by Fresh8 on Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:34 pm
Chapter 2
Sit watched as Ariza and Scola subbed on. Durant scored on the next Stealth possession off a short jumper. The Stealth came up with a steal at midcourt and Ariza finished with a massive slam on the fast break. A minute later, Bogut would dunk the ball. The Hawks called a timeout. Josh Smith and Tayshaun Prince quickly made their way to their bench. Al Horford walked slowly with his hands on his hips and eyes looking towards the scoreboard. His face had disappointment spelt all over it. The Stealth faithful were cheering louder than ever. Sit got through his pep talk quickly.
“On three… one, two three!” Sit yelled.
The players shouted in unison, “Stealth!”
The players went back onto the court and Sit took a seat.
Sit high fived Karl, “It’s a great start!”
Marcus Banks was smiling as his team mates celebrated their opening night win. The Seattle Stealth watched on helplessly as the Hawks reclaimed a double digit lead and cruised to victory in the final quarter. Al Horford and Josh Smith were magnificent but it was Chris Douglas-Roberts who filled in admirably for the injured Manu Ginobili. Douglas-Roberts was the thorn in Seattle’s side as he hit big shot after big shot in the final quarter. Seattle never had a chance to stage any semblance of a comeback. The defending champion Hawks were just too strong for the Stealth.
“The only way from here is up,” Jason Kidd had his arm around backup Aaron Karl as the Stealth stumbled back to the changing room.
Sit shook hands, at mid court, with the Hawks’ coaching staff before making a quick retreat to join his players. He walked inside to find his team demoralised from an embarrassing loss to open the season. Kidd waved for Sit to come over.
“Sorry coach,” Kidd apologised, “I couldn’t get it done tonight.”
“Can’t worry too much about this one,” Sit reassured his 39 year old starting point guard, “We still got 81 games left.”
Durant had changed the quickly and was buttoning up his shirt. In the other corner of the room was Ty who was slouched in his chair as the team trainer helped him ice his left ankle.
Sit asked, “Is the ankle alright?”
Ty smiled, “Just a slight twist. No problems.”
Sit gave him a thumbs up and then looked over towards Durant who was ready to leave. Sit walked over to his star player and sat down next to him.
“Those guys were tough,” Durant admitted, “If we want to be the best, we need to beat the best.”
Sit agreed, “We have a lot of work to do.”
“Yeah,” Durant said, “Yeah we do.”
Sit laughed to himself.
Durant looked at him funny and asked, “Why you laughing?”
Sit had just thought of looking at all of the mail from fans he had received. Most of them had comments that read, “Durant is a dick” or “KD is a dick”.
Sit got up and lied, “Nothing.”
Ty was gasping for air as he woke up in the middle of the night. He reached for his water bottle on his bedside table and hurriedly gulped down a couple of mouthfuls of water; he drank so forcibly that he nearly choked. It was the same nightmare that had been haunting him for a while now. The recurring dream of his mother and brother calling out to him. Ty hopped out of bed and went inside the bathroom to splash some cool water onto his face. He reached over for a towel to wipe his face and hands before looking back into the mirror.
“What the...” he spun around quickly.
The bathroom was dark and his emotions helped to create an eerie atmosphere. He thought he had seen someone or something in the mirror. He cautiously looked back into the mirror to search for the silhouette he thought he had seen. There was nothing there and Ty took a deep breath before throwing his towel onto the bathroom bench and running back to his bed. He’d sleep with his bedside lamp on for the rest of the night.
* * *
“Breakfast is ready!” Mrs Tyson called out to his boys.
Ty and his little brother Tayshawn raced to the table.
“Settle down you two,” their mother laughed as she scooped the rest of the scrambled eggs into a bowl.
The brothers dug right into it.
“Mom, your cooking is the best!” Tayshawn was trying to say with his face stuffed full of food.
Mrs Tyson laughed, “Be careful not to choke on your food. Don’t eat so fast, the food isn’t going to get away from you.”
“I’m going to be a little bit late tonight because of basketball practice,” Ty told his mother.
Mrs Tyson asked, “How late is late?”
“Rocky’s mom is going to give us a lift back,” Ty was buttering his toast, “I think it will be like six.”
“Say hi to her for me,” Mrs Tyson instructed Ty, “And tell her that we need to all get together for dinner on the weekend. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that.”
Ty scoffed down his toast and eggs then finished off his glass of milk. As he waited for his younger brother to finish his own breakfast, Ty sat at the doorway and tied his laces whilst dreaming about playing in the NBA one day. He wanted to play for the New York Knicks. He wanted to play alongside All-Star point guard Stephon Marbury. They’d have to get rid of Larry Brown though, Ty thought to himself, because Larry Brown doesn’t like to play rookies.
“Ty!”
Ty was still day dreaming in the middle of class.
“Can you answer my question?” his teacher asked him.
Ty sheepishly replied, “Sorry, I didn’t catch it.”
The bell rang and all the kids quickly jumped out of their seats and bolted for the exit to the hallway. It was the end of the day. Ty couldn’t stop smiling as he quickly packed his bag to leave the classroom; he had been waiting all day for this. Basketball practise was just around the corner.
* * *
Ty was having a rest from the taxing practise Sit had just put the Stealth through. He spotted David Lee and got his attention.
“You know when I was back in my senior year in high school, I used to root for you and Starbury?” Ty thought it was interesting.
“You were like 17 at the time?” Lee asked.
Ty nodded and Lee laughed, “That makes me feel old.”
“You always wanted to be a Tar Heel?” Lee made conversation, he had never really spoken much to Ty despite the two of them joining the Stealth in the same season.
Ty pointed to his jersey number, “Yeah. I was like any other kid. I wanted to be like Mike.”
“Knicks fan hey?” Lee questioned him.
“I’m from around there,” Ty proudly stated, “I love my Knicks.”
“You ever want to play for them?”
Ty looked around and quietly confessed, “Might think about signing when I’m done here.”
Lee warned him, “Maybe take a second thought about that. New York isn’t all that great to play for.”
Sit shouted out, “That’s enough rest! Let’s get back out there and do some more suicides.”
“Oh no Coach!” most of the players grumbled as they got onto their feet.
Assistant Coach Rasheed Wallace had a broomstick and chased some of the players around the gym, “Get off your lazy asses and get running!”
The Stealth players lined up on the baseline as Sit looked on his stopwatch.
“Ok, you have 20 second to finish one. So a minute to do three. If you don’t finish it, then we go again,” Sit yelled out.
Durant complained, “That’s impossible.”
Sheed was jumping up and down in an excited state, “That’s the point! We’re helping you get fit!”
Sit ignored what was said, “When I say go. On your marks, get set...”