Hot Hand by Mike Lupica Read Free Book Online Page B

“Because you guys both know I’m a basketball coach in name only.”
    “Don’t worry, Mr D,” Billy said, feeling as cocky as his friend Lenny all of a sudden. “We got you today.”
    He wasn’t sure whether he was really feeling cocky, or whether he was just happy that he was going to get to play ball today without his dad looking over his shoulder.
    Maybe he was just happy for once to be playing for somebody else’s dad.

ELEVEN
    They were ahead almost the whole game.
    Never by more than ten points. It wasn’t like they were running away with anything, not against the Hornets. Not against Tim Sullivan, the guy Billy considered the second-best player in the league after Lenny.
    Tim Sullivan was taller than Lenny, tall enough to play forward in their league, or even center if he wanted. But in his case, size didn’t matter. Tim Sullivan was a point guard, had always been a point guard, and the only other point guard who could come close to covering him, because of how big he was and how good he was, was Lenny DiNardo.
    Tim Sullivan was the player Billy’s dad was always talking to him about. He said Billy should be more like him, that even though Tim could get his shot against any player in the league or any defense, even though he seemed to always have the ball in his hands when he was in the game, he managed to keep everybody else on his team “involved.”
    That was a big word with Billy’s dad. Involved.
    He made it sound like something you did in church instead of a gym.
    Today, though, as much as Tim was keeping his teammates involved, the Magic were winning the game. In Billy’s mind, there were two big reasons for that:
    1. Lenny was doing a good job guarding Tim.
    2. Billy Raynor couldn’t miss.
    Could. Not. Miss.
    He felt the way he did sometimes at the Pop-A-SHOT they had in the basement, when he’d be down there by himself and get a good rhythm going. He’d make everything he threw at the basket until the clock ran out.
    That kind of day.
    Mr. DiNardo wasn’t telling him he was shooting too much because nobody was. If anything, the guys on his team wanted him to shoot more .
    So he had that going for him. And this: Because the Magic were down a couple of players, he and Lenny got to play the whole second half.
    “That’s the way your dad would do it, right?” Mr. DiNardo said at halftime.
    Billy and Lenny answered at the same time. “Abso lutely, Coach,” they said.
    “I think that’s the first time anybody ever called me Coach,” Mr. D said.
    The Hornets tried to switch from zone to man-to-man in the third quarter. They even switched Tim Sullivan over to Billy. It made Billy mad the first couple of times down the court, Tim guarding him so closely, ignoring everybody else, that Lenny couldn’t get him the ball.
    Guarding him so tight those first couple of times Billy could hardly breathe.
    Lenny could see how annoyed Billy was. When Tim was shooting a couple of free throws, he came over and stood next to him. “Dude,” he said, “they had to put the big dog on you. It’s a compliment.”
    The switch actually worked for the Magic, because Lenny started scoring anytime he wanted to against Tony Gilroy, the guy from the Hornets who was guarding him now. After about two minutes, the Hornets had to switch back, Tim going back on Lenny. Before the quarter ended, Billy hit two straight shots, and the Magic were back to being ahead by ten.
    It looked like they would stay ahead, not let the Hornets get any closer than that, until Lenny picked up his fourth foul with six minutes left. He called the time-out before his dad did and took himself out of the game.
    As he was leaving the court, he said to Billy, “Don’t let the other guys panic if they make a run. ’Cause they probably will make one now, without me in there.”
    “No worries, dude,” Billy said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. Because sometimes when Lenny wasn’t out there with him, he felt as if he were trying