At the same time you had the chance to do something just as much fun: try to think one move ahead of the other guys.

Or two.

“Some players can take a picture of where everybody is on the court at a given moment,” Gramps said. “But the gift you have is that you can see where everybody is about to be, once you make your move.”

That’s the way it happened tonight, at the end of their practice game, the two sides tied. Lucas had the ball after a made basket. Matt Sample was guarding him. Bobby Clapper was guarding Ryan.

Lucas yelled out, “Utah!”

He saw Ryan smile as he did, from the low blocks on the left side. “Utah” meant they were going to run a classic pick-and-roll that the Jazz used to run when they had John Stockton and Karl Malone. Both of them had ended up in the Hall of Fame, Lucas knew.

The pick-and-roll helped get them there. Mightily.

Now Lucas and Ryan were going to run it at Claremont Middle, with every player on the court knowing what was coming.

Let them try to stop it, Lucas thought.

Now he felt himself smiling.

The play had been effective for the starters the last two times they had used it. Both times Lucas had been the finisher. One time Matt had fought through Ryan’s screen, but Lucas had still beaten him off the dribble and ended up with a layup. The other time Bobby Clapper had switched out on him, but not quickly enough, because Lucas had enough time and enough room to step back and make his longest shot of the night.

The other three starters, Billy and Richard and Sharif, were on the right side of the court. The key, both Lucas and Ryan knew, was that Ryan couldn’t rush the action and pop out too soon. When he did come running at Lucas, Bobby Clapper yelled “screen,” the way they’d been taught. Matt would come up now on Lucas and guard him closer than he already was.

Lucas was sure it wasn’t going to matter.

He’d stepped back to his left last time. The time before that he’d driven right. Matt guessed Lucas was going right again, because right meant a layup. Lucas took one dribble to his right, then crossed over, as if about to use his great first step and drive.

From behind Ryan, Bobby Clapper could see that Lucas had a step on Matt, and a clear path down the lane unless somebody jumped out on him from the other side of the defense.

That’s what the picture looked like right now.

Lucas had a different idea about the way he wanted the court to look next. And if Ryan was reading his mind the way he so often could, so did he.