Chapter 146 - Final-Day Game; Part-Two (2/2)

But, his reflexes blared as he felt Carlos just behind, so he changed the layup into a pass, to Gilbert, who was standing near the baseline.

Carlos was indeed behind Shun and had jumped with to block Shun's layup. He stunned with the sudden pass, he looked at Shun and thought.

Carlos: 'His court vision is a serious troublesome asset.'

Gilbert caught the ball and charged parallel to the basket towards the basket.

In his way, Roger arrived to block him, both of them jumped and collided in mid-air.

Roger: 'Yes! He will not be able to score now.'

But, his eyes widened as he saw that Gilbert was so much above him in the air, and he was only coming to Gilbert's c.h.e.s.t.

Gilbert's ball hand was clearly above the rim, and he bought it down to slam the ball into the bucket.

The force knocked Roger down, and he fell to the ground, while Gilbert stood tall, and roared in celebration.

Gilbert: ”Hell, Yeah!”

-*-*-*-

The score out continued with Ivan becoming even more competitive.

He received the ball at the three-point arc and charged in immediately.

In front of him, Gilbert was ready to defend him, but the moment he stepped in Gilbert's range, Ivan stopped and passed the ball between his legs, and made some gap between them.

In the next move, Gilbert saw Ivan going to the left and moved the left, but it was a fake as he crossed over from the right.

Gilbert tried to chase, but his ankles slipped, and he ended on the ground.

Gilbert: ”Oh, SHIT!”

Ivan was about to charge from the right, but suddenly a serious face Leonal emerged from the space Gilbert had left open.

Ivan simply stopped once more and shot a two-pointer with a smooth looking step-back, which rendered Leonal's defensive attempt useless.

-*-*-*-

Of course, Gilbert wasn't all about dunks, his jumping ability would be wasted on just dunks.

So, he had trained himself sufficiently in the art of rim-finishing.

An example of that was the next play, where Gilbert showed how much he could control himself in the air.

Leonal ran straight to the front of the basket and passed the ball to the left side of the basket to Douglas, who wanted to score, but Ivan stood in front of him, giving him no space to score.

He frowned and passed the ball to Gilbert, who was running to the basket.

Gilbert caught the ball, and after taking two steps, he made a mighty jump and spun for a 360-degree dunk.

Ivan, who was defending against Douglas, moved the moment Douglas passed the ball and jumped in front of Gilbert to block him.

Gilbert collided with Ivan before reaching the basket, and his back was to the basket, but he didn't panic and hooked the ball without looking.

The ball followed a short and sharp arc and swished into the net.

Gilbert and Ivan got to the ground to see the basket falling from the net.

A wild grin surfaced on Gilbert's face, and he pounded his c.h.e.s.t with his fist.

Gilbert: ”YEAH!”

-*-*-*-

Ivan Petrovic had an extremely competitive personality, so when Gilbert was scoring with excellent skills and flair, he wasn't going to be outscored.

Ivan and Gilbert stood near the top of the key with the ball in Ivan's possession.

Gilbert was currently shining with confidence, whereas Ivan was still wearing his indifferent expression.

Ivan, who had not taken the ball to the basket, and had scored from the outside, charged towards the basket with Gilbert in tow.

Shun furrowed his brows and spoke to himself.

Shun: ”He is not at running at his maximum speed.”

Ivan and Gilbert reached the basket at the same time and jumped at the basket.

Gilbert was above Ivan, completely covering the ball's path to the basket.

Gilbert: ”You're not scoring, you stone-faced bastard!”

Ivan then surprised the c.o.c.ky Gilbert by bringing the ball hand down in a double-clutch, switched the ball between his hands, twisted his body, so it escaped Gilbert's extended hand, and dunked the ball with the switched hand from the side of the basket.

Gilbert looked at Ivan with his mouth slightly opened in shock.

Both of them got to the floor, and Ivan stared at Gilbert with his chin slightly raised, as if looking down on him.

A vein bulged on Gilbert's forehead after seeing Ivan's look. He stamped his feet on the ground as he looked at the retreating Ivan.

Gilbert: ”Damned stone-faced pretty boy pisses me off!”

Shun jogged near Gilbert and patted him on the shoulder.

Shun: ”Don't mind it. I will give you a lob pass, you just alley-oop it into the basket.

That will cheer you up.”

Gilbert took in a deep breath to calm down and looked at Shun.

Gilbert: ”Yeah, do that.”

But, then Gilbert's hand, shaped into a claw headed towards Shun's head to grab it. Shun reflexes warned him, and he retreated one step.

He looked at Gilbert and asked loudly.

Shun: ”Why?! I was trying to cheer you up!”

Gilbert harrumphed and said.

Gilbert: ”I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but I am not dense enough to notice the tone that you used was that of a mother promising her child candy to calm him down.”

Shun blicked once, twice, and then knocked his knuckle on his head and said.

Shun: ”Hehe, I was caught.”

Gilbert felt his irritation rising back up as he stepped towards Shun, who retreated two steps.

Gilbert: ”Get back here, Shrimpy!”

Shun got into a running stance and said.

Shun: ”How about, No.”

Then, Shun ran with Gilbert chasing him.

Albert had to threaten them with a foul if they didn't stop, which calmed both of them down.

None of them wanted to get into trouble with Albert and certainly didn't want a foul for something this stupid.