Hoop Dreams Page #11

- That's cool.

It'll be all right.

William is benched

for arriving late to the locker room...

and Nazareth threatens.

William enters the game to go head-to-head

with Nazareth star Sean Pearson...

his friend and roommate

from the Nike camp.

The favored Chargers

race to an early 14-point lead...

in this second-round play-off game.

Give me an "E"!

Give me an "R"!

But near the end of the game...

St. Joe's begins to unravel.

William takes control.

Pearson responds.

His three-point shot gives the Roadrunners

their first lead of the game.

For the Chargers, their whole season

may come down to this possession.

Down by one,

with just over a minute remaining.

A loss tonight would be their earliest

exit from the play-offs in six years.

And for William,

there is no next year...

no more chances to get downstate.

It ain't but one thing: bad coaching.

Bad coaching.

Well, we got him here

about five minutes late.

So what? This -This ain't no time

to be teaching nobody no lesson.

All right, boy.

It's all right, bro.

- You all right? You're crying, man.

- Shut up.

Yeah.

- It hurt, don't it?

- Yeah. More than ever, man.

- I didn't never want

to go out this way, man.

- Your last year, man.

I'm trying to get it, man.

I'm striving for the same thing.

Hey, man. We'll call you.

Give me a ring. All right?

- All right.

- You played a good game, boy. All right.

You're gonna be all right.

- I love you, boy.

- I love you too, man.

All right.

William was 20 minutes late.

The team was dressed and already talking.

Then he came strolling in.

Maybe he has to learn something from that.

Even in a big game.

The game was a mirror-

It was a mirror

of all of the games all year.

To quote Isiah, the toughest loss

he ever took was the-

My toughest. And that

was the De La Salle game

in 1979 when we got beat at the buzzer.

On a 30-footer. And we were favored

to win the state that year.

Um, now we look back on it

as just one of those great moments in -

in our high school scene.

Our toughest loss to take,

and we talk about it.

So that's what I look at, you know,

with these things now.

- Arthur, we could have used you tonight.

- Yeah.

Good luck.

I'm gonna be watchin'. Don't forget.

Stay in touch.

- 'Cause we've talked about -You know.

- Yeah.

- School.

- Yeah.

All right. I'm watching you score.

How's your grades?

- They're all right.

- Good.

- They're all right.

- We missed you.

- I missed y'all too.

- Well, I'm proud of what you've done.

Mr. Bedford said

a lot of good things about you.

- You be in touch. Okay?

- Okay. All right.

- Good luck.

- All right. You too.

Marshall's second-round opponent,

Manley, presents little challenge.

This just explains a little bit

about our program...

where our program's headed.

I like what you're sayin;

and I want him close to home.

- Yeah.

- You know. And, uh -

I think, you know -

I'm kind of leaning your way...

because I just thank God

that he's getting into it -

you know, somebody do want him.

I'm Tommy Travis,

Northeastern Illinois assistant coach.

- Okay. Nice to meet you.

- I'm Arthur's father.

- Arthur hester.

- Okay. Arthur hester.

Us Arts gotta stick together.

- I'm over at Kennedy-King.

- Kennedy-King?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

May the best man win.

- I thought mom was a cheerleader.

- Oh, thanks.

Thank you for the compliment.

His parents seem to think

he may, uh, pass the A.C.T.

- he may what?

- He may pass it.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I hope he does.

- Us Arts gotta stick together, guy.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Hey.

Would you get excited if a college coach

came up and talked to you?

Not really.

Really, it's just-

Youre just going...

to another level

of basketball. That's all.

I'll be excited when I get there.

That's when you'll be

excited the whole year.

I'll be excited as soon as I step up

in there - first day of practice.

If I graduate, I think I'll be

the only one in my family...

besides my uncle,

to finish college.

Me too.

In the fourth round

against heavily favored Taft...

Marshall meets their first

true test of the play-offs.

But the Commandos have been

bucking the odds all year.

Arthur plays one of his best games

of the season...

scoring 19 points...

and the Commandos claim a spot

in the city semifinals.

The final four! I told y'all

he was going all the way. All the way!

Do you guys feel you can play with

any team in the city?

On any given day, we can play with anybody.

We can beat anybody.

Marshall now faces

the ultimate test::

King high School,

the rulers of the public league.

Winners of last year's state crown,

they were labeled the

best team in the country.

King has sparked controversy

by out-recruiting rivals...

for the biggest and best

grammar school players.

We don't understand what

we're really doing to these young kids.

Kid not even 12 years old...

and you're baiting him

to come to your school...

you know, to play basketball.

Falls back in the paint.

I'm not going to start

recruiting in that manner.

No, I'll probably get out

of the game before then.

The winner of these two semifinal games...

will play for the Chicago Public

high School Basketball Championship.

King's strategy is to

go inside to its two seven-foot starters.

Only Arthur seems

unintimidated by the Jaguars.

And King's poor play

keeps the game close.

We are the... best.!

We are the team!

I think they gonna take it.

But in the second half,

King makes their move.

- What are you doin'?

- Come on. Get in the game.!

King grabs a four-point lead.

Hey, Mookie, Mookie, Mookie!

Y'all playing

with no confidence whatsoever.

None!

None.!

- All right! Go get in charge of that ball!

- Don't foul him! Don't foul him!

Let's go! Let's go!

The Commandos get aggressive on defense...

Too soon now!

And use their superior speed on offense.

Players, sit down.

We got three minutes to go. Sit down.

Marshall grabs a six-point lead

late in the game.

We got a long time to play.

Coach Bedford wants to force King

out of their zone defense...

and make their big, slow players match up

man-to-man against Marshall's quick guards.

One, two, three. Defense!

Arthur simply holds the ball

as the clock ticks away.

The King coach has no choice.

For the defending national champions,

it's all over.

And unranked Marshall

will play for the city title.

Whoo! 26-2 now!

They're 26 and 2 now.

That's my Man!

All right, Man!

- I told you we could do it.

- Yes!

- I told you we could do it.

- I told you you were gonna do it.

I knew y'all was going all the way.

I told ya.

I said, "You're going all the way."

This is your last year.

You're going all the way. Yeah.

They got the best shot of him, you know.

And it's great.

That was a great shot, wasn't it?

But this one in the, uh, Tribune

is what I really like.

It says,

"Arthur Agee stood as still as a statue.

Time after time was on his side."

You know, the championship

Rate this script:4.3 / 3 votes