“When I played ball in the streets of New York, I used to dream about playing for the National Basketball Association, of having my name in the papers, of fame and money. I got a lot of my dream. But I got a lot more than I dreamed of. I got the chance to get an education. I got a chance to realize my own potential and to make a contribution to the streets where I had learned my ball. These young men have this same opportunity, and what’s more, they have more knowledge of what they’re about than I ever did. I would like to take this moment to wish them all the luck in the world, both on and off the court.”

There was a lot of applause, and then we had to wait for the television guys to switch the cameras around before we could start. I lined up next to this guy named Tomkins.

“If you try not to get my sneakers dirty,” he said, “I won’t be too hard on you.”

“You must be smoking that oregano, boy,” I said to him.

“I like the way you say ‘boy’,” he said. “You say it like you ain’t used to the word.”

The ball went up, and Roy got the tap. He tapped it over to Breeze, who waited for everything to settle for a moment before he brought it across court. Roy was on the high post, and Ox had moved low. Paul was starting a circle in the corner. I called for the ball and let Breeze clear to the corner. The play was for Paul to double his man into a pick from the high post. I made like I was going to drive around Tomkins. I put the ball on the floor once, and it was gone. Tomkins had it and was driving downcourt. I went after him. When he slowed down and looked over his shoulder, I knew he saw me. I caught up with him about five feet from the hoop. We went up together, and he slammed on me.

Okay. I got careless. The cat was good. They got the deuce. I brought the ball down, fed it to Ox. Ox took a fall-away jumper, and the ball bounced away from the rim. They got it. I was on Tomkins. He ran down to the high post, turned, got the pass, and shot it behind him to a cat cutting to his right. Another lay-up, another deuce. Everybody was going ape over this cat’s pass.

Roy got called for three seconds. Then Ox threw the ball out of bounds. Before I could turn around, they were up ten. We hadn’t scored a basket yet. I called time-out.

“You ain’t moving, Breeze,” Ox said.

“I was open when you threw up that J that didn’t touch nothing!”

“We got to box out more on the boards,” Roy said. “They boxing me out, and nobody’s helping!”

“What’s the play, coach?” It was Walter. On the money.