Raw Intimidation, and some Bad News.

Miami

Florida

USA

After the tribulation at Baltimore, Kobayashi and the other youngsters found themselves moping and fretting about their crushing defeat for days. It was the kind of loss that sucked out your enthusiasm, confidence, and will.

The loss almost made Kobayashi hate basketball.

Along with Kobayashi, Odai Beckham Jr, Chad Brown, and even Keon Jordan Jr were absolutely crestfallen. Keon, being the number one pick of that year’s draft, was now slowly starting to realize that being the first pick meant nothing if he couldn’t perform at a high level.

But, his performance was anything ­but high level.

And he was ashamed of it.

The frustration, anxiety, and low spirits of his teammates was getting to Kobayashi. He began to question why and how he was even in the league. He began to question if he being in the league was even worth it.

“We’re all getting waived!” he thought bitterly.

“You’re not getting kicked off the team,” said Danny Reynolds firmly. “Not anytime soon, at least.”

Kobayashi jumped. It wasn’t the first time he had felt that Dan could read minds…

*

Despite the low spirits of the team, Kobayashi noticed that one guy was still relatively normal compared to the others. Despite being the one to take the biggest thrashing ever from Josh Okongo, Lokesh Kumar still maintained his usual poise and focus. Kobayashi still wondered how Lokesh had stood up to the morbid vibe of terror coming from Josh. He himself had been sweating in fright.

His question was about to be answered. Very, very, soon.

The team’s next opponent would be a team from the Eastern Conference (1), the Miami Coasters. It was with slow gaits and near-extinguished spirits that the young team started their practice session in Magic City.

Lokesh, as usual, was confined to the entrance door of the room that had the practice courts. As per his punishment for showing up late on his first day, he had to make ten consecutive three pointers from the entrance in order to join his team. As much as Kobayashi liked Lokesh and admired his game, he couldn’t help but think what a terrible three point shooter Lokesh was. His shooting form was ghastly. His aim was terrible. Finally, his release was so poorly timed that it was almost criminal.

Kobayashi was going through one of his drills. Shooting three after three from beyond the arc. He just couldn’t seem to miss. It was the most surreal feeling he had ever felt. Suddenly something hit his head with a loud BONK. Reeling in pain, Kobayashi turned back to see and figure out that Lokesh had botched a shot so badly, it had travelled multiple feet away from the basket and hit Kobayashi’s head instead.

“THAT’S IT!” said Kobayashi, starting towards Lokesh.

“How do you shoot?” asked Lokesh.

“Pardon?”

“Well, you just can’t seem to miss!” said Lokesh. “How do you shoot like that?”

“Take a shot,” said Kobayashi.

“What?”

“Shoot the ball! I want to see you do it!” said Kobayashi.

Lokesh shot the ball. It went in a high arc behind the backboard and almost hit a cleaner.

“No! No! No!” yelled Kobayashi. “I figured out where you’re going wrong! Don’t angle your body to the basket so much! Be a little more oriented to the direction of the hoop! You’re shooting sideways!”

“Oh,” said Lokesh. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” said Kobayashi. “Your release is off. You’re right-handed, right? Use your left hand as just a guide-hand. Don’t take its help to shoot the actual shot.”

Lokesh thought for a moment, then smiled. “Got you.”

“Good,” grunted Kobayashi. “Never hit me again!”

*

As the game between the Houston Spacewalkers and Miami Coasters commenced, it was evident that nobody from the Spacewalkers was playing with any heart or hope. Danny Reynolds tried his best to bolster team spirit by hitting two three pointers. But the devastated team had all but given up hope.

Some extreme observers of the game will tell you that at times like that, real franchise players sprout from the soil. From there, they grow into great, big, oaks.

They weren’t wrong.

“Substitution! Houston, number 64!” yelled the referee.

Lokesh jogged on to the court.

“Substitution! Houston, number 1!”

Kobayashi followed Lokesh onto the court. He was nervous for his teammate. This was the only man fast enough to receive his passes. This was the man who’d helped him reach national headlines in the G-League.

Basically, Lokesh was the foundation of his career.

“Hey,” said Lokesh, beckoning to Kobayashi. “Throw me some lobs!”

Kobayashi stared. “How is he so calm?”

Kobayashi ran the offense and crossed his defender. As per Lokesh’s instructions, he threw up a random, half-hearted lob. “He won’t even get that poor lob,” he thought sadly.

As three Miami players jumped up to steal the horrible lob. But, like a wild caracal hunting a bird, Lokesh catapulted above them all. Their expressions went from super-focused to super-terrified in the blink of an eye. “How is that humanely possible?”

Lokesh snatched the lob and threw down a poster-dunk on the three Miami players. THUNK!

The simple pick-and-roll play turned out to be the game-changing play for the Houston Spacewalkers franchise.

The entire bench leapt up, cheering and hooting. Egging Lokesh on.

Within a few seconds, he’d turned the entire team’s mood around.

*

It looked like a repeat of the G-League again. Lokesh’s dominance as a scorer was visible as he threw down powerful dunks on the hapless opponents. Occasionally, he would slow down and use his newest trick: the mid-range game.

With ten seconds left in the fourth quarter, Houston led Miami 118-116. A brilliant turnaround led by Lokesh had helped Houston take the lead.

With a start, Kobayashi realized that the Miami players were going for an easy layup. He ran after them fruitlessly, cursing.

Suddenly, Lokesh shot after them like a tracer-bullet. He got to the side of the offensive player and tried to get a stop.

Then, it happened.

The five seconds that changed the Houston Spacewalkers franchise forever.

Suddenly, a death-like, vicious, terrifying vibe began to billow out of Lokesh like a raging hellfire. His normally jolly, friendly eyes now looked like the eyes of the demons of folklore. Kobayashi gasped. He could feel it as well.

Only, it seemed to make him feel stronger.

He ran with newfound zest and zeal to get the stop.

The offensive player of the Miami Coasters went for a wide-open layup as Lokesh was screened out. But Kobayashi, and Odai Beckham Jr knew what was going to happen before it did.

The guy tried to lay the ball in, but…

“HE MISSED IT! HE MISSED THE LAYUP! ICHIKAWA WITH THE REBOUND AND HE DRIBBLES IT OUT (2)! HOUSTON WIN! AFTER A DEVASTATING LOSS TO BALTIMORE, THEY’VE SNATCHED THE VICTORY HERE AT MIAMI! LOKESH KUMAR WITH 44 POINTS! WHAT A GAME WE’VE SEEN HERE TONIGHT!” yelled the TV commentator, loud enough for Kobayashi to hear as he flung the ball away and ran to hug his teammates.

Odai and Kobayashi looked at each other and grinned.

It was exactly what Lewis Ronald, the center of the Las Vegas Decks, had done to them in their debut game.

Now, they’d seen their own teammate use that ability.

Dan grinned. “So that’s why Marcello Rodriguez invited him to the draft combine and drafted him!” he said.

“He’s a franchise-caliber player!”

“Wait, how’s that?” asked Keon Jordan Jr.

“Didn’t you feel that Raw Intimidation coming off him?”

“Raw Intimidation? What’s that?”

Dan smiled.

“Every once in a while, a real franchise player appears in this league. And I’m not talking about overly talented role-players! Nobody knows why, or how. But, these guys have a rare ability. An ability through which they scare the opponent’s body and mind into submission by using their overbearing franchise player aura! When you feel it, it feels like you’ve been marked for destruction by the opposition’s best player! It basically destroys your confidence, and dilutes your game!”

“Why doesn’t it work on you?” asked Kobayashi to Dan.

“I’m a veteran. Trust me, it used to work on me. But, not anymore. I’ve gotten used to it! I’ve felt it too much for it to work on me anymore!”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Raw Intimidation has an entirely different effect on teammates and allies, however!”

He chuckled and continued.

“It boosts your confidence, zeal, and energy to the heights of Mount Olympus!”

*

After the legendary turning point at Miami, the Houston Spacewalkers went on a winning spree. They started to destroy some of the best teams in the league. New York, Washington, Tallahassee, Oakland, and other powerhouse teams were absolutely helpless in the face of an overzealous team with a new franchise player to look up to. Slowly but surely, Houston started to creep up the ranks.

But, destiny hadn’t planned for these men’s paths to be that easy.

“This is it, guys!” said Lokesh. “We win our next few games, we make the playoffs! This team hasn’t made the playoffs in years! Let’s go book ourselves a berth!”

“ONE! TWO! THREE!” called Dan.

“END THE CURSE!” yelled the team.

The curse wasn’t going to end. Not that soon. Just as his team’s mental bashing ended, Lokesh’s mental bashing had just begun.

Just then, Lokesh received a phone call. “Hello?”

“Hello, Loki?”

Lokesh grinned. It was his best friend, Karan. He seemed to be in quite a noisy place. Drums, trumpets, and an Indian musical instrument, the shehnai, sounded in the background.”

“Hey, Karan! What’s up? How’s your start-up?”

“Business is great!” said Karan. “Congratulations on your epic turnaround in the NBA! I can’t believe you’re that good!”

The rest of the team was confused. “Who is this guy?”

“I’m going to get better!” said Lokesh. “We’re making the playoffs! For sure!”

“I bet you are!”

“What’s all that background noise, Karan?” asked Lokesh, getting slightly annoyed at how loud it was.

“Oh that? You remember that girl who taught you to play basketball? Neha Srinivas?”

Lokesh blushed. He’d heard the name of the girl he liked after so long. “Yeah, of course!”

He knew that Karan and Neha had attended the same PU College, St Mary Ann’s, in his hometown of Bangalore. They’d probably formed a friendship there, he assumed.

Now, the team was extremely curious. “A girl taught him to play?”

More than that, they didn’t expect to see their franchise cornerstone blush at the mention of a lady. They really didn’t think of him as the type that noticed girls. But, they reminded themselves, he was just as human as all of them.

They loved him for that.

At the same time, he was their pillar of support, their scoring catalyst, and their on-court captain.

They admired him for that.

“Who is this lady who caught his attention?” they thought.

“Yeah,” said Karan. “I’m at her wedding!”

Lokesh felt the entire world crumbling around him. He felt lost and confused. His heart slipped into his foot and his throat went dry. He felt dizzy, like everything was spinning around him. Then, he spoke, the heartbreak in his voice palpable.

“What?”

“Yeah, man! Neha’s getting married!”

Endnotes

1. Eastern Conference: The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the NBA, the other being the Western Conference. Both conferences consist of 15 teams organized into three divisions. They basically represent the east side of the United States.

2. Dribbling the ball out: This basically means you keep the ball with you and dribble it with no motive other than to let the final few seconds of the game come to a close.