk." (Joseph)
Lelo walked up from where he was, not expecting his team to hustle. He stood far from the three point line, Joseph standing some distance away.
Tony inbounded the ball to Lelo. Lelo held the ball at his waist, looking around the court as Tony ran to the wing.
The Gunners were still, not many of them making a move.
Lelo dropped the ball in front of him. Joseph reached out for it. Lelo reached out with his left arm and bounced it away from Joseph. He then drove to the left, past Joseph.
He stopped after getting past Joseph and went up for a long two.
The ball rolled out of the rim. Crox jumped, but was out positioned by Frank, who grabbed the board instead. Frank gathered himself after landing.
Joseph sprinted in as Crox tried to push against Frank.
Frank went up and attempted to dunk the ball in. Joseph jumped, only managing to grab his arm as he flew by.
The ball was let go, missing the rim completely.
'BEEEP' (whistle)
Joseph landed off balanced, falling backwards before pushing back, sliding on his ass.
Frank landed without much difficulty.
"Shooting Foul, Blue #1. Two free throws to Red #2." (referee)
***
Time: 7:29
Score: 13-10 (Beasts lead by 3)
***