Free Double Team by Amar'e Stoudemire

reached the little park and biked right up the walkway to the court. A few squirrels had to jump for their lives, but I made it to the court in no time. I was relieved to see my friends. From the looks on their faces, it didn’t seem like the feeling was mutual.

    â€œWell, look who’s here,” said Deuce, doing a little crossover dribble.
    â€œI see him,” said Mike, shooting a lazy jumper.
    I leaned my bike against the fence. “Hey, guys,” I said. “Just shootin’ around?”
    â€œYep,” said Deuce. “Doesn’t make much sense to practice for a three-on-three tourney with only two players.”
    He’d been taking shots at me all week. And I’d been letting him because I felt bad. But it seemed ridiculous now. I just looked at him and kind of tilted my head, like, Really?
    â€œSo why you here anyway?” said Mike.
    They were both listening. Deuce even picked up his dribble, waiting for my reply. I needed to say what I’d come here to say. I could give them a big speech, but it was so simple.
    â€œSo, you guys know Junior has a job after school, and I barely see him these days,” I said.
    â€œOkay, but I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything,” said Deuce.
    â€œWell, today he came home early and we finished up a video game together. It was cool.”
    Deuce started dribbling again. He wasn’t talking, but the ball was saying, Get to the point. So I did.
    â€œIt reminded me of how much I like just hanging out with him. It reminded me that we’re brothers, but we’re boys, too.”
    â€œSounds like a real nice moment,” Deuce said. But he said it with a little smirk on his face like he didn’t really mean it.
    â€œLet him talk, D,” said Mike. Mike and Junior were tight. They had that big-guy bond. Still, it was time to make my case.
    â€œWell, that reminded me of how much fun it is to just hang out with you guys, too,” I said. “I was sitting there just playing around with my bro, and I realized that the three of us don’t really do that anymore.”
    Deuce picked up his dribble again. He wasn’t smirking anymore. He had a look on his face like he was remembering something. I just needed to make sure he was remembering the right things.
    â€œIt’s like we’ve gotten so caught up in winning these tournaments …,” I began.
    â€œThat we forgot to just play the game,” said Mike. “Forgot to have fun.”
    â€œExactly,” I said. “I mean, I knew you guys would be here today because Wednesday is practice. But come on, practice? We used to be out here just about every day. Because we loved playing.”
    â€œYeah,” said Mike. “You guys remember, we used to just come out here and mess around and play hoops until the sun went down?”
    â€œI remember,” I said.
    Now we both looked at Deuce.
    â€œYeah,” he said. “I remember.” And then he smiled. “I mean, it was only a few months ago.”
    We all smiled. It seemed amazing that we’d gotten so serious so quickly.
    â€œI mean, I like the tournaments,” I said. “But what I really like is hanging out and shooting some hoops with my friends. With you guys. It’s why I started playing in the first place.”
    â€œYeah,” said Mike. “Absolutely.”
    â€œI’ve, uh, I’ve been kind of a jerk this week, huh?” said Deuce.
    â€œYou know what?” I said. “I remember a lot of things, but that part? I’ve already forgotten.”
    Deuce and I slapped our hands together, and we squeezed tight.
    â€œAll right, you two,” said Mike. “Break it up before you hug.”
    We all laughed.
    â€œWhat d’ya say we just have some fun out here?” I said. “Like we used to?”

T he numbers were still a little weird. All those hurt feelings didn’t feel far enough away to start