Chapter 221 - Kobe's Training Camp 3

When I was reaching the gym, surprisingly I could hear somebody bouncing the ball. It was 3:30 a.m. who in the world could be practicing at this time but then I remembered the workaholic Kobe Bryant and knew that it just had to be him, as I walked around the corner and entered into the gym I noticed it was just as I suspected. Kobe was running around taking shots from random places and every shot he took was a fade away.

He stopped bouncing the ball once he sensed somebody's presents within the gym. Kobe turned around and saw me and smiled. 

"Hey young buck" he called out to me.

"What are you doing so early?" he asked me.

"I couldn't sleep and besides I slept early so I'm up to do a little bit training since I will be going to the NBA after all" 

He nodded in understanding and he said "that's great why don't you come play a quick one-on-one with me, I want to see if you've gotten any better since the last time I met you and we've never played a game against each other".

I smirked and said "sure why not as I started doing some stretches. I went to put my ball down and laced up my shoes. I had on some Nike Maxes. They weren't very comfortable but I like them for their style.

Kobe was standing on the court waiting for me as he said "since I'm the senior here I'll get the ball first, I know that if we went to shoot for the ball you would win so there's no point in shooting for the ball.

I laughed embarrassed but didn't say anything as I checked the ball to him. I can't believe I was playing one-on-one against Kobe Bryant, this was something not a lot of people could say in their lifetime.

I got into position as I started playing defense but I gave him a little space just to see whether he would shoot it and that's exactly what he did as he posted his feet together and then jumped while leaning back as the ball went into the hoop giving him two points as he smiled at me.

"Come on Young Buck you going to play defense or what".

I haven't scored a single point but I wasn't worried I was just giving him the lead so that he will lower his guard but something popped up within the corner of my eyes saying time freeze deactivated.

Damn it how come this doesn't work against Kobe. I swear the same thing happened during the Olympics when I was playing against Kobe and it seems like when I'm playing against the greats the system won't let me cheat that's bullshit I thought to myself.

Now I really had to play defense or I was truly going to lose against this guy.

I checked up the ball once again giving no space in my defense as I received a compliment from Kobe saying "that's better defense Young Buck let's see if you can keep it up". Kobe started to dribble for the first time in the game. I noticed that he had scored four points against me without even dribbling the ball.

This guy is great I thought, he dribble to the left and then quickly changed directions to the right and did a fade away shot, luckily I was able to get my hand in his face causing him to miss the shot as I grabbed the rebound or at least I thought I was grabbing a rebound as Kobe quickly sped up and knocked the ball out of my hand receiving the ball and tossing it back up for one point.

I couldn't believe he had stolen the ball from me, I don't remember the last time anybody had stolen the ball from me but Kobe was able to do that. He just did his goofy little smile and said "check up all young buck".

I was a little frustrated but not that much as I checked the ball to him. We continued the game, he started to dribble and post me up, backing me down into the post. Kobe was stronger than me due to being in the gym way longer than me but just by a little bit as the army had still helped to strengthen me.

When he got low into the post he did a fade away as he faked to the left and faked to the right before pulling up even with my hand in his face. He banked it off the backboard to give himself another point, now it was 6-0.

If this continues Im was going to lose the game, I had to get serious. I checked up the ball once again. Kobe looked down at me as he was a little bit taller, I had also grown but not by much. I was now 6'5 while he was 6'6.

This guy, how am I going to stop one of the greatest offensive player in history, this was definitely going to be a challenge but I live for challenges. I checked it up once again as he taunted me saying "what's wrong Young Buck you were getting buckets against me in our last game but now it seems like you're not even going to get a single bucket in this game, have you gotten worse or are you just rusty"?

I didn't want to make any excuses, it's been a while since I played against a professional so it was to be expected when playing against the father's in that tournament it wasn't much of a challenge but this one was Kobe Bryant in front of me how can I compare them to him.