Then the game started and it was as if he’d forgotten how to play basketball. Or at least winning basketball. Or play smart basketball.

He couldn’t make a shot. He felt like he had more turnovers in the first quarter of this one game than all the other games he’d played this season combined. He got caught in switches on defense. Sometimes he just got beat at that end of the court. His teammates seemed to be working around him today, and not with him.

By the end of the quarter Lucas kept sneaking looks at his grandfather, waiting for him to take him out. But when Lucas threw another pass away early in the second quarter, with the Wolves in the lead despite him, he did something he’d never done before in his life.

He called a time-out and took himself out of the game.

“You need to put Neil in for me,” Lucas said. “He’ll give us a better chance. I can’t do anything.”

“I’m still the coach of this team,” Gramps said when Lucas got to the bench, keeping his voice low, maybe as a way of trying to calm down Lucas, even though that wasn’t about to happen.

“Then start acting like one,” Lucas said.

Now Gramps told him to go sit down. Lucas did, as far away from his grandfather as possible. When he got there, he turned and looked out at the court. Ryan was staring at him, almost like he was staring at a stranger.

But that’s what Lucas felt like to himself today.

He didn’t play great in the second half. But at least he’d stopped embarrassing himself. Jake Farr was still having a better game at point for the Mavs than Lucas was for the Wolves. A much better game. But Jake was no longer dominating Lucas when he had the ball. And Lucas, even though he still couldn’t find his shot, had stopped turning the ball over. He had started distributing the ball to his teammates and making better decisions.

There was a point early in the fourth quarter when the game started to get away, and the Wolves managed to waste a ten-point lead. But Gramps kept Lucas out there. Ryan hit a couple of huge shots in the last two minutes. The Wolves ended up winning by four. They stayed unbeaten.

Ryan waited until they were all finished with the handshake line until he pulled Lucas aside.

“Okay, what happened out there?” Ryan said, whispering just loud enough for Lucas to hear.

“Bad day,” Lucas said.

“Dude,” Ryan said, “you took yourself out of a game. I didn’t think you’d do that even if you had a broken leg.”

“Hey, we won,” Lucas said.

Ryan was staring at him, frowning. “Did something happen?”

“I’m good,” Lucas said.

“Don’t lie to me,” Ryan said.

“Everybody lies once in a while,” Lucas said.