Training Camp, Cont.
Every day was blood. Every day was sweat. Every day was tears. This training camp kicked my ass as well as the rest of the team's. We practiced hard & we left our friendships off the court. The decision to spend our first 2-weeks as a team in Monte Carlo was the experience we needed as that final practice in Monte Carlo was legendary for our team. It would go one to define just what we had here & who I had become as a basketball player.
Our final scrimmage we knew was going to be tough. Everyone had something to prove, & this being our last day here it was time to leave it all on the line. For D-Wade, CP3, & Melo, it was about proving to the team that they still got it. For Kelly, it was about showing he deserves his minutes every night over these proven hall of famers. For LeBron, it's about proving he's the greatest of all time, & that starts with proving he's the greatest among us. & for myself, it's about proving I'm the best player on this team & the ball goes through me. I want this to be my team, but I was going to have to prove I deserved it.
"White team it's going to be LeBron, Julius, Nerlens, Carmelo, Cole, & Lance as your 6th man. Blue team will be Tiny, Chris, Kelly, Dwyane, Mitchell, & Rokas as your 6th man." Coach Thibodeau divided us up for an intense full game scrimmage.
"I'm guarding Tiny." said LeBron as he was set on shutting me down in this scrimmage by himself.
"You sure you want to do that?" I shot back as the first play began. Mitchell came & set a strong screen to give myself an open lane to the basket.
"Get that weak shit outta my practice!" LeBron shouted after he blocked my shot out of bounds.
I went back to half court to check the ball with LeBron.
"That was nice, but you can't stop this." I said as I set LeBron up with a quick crossover & got the layup over Lance Stephenson.
Everyone was feeling the intensity of this scrimmage. The last 30 minutes of practice would be the moment's that really pulled us together on the court. We had competitiveness amongst ourselves.
"You're starting over me? Coach he's starting over me?" Chris shouted in Cole's direction after picking him off on the fast break. He walked over to him after the play & said
"You better show me something. Don't let me come out of retirement & take your minutes. I'll take your starting spot. Beat me."
Cole was frustrated but Chris was teaching him his legendary work ethic. The matchup went back & forth.
"Knock that shit down, Kelly!" Wade yelled as he dished to a wide-open Kelly Oubre Jr. after Carmelo went for a double-team. Kelly Oubre was on fire in this scrimmage & Chris Paul & Dwyane Wade no problems feeding him the rock when they had the chance. Oubre knew this was his time to prove he was the best player on our bench.
I skied over LeBron for a one-handed slam.
His frustration was mounting as he & Chris Paul began to get into it after an aggressive tie up.
"No one can stop me!"
"And that's game!" Kelly shouted after throwing down a one-handed dunk to win the game 40-36, Blue team.
I was our team's leading scorer with 19 points, followed by Kelly with 11 & Chris with 7. LeBron finished with 14 for the white team followed by 13 from Julius and 10 from Cole.
"Hell of a game, Tiny." LeBron said as he dapped me up after practice.
"You worked your butt off against me. The league's not going to be able to stop us this season. This year is going to be remembered forever."
We finished the day & flew back to New York to finish preparing for the new season. But not without catching Carmelo asleep on the flight back.
Got EEM.