Page 147 of Scoring the Player
ARNAZ
“On the Matter of Forgiveness”
Soak it in this brine of decay and deafness.
“You ready for this?” Sid asks as we head to the film room.
“No.”
As soon as we turn the corner, Aiden’s there, smack dab in front of the room.
“Ick.” I stop walking. His I’m-smarter-than-you brows are brought down a peg by his good-boy eyes, only to confuse you again as you scroll down to the rugged five o’clock shadow a shade lighter than his black hair. “He looks better than he did back then.”
“Yeah?”
“Mmhm.”
Sid shrugs. “Salem’s hotter.”
I scoff. “Fuck off. Don’t look at him.”
He laughs. “I’m just saying, the last time a guy looked at me the way Salem looks at you, I ended up engaged.”
“He’ssohot.” I groan. “You should see the thirst-trap videos his pet sitter sends him. And his ex is hot too.”
“Who’s his ex?”
“You two wanna get your asses in here?” Coach yells in our direction.
“Lucien Laurent,” I reply as we haul it into the room.
“Oh, dayum. Heishot. He’s been an annual sponsor of my criminal justice reform gala for years.”
“Ugh.”
“Aight. But did he go on national TV and tell the world he wants Lucien?” he throws back.
My grin vanishes as I pass by Aiden and take a seat in the far corner.
“Let’s get into it,”Coach begins. “We know how Oklahoma plays. The key tomorrow night is to stop Miloš. We pull him out of his flow, everything else unravels. What does he feed off of the most?”
“Orchestrating the defense,” Sid answers, and I nod in agreement. One of the best centers in the league, the more Miloš facilitates, the more power he generates.
Coach points to Sid. “Correct. What’s our play?”
“Stay tight on cutters and shooters to limit pass opportunities,” I reply.
“Correct. What else?”
“Protect the paint,” Nick answers.
“That’s right. His vision’s 20/20 at reading the court. Stay on time with rotations, protect the rim, and make them go through us to get to the board.”
“Yeah, but even if we don’t give up passes,” a rook chimes in, eyes pinging between us, “he’s a sharpshooter.”
“Good point,” Sid says, making the youngin’ puff up. “But we’re top three in the league defensively for a reason. Ussef, Johan, and I will body up and force him to take tougher shots.”
“Make no mistake,” Coach says, “tomorrow’s game comes down to using the clock to our advantage and applying sustained pressure until the end. Aiden’s gonna walk us through film from our last matchup and then we’ll hit the court to work on adjustments.”
