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Back The Turnover
Chapters (41)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  41. Also by Mike Lupica

The Wolves had the ball in the backcourt. Lucas brought it up. Charlie darted in a couple times, going for the steal. Lucas was ready for him. Lucas didn’t call out “Utah” as he crossed half-court. All he had to do was look at Ryan. They both knew.

Ryan knew. Zim knew. Charlie knew what was coming and so did Lucas.

Let them try to stop it.

Lucas angled to the right side when he got to the top of the key. He was right-handed. Charlie knew Lucas was more comfortable driving right with his dominant hand. But now Lucas crossed over and went left toward the free-throw line.

Ryan was there by then. Zim was behind Ryan, and jumped out as Lucas cleared Ryan, seeing that Lucas had a step on Charlie. So now it was Zim guarding Lucas, Charlie on Ryan.

Charlie had time to get in front of Ryan as Ryan turned for the basket, guarding him as closely as he could, knowing what kind of height advantage Ryan would have down near the basket if Lucas passed him the ball.

But Lucas caught Ryan’s eye. As he did, he tilted his head slightly to his right, telling Ryan to pop out behind the same three-point line they used in their league that players used in high school. He was telling Ryan to go for what the TV guys called the “dagger.”

Charlie, fast as he was, was slow to react when Ryan didn’t make a move for the basket, and ran out to the line instead. Lucas didn’t hesitate. He wheeled and hit Ryan with a chest-high pass. Ryan didn’t even need a dribble. He just put a pure shooting stroke on his shot, even holding his follow-through just slightly.

All net.

Now the Wolves were up by five, 39–34.

The Bulls came back and scored. But then Billy made a baby hook, his favorite shot. The Wolves were back up by five. Twenty seconds left. The Bulls tried to run a pick-and-roll of their own at the other end with Charlie and Zim, but Ryan fought through Zim’s screen, got a hand on the ball, slapped it over to Lucas, who beat everybody down the court. Only Lucas didn’t shoot the ball. They were under ten seconds now, and instead of driving all the way to the basket, he cut to the corner while Charlie chased him, then back toward half-court until the buzzer sounded, ending the game.

Sometimes when you were the open man, all you had to do was dribble out the clock.

They were 1–0.

SIX

Gramps treated the players to a pizza lunch in town at Gus’s. The Wolves took up two long tables in the back room.

While Lucas and Ryan waited for their pizzas to come out of the kitchen, Lucas told his friend it felt as if they were celebrating a championship, and not just the first game of the season.