Chapter Three: The Embers Ignite

Han went pale. “I’m only the passing coach.” “You don’t have to jump,” Lu told him. “But you must step onto the floor and decide what happens next.” Black Tiger attacked Han immediately. Their powerful center dragged him into pick-and-rolls, forced him beneath the basket, then rose for dunks. Han instinctively hunched away from contact. In six minutes, Black Tiger scored fourteen points through him. Boos filled the gym. Chen panicked too, charging whenever the ball reached him. One drive ended with him on the floor; another with the ball out of bounds. The score became 22–7. During the timeout, Lu wrote one word in the center of his board: SLOW.