Warrior Strong (2023) Movie Script
1
(crowd cheering)
Coach:
Guys, come on!
Box out! Box out!
Let's go! Box out!
Rotate. Rotate!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no!
Damn it.
Seriously?
You gotta be kidding me.
(whistle blaring)
- Hey!
- That's a foul!
What are you talking about?!
- What?
- Sit down!
What are you talking--
I'm not playing a bunch--
(grunting)
A bunch of goons.
(groaning)
Oh God... Oh!
Oh! Schmidt! Schmidt?!
- Coach!
- Schmidt!
- Schmidt!
- Coach?
I'm calling 911.
Schmidt?
Hey!
(voices fading out)
(time clock buzzing)
(crowd cheering)
(whistle blaring)
(ambient cheering)
(rock music playing)
(crowd jeering)
[ shouting in Mandarin ]
I... am not a decoy.
You are an ass!
And you're
a terrible coach.
(siren wailing)
Jules: Can we get someone from
geography from the city?
Maybe, like, a week?
I don't know, a month?
(moaning)
Oh, okay, I'm gonna call you
back, he's up.
Um, excuse me, hello!
Nurse? Hello!
(sighing)
You're awake.
What happened?
- You collapsed.
- I remember that part.
I'm talking happened
with the game?
We forfeited.
- You quit the game?
- Okay, you collapsed.
- We all thought you were dead.
- Do I look dead?
Doctor: Look who's decided
to join us. Hi.
Hi. So...
Are you his daughter, or...
- No, we're friends.
- I'm his boss.
- Thanks, Jules.
- How are you feeling?
Never better.
Uh... You know what,
I just need to sit up.
I don't know--
Okay, you need to take it easy.
Just for a bit, okay?
Yeah?
All right, all right,
just for a little while.
But I want to go home.
Um, can I talk
to you for a sec?
- Yeah.
- We'll be right back.
We're going to have to keep him
here a little bit longer.
I need to run
a few more tests.
- But he's gonna be okay, right?
- Mild heart attack.
I didn't know you could have
a mild heart attack.
He's gonna be okay.
And what about coaching?
Yeah, about that.
I'm afraid you're gonna have to
find someone else,
he can't be coaching.
There is no one else.
He's-- he's coach.
Well, we're going to call you
once we have the results, okay?
(tablet chiming)
Captain Carter,
what's the word?
Carter: Do you remember
the plan, Bilal?
It was a simple plan, right.
You go to China,
you rehab your game,
you set Shanghai on fire,
the fans go crazy
for you over there,
and then some desperate team
over here
brings you back
to the NBA, right?
That was the plan.
Instead, you self-combust into
whatever this is. Here.
Announcer: You say that's
a resignation,
I say that's a three-pointer
right there.
Announcer 2: Yo, what was that?
You can't do that!
- Announcer 1: Unbelievable.
- Carter: You're killing me.
- You know that?
- Bilal: He came at me!
(sighing) Look, you're not
seeing it, okay?
That's fine, that's fine.
You're not seeing it.
That's exactly
what I'm here for.
Okay, what am I not seeing?
We're in full damage control
mode here, okay, Bilal?
I had to call your old high
school and see if you could,
you know, donate money
to a scholarship,
or buy some new backboards,
balls, whatever.
The principal tells me they
might have to cancel basketball.
Why?
Carter: Coach had a heart
attack or something.
Hold up, coach had a heart
attack?
He's gonna be good, he's in
total recovery mode.
But the point is,
they need a new coach.
This is our soft landing.
- Seriously? Stop playing.
- Oh, come on.
It's...
It's kismet, Bilal!
They are gonna roll out
the red carpet for you.
Come on, man!
There's gotta be another league
out there somewhere.
Turkey? Australia?
B, right now everyone thinks
you're a coach killer.
Come on, man!
Doesn't matter how many points
you put up in China, okay?
So you think if I coach
a bunch of kids,
that's gonna get me back
to the league?
Look, stay in shape during
practice,
just Insta some pics of you
with the kids,
and after a couple of months,
we'll change the narrative.
You're the misunderstood
good guy, the, uh--
Carter, man, I haven't been back
there since I graduated.
If you don't do this, Bilal,
your basketball career
is over.
No more shots.
No more post-career with an
organization.
It's done. Nothing.
And as your agent, I can tell
you, it'll be over.
But...
It's your choice.
Okay, I'll talk to you later.
Have a great one.
Bye-bye.
(jet engines roaring)
(bossa nova music playing)
(music continuing
over tinny speakers)
(sighing)
Of course nobody is crazy enough
to fly here.
Ah.
Beautiful, beautiful. Okay.
Okay. Good.
What the hell?
Hey, my man,
could someone please--
My Jordans?!
(Grunting)
Thank you!
Damn it! This...
(grunting)
(jet engines roaring overhead)
Bilal!
Hey! Bilal Irving!
Hi! Welcome.
Okay.
How was your flight?
Flights.
Three of them.
Long.
Well, you can just put your
stuff in the back.
This is 40k
worth of clothes.
Oh, well...
Could just, like, tie it up.
Your choice.
Everyone's really excited to
have you back in town.
Yeah.
(engine revving)
Sorry about the sign.
We only had two L's.
Bettina even polished your
award.
- My award?
- Yeah.
The Promising Athlete award.
The one you sponsor.
I'm gonna get back to work,
so...
How's coach doing?
He's... he's okay.
He had a small
heart attack.
I didn't even know you could
have a small heart attack.
You remember where the gym is,
right?
Uh, Bilal?
The gym.
Yeah.
(ECG machine beeping softly)
(water running)
(tap squeaking, water stops)
No. No.
(team shouting)
Player 1: He shoots!
Move, move.
Player 2: Get your man, get your
man, get your man.
Player 1: Get the ball.
-(Boys shouting over each other)
-Pass!
Okay. Go. Go.
It's all right.
Who's guarding LB!
Lockout, defence!
Oh, stopped by Russell!
(shouting continues)
Player 1:
Swing that, swing that!
Whoo!
-Get him, get him!
- LB!
Ball, ball!
Bilal Irving?
- (whistle blaring)
- Bring it in!
Come on, bring it in!
Boy (mockingly):
"Come on! Bring it in!"
Guys, come on.
Uh, Bilal Irving.
That's him?
Yo, you played here?
Why do you think his jersey's
up there?
What, the rest of the team not
feel like practicing?
That's it, coach.
That's the team.
Sorry, can I call you coach?
What are you,
the assistant, or...
- She wishes.
- (team chuckling)
Uh, no.
Just the equipment manager.
Sorry. Right. Right.
Here you go.
Look.
Y'all do whatever it is that
y'all were doing,
and I'ma be, uh...
...over there.
Shlomo: Cool. All right,
well, good talk, coach.
All right, let's get back to
your ass-kicking.
We're up two!
Did you want to look at these,
or I could email this to you
if it's easier.
What am I looking at?
Oh, this is all of the players'
advanced stats,
including PER in order of game
share wins
the last couple years.
There hasn't been a lot
of wins recently.
Seven and 24 since I've been
going here.
You did all this?
For high school?
Y-Yeah, and if you
cross-reference that--
- Hey, just give me the basics.
- The basics?
Yeah.
Name and position.
Oh, um, yeah, right.
Okay. Uh...
All right.
Wesley plays the four.
Does the dirty work.
He's all heart and grit.
LB, our centre.
He needs a lot of work,
mostly on boxing out,
general coordination,
as you can see.
Yeah.
Oh! Now that guy, Russell,
he's got an endless motor.
Great athlete, good guy,
but he needs to come out
of his shell a little.
Skilled wing,
efficient in mid-range.
Mason Daniels, plays the two.
He could actually score more,
but he always defers to Gunnar.
Uh, he fancies himself
a point god.
- (swish of the net)
- (cheering)
What, baby!
He's got something.
Bettina: He averaged nine
turnovers a game last season.
- Don't touch me, boy.
- You missed like 5 times
Don't touch me!
I'm hot!
I take it
that's our sixth man?
Russell gets the ball, he's
almost standing at the...
Yeah, but he's mostly here just
to be a body in drills.
He's never actually played
in a game.
- Why not?
- Stage fright.
(shouting)
Oh man.
Oh, he goes through!
He scores!
That's what I'm talking about.
- That guy has stage fright?
- Here we go!
Let's go!
And what's your name?
- Bettina.
- Yeah, Bettina?
Wake me up in an hour.
(players shouting)
- Shlomo: Gunnar has the ball!
- Okay.
Passes it to Big Money Mason!
Gunnar!
(cheering)
Coach?
- What are you doing here?
- Practice.
What the hell is that?
It's, uh,
it's a sign.
(players shouting)
Player 1: Yeah. No.
I got it, I got it. I got it
Player 2:
LB, LB, what the hell was that?
- (whistle blaring)
- Bilal: I'm up, I'm up!
Coach?
What the hell
are you doing here?
What the hell are you
doing here?!
Wait, wait, wait.
I can explain.
(stammers)
I can explain.
It was either cancel the season
or find a replacement.
Body isn't even cold and you
bring him in the next day?
I didn't bring him in, okay?
His agent called and I just--
Oh, excuse me!
His agent called.
They asked me to come.
I'm here.
I didn't even know about your
whole situation.
My situation? My situ--
It's a touchy situation!
I had a heart attack!
- That is a situation!
- You want another one?
Okay, he also made a sizeable
donation
to the athletics department,
and it just--
Wait a minute.
He bought my job?
You bought my job?
I ain't the bad guy here.
Oh no, this is the prodigal son
coming home to save the day.
Can you guys, like, co-coach
or something?
Co-coach? No co-coaching!
If anything, it would be
an assistant,
and I don't need or want
an assistant.
Especially him!
- Especially him.
- I ain't no one's assistant.
Okay, you know what?
I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna
tell the kids
that the season's canceled.
Is that what you want?
'Cause if we don't figure this
out, that's what's gonna happen.
So, tell me what you want.
Fine.
Co-coach, whatever.
Fine.
Good.
Okay, I'm gonna
go tell them.
You do what you do,
and I'll do what I do, okay?
Okay, you know what?
Just keep you and your team of
losers out of the way
of my work-outs
and we are good.
My team of losers?
I guess you were one of
my team losers then.
- Is that what it is?
- Go kick rocks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Take a--
Go get one of those big
truck tires.
"Oh, look at me.
Look how strong I am.
You just gotta get the last
word out,
you can't just let me walk away,
you gotta say something.
- No, I can't.
- Right, every time.
- No I don't gotta say a word.
- Yeah.
Go pick on some dumbbells
or something.
- Why are you getting mad?
- I'm not mad! This is not mad.
(shouting) This is mad!
When I'm like this,
that's mad.
(quietly) This?
This is not mad.
I'm the coach!
Remember that!
Jules: Don't worry,
you're gonna love it.
Oh, hell no.
(scoffing)
Oh, hell no.
(shouting)
Oh, hell no!
(sighing)
(sighing)
(rustling)
(shouting)
Oh, Jesus!
Here, hydration
and natural light
will help reset
your circadian rhythm.
What?!
To combat the jetlag.
What are you doing here?
Morning practice,
it's in an hour.
What are you doing
in my bedroom?
(stammers)
I said that.
Practice,
it's in an hour.
- How? How did you get in?
- Oh, um.
I have a key.
Mrs. Graham, it's her place.
I look after it
when she's in Florida.
I can't believe this is
happening. This is crazy.
This is insane. I'm gonna...
No service, of course.
Uh, we should get going if we
want to get there.
- We're already running late.
- Yeah, late?
It's a 10 minute drive,
we'll be fine.
I told our principal not to come
pick you up.
Why would you do that?
Exercise, it's recommended
for jetlag,
so I figured
that we would run.
(groaning)
You figured we'd run.
You figure maybe I could eat
something before we go
for a 45--
What?
You should fast for the first
24 hours
after landing
for the jetlag.
- (groaning)
- Your fridge is empty, anyway.
- Of course it is.
- Wait. Oh, um.
But you can-- here-- have...
...this.
What's this?
Vitamin D.
It's for the--
For the jetlag? Yeah, got it.
Sorry I ever mentioned it.
Bon appetit.
(crunching)
(sighing)
Can I get dressed,
or are you just gonna...
Oh, right, right. Yes.
I'll be outside.
Yeah. Appreciate it.
Perfect.
(sighing)
So, why are you here?
What do you mean?
Well, starting from
the beginning,
after being a late
second-round pick,
you had four up and down seasons
in the league
and got traded to Charlotte,
basically as a salary filler.
- Wow.
- Okay, but then you had--
you averaged 14-4-3
off the bench.
Had seven 20-plus-point games,
and won the Sixth Man
Award twice.
It's around this time
that I put up a few posters of
you on my wall.
I mean, like, a real NBA'er,
from here?
It's like, I mean sure, most say
you don't even crack
the top 500 players of all time,
but I would put you low 300s.
Hey, easy. Easy.
So you get a really nice
extension, regular minutes.
You don't make an all-NBA team,
but you get close.
Two-time all-star reserve.
You're doing great.
But then throughout it all,
not only do you never
come back here,
you never even mention it
in interviews.
Not even in the SI deep dive
feature on you
after you went to China.
So, what's your point?
Well, that's my question,
really. Why are you here?
Are you one of those
spectrum kids?
No.
I mean, my SB-5 test puts me at
0.02% of the population
in terms of mental acuity,
so I may come off a bit weird,
but it's nothing to be
afraid of, you know.
It's just, I get super focused
on things.
So?
So what?
Why are you here?
To help.
Give back, or whatever.
Oh, okay.
LB, box out! Energy.
Let's go.
Great, great.
That's terrific.
- Sorry, coach.
- Well, well, well.
If it isn't the great
Bilal Irving.
First day, and late.
- It's nice to sleep in, huh?
- No, no, that's my bad.
I took a wrong turn on the way
here, and then I had to stop
to catch my breath, so...
All right. All right.
Guys, let's just get back to
practicing our sets.
Can't we change it up? Can't we
do some offence or something?
We're oh-and-three,
it's all about defence.
Uh, coach, at the beginning of
the season, you were like,
"We're only gonna
win with defence."
And we're oh-and-three,
you know.
I'm starting to have a bit of
trust issues.
Oh, are you?
Plus the impersonation of me?
Baseline.
Come on.
You did it
to yourself, Mo.
(chuckling)
Something funny, Bilal?
Nah, I think running your only
five players is.
Still doing outdated defensive
sets without touching a ball?
That's old school, coach.
Can't score unless you shoot.
And last time I checked...
Ball.
...shooting wins.
Well, you could do all
the shooting you want,
if you can't stop the other
team, what good is it?
When Shlomo stops running, why
don't you show him how to?
And if you can turn him into
a 20 plus scorer in every game,
well, then I owe you
an apology.
Until then...
- Team!
- (Whistle blaring)
- Other side of the court.
- Let's go, boys.
I'm gonna let you... you know,
practice shooting.
(cell phone chiming)
What?
This is defamation.
"Bilal Irving's whole dumb life
is a sitcom
"with the hackiest writers
in showbiz."
Some of those comments
are cold.
- Oh man! Look at that one!
- Hey.
You know this is
my life, right?
Not anymore, boss.
All right, I'm ready.
Hit me.
Coach zones out when I start
talking defensive zones,
so I figured
I'd work with you.
- That--
- Three, two, one.
Uh, new shoes.
Messing with my twitch muscles.
We could start with
Shlomo's shot.
I mean, obviously there's a lot
to work, but if we, you know,
bring his elbow in, maybe get
him closer to the net--
- Uh, yeah, I think...
You guys mind if I record some
of this for socials?
Like, you helping me?
That's crazy!
Okay. All right, man.
Look. Just...
- (camera lens clicking)
- Yeah, hey.
Yeah, you know what?
Yes.
That's actually
not a bad idea, kid.
I'm full of not bad ideas!
Bettina, you mind?
Uh, yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Cool, cool. Um, yeah, just come
a little closer, right here.
Yeah, here you go.
(chuckling) You got that?
(sighing)
What's going on, everybody.
My name is Bilal Irving, and
it's great to be back
where it started,
Dumont Warriors basketball.
I'm here with Mo,
who has a jump shot only
a mother could love.
Shlomo:
And she does!
(quietly) Hey.
- (chuckling)
- (heroic music plays on phone)
Now, I know threes are
all the rage,
but don't bother shooting them
until you can hit shots
up close with proper form.
'Cause eventually,
they'll look like this.
(net swishing)
But first,
let's get up close.
We aren't leaving until he makes
100 with proper form.
- What?
- That one doesn't count.
Follow through.
Shlomo: What did I do
to deserve this?
Woman:
As I live and breathe.
Mrs. Martin?!
Stop, you're making me
feel old.
A man your age should be
calling me Rose.
- Uh, all right, I'll try.
- What are you doing here?
Are you visiting
Coach Schmidt?
Coaching, actually.
He's letting someone else
coach the team?
Well, "letting" isn't quite
the word,
but I'm here to help,
because of the whole heart
attack thing.
Oh, that's nice.
You still a banquet burger,
fries, vanilla shake,
leave the tin?
Nah, nah, just a salad with the
chicken breast,
uh, hold the croutons.
You've changed, Bilal.
(door bell jingling)
You can't sit there.
You gotta get up.
What you, get all Jim Crow
in your old age?
This is where
she sits.
So you gotta get up.
(dog barking)
Woman:
How long is it gonna take?
It's night-time. All I hear is
this tap, tap, tapping.
I want to go to sleep.
How long is it gonna take?!
Boy: Presque fini--
uh, almost--
Woman: No wonder nobody ever
wanted you! You're useless!
Absolutely useless!
Boy: I'm sorry, sorry.
Dsole, I am sorry.
Woman: Right.
Sorry. You're always sorry.
Okay, boys. We know this team
comes out big, right up front.
LB, you get your ass into
those stomachs,
you gotta grab those rebounds!
I'm sure you've had lots of
practice
getting your butt into things.
- Shut up, Gunnar!
Just run the damn offence,
all right, Gunnar?
Coach, don't you want
to say something?
I'm sure Coach Schmidt's
got this.
Yeah, Coach Schmidt does
got this.
(time clock buzzing)
(camera lens clicking)
Woman in video:
A countdown from five.
And each number, you will feel
more and more relaxed.
(cell phone ringing)
Five, four...
Bilal Irving speaking.
Carter:
What the hell is this?
Kismet, Carter.
Kismet.
Hey, would you take that thing
off you face and look at this?
Ugh, what?
Carter:
This isn't good.
Hey, you told me all I had to do
was sit on the bench.
Well, I figured at least, you
know, you'd watch the game.
Hey, what about that training
video? That got some likes.
I even printed a Spotify
workout playlist,
and that got
some likes too.
Yeah, yeah, well,
that was all great, you know.
Because you were engaged.
You were actually trying to help
that kid get better.
You know, connecting with
people, you're good at that.
- (sighing)
- But, I mean, look.
You're ignoring the kids
while you're sitting on
the bench, okay?
That's not exactly good
for your image.
In fact, it's actually worse
than you were before.
All right, all right, all right!
So what? Cut bait.
All right? Let's do something
different.
Try something different.
Somewhere different.
No, no, that's the exact wrong
thing to do in this situation.
We gotta spin this.
Okay, you know what
you gotta do?
You gotta turn
this team around.
That's impossible.
They suck!
So, make them suck less.
I told you this would be
a bad idea, Carter.
Well, you'd better work some of
your Bilal magic
because "hometown zero" is
trending.
Okay? Fix it.
What?!
(Groaning angrily)
(Door bell jingling)
I can make
this team better.
But you've gotta
listen to me.
I don't have to listen to
anybody. Especially you.
You're still running the same
old offence
from when I was here.
That "old offence"
won us a banner and got you
a scholarship.
Listen, the other team
is just anticipating
and beating you
to the spots.
Well, then, we just gotta move
a little quicker
and get there sooner.
Okay, speaking of "sooner,"
you've gotta speed the game up,
play downhill,
pressure the ball.
Yeah, we don't have the bench
for that.
Okay, so get out of the
mid-range. It's an energy suck.
Shoot threes
and drive and kick.
Draw fouls. Stop the clock.
Be efficient.
You're talking
about flash, fads,
stuff that's going
out of style.
No. It's analytics,
and it's not.
You know
what wins a game?
Hard work
and defence.
What are you
scared of?
Scared? All right.
No, no, seriously. What do
you have to lose, Coach?
You've already
lost every single game.
Why not just try
something new,
just try moving on to
something else?
Rose:
Ha!
Sorry. You realize
who you're talking to?
Move on? Hmm.
All right.
You want
to talk about analytics?
If you're losing on
the boards, what do you got?
You can take all
the shots you want,
all the threes, the twos.
I don't care what you're doing,
but if you're missing,
you got an analytic
for that?
No, but I might have
something else for that.
Hey, kid.
I've been seeing you
around town.
My name's
Bilal Irving.
[ speaking French ]
- Where you from?
- He's from Haiti.
Oh, yeah?
How long you been here?
Rose:
He just started.
No, in town,
with Miss Smith?
Oh, few weeks. Why?
How old is he?
Boys, no.
Rose, guy's got a
seven-foot-nine wingspan.
He was born
for this.
Bilal:
You ever play basketball?
[ speaking French ]
"Basketball" ci,
"basketball" a.
What'd he just say?
Just let
him alone, okay?
He's just settling in,
brushing up on his English,
about to start his last
year of high school.
Last year
of high school?
- Mine, mine, mine!
- Whoo!
- Box out! Box out!
- Nice lay, G.
Okay!
Guys, gather round!
I want you to
meet Josue.
He's going to
be the new centre.
LB, that's the way
the ball bounces.
[ speaking French ]
Great. Just what we
need, a guy in an apron.
- Give it a rest.
- Coach: Cut it.
He's a new guy in town.
He was eligible,
so we enrolled him.
It's like he got all
my puberty hormones.
You-- you hit puberty?
[ speaking French ]
Uh, listen. He doesn't
speak much English, okay?
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
What's going on?
[ speaking French ]
Don't tell me he's gonna shoot.
He's going to shoot.
Yeah. Yeah.
He just shot.
(boys laughing)
That was bad.
- And that's coming from you.
- Was that real?
Bilal: All right.
Hey, listen up.
We're going to be taking a
lot more shots from now on--
Besides
taking shots,
we're going to be missing
a lot more shots,
so we're going to need
somebody to clear the boards.
Also... he can do this.
- Bettina.
- (boys murmuring)
Bettina: [ speaking French ]
(boys murmuring)
- Uh, spike, dunk.
- Oh. Okay.
- Yeah?
- [ speaking French ]
Josu: Okay.
Oh!
All right. Not bad.
Not bad.
Bettina,
you tell him nothing,
and I mean nothing,
gets past him
and goes in that net.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
- Oh, okay.
- All right. We set?
Gunnar, give
him your best.
I will.
Give me the ball.
Let's go, G.
Light him up.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
Yeah.
Okay.
He's ready for you.
Let's go, Josu.
You got this.
- (grunting)
- (boy laughing)
Shlomo:
Oh! G-dog just got G-jected!
I don't know what that is,
but I like it.
- That was a foul.
- Russell: No way.
Next time,
go like this...
Not in my house!
Not in my house.
Russell:
(laughing) Legend!
That was a foul!
Coach, you saw that.
You know what?
I don't want to hear it.
What do you mean?
He slapped my hand!
You know what?
Ten minutes. Face the wall.
What do you mean, I got to face
the wall? He slapped my hand!
- Coach: Face the wall!
- Shlomo: Not in my house!
Everybody else...
(blowing whistle)
...practise.
Bilal:
Lower, lower, lower, lower.
High, high.
Now, hard dribbles.
Hard dribble.
Pound the rock.
Load your calves.
Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. Eyes on me.
Left to right.
Left to right.
Go!
Push! Push!
Ask for the ball.
Ask for the--
Deman-- Demandez
la balle. All right.
Laisser le en bas.
Laisser le en bas.
Bilal: Left to right.
Pound the rock. Call it out.
- Players: One!
- One.
- Players: Two!
- Two.
Finis-le Josu.
You better run!
Let's go!
There you go.
Triple threat position.
Shot fake.
Swing low.
You want to do it again?
You want to get at me now?
C'mon, c'mon. What you got,
Gunnar? I'ma come get you.
I'ma get the ball, if
you let me get the ball.
- You won't get the ball.
- All right. Rip again.
There you go.
- Boys: Zero.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go!
- Players: Five.
- There you go!
Five! Four!
Three! Two! One!
There you go. There you go.
There you go.
Bring it in. Bring it in.
Bring it in. Come on.
- One, two, three.
- All: Warriors!
How come you never
mentioned you could play?
I've been
watching you.
Stalker much?
Says the girl with
the poster of me on her--
Person.
Right. Sorry.
Says the person with
the poster of me on her--
Their.
Their room.
(chuckling)
Hey, point is, I see you
working with the guys,
and you've got it.
Zip. Flow. Feel.
And now,
I see you can shoot?
Why aren't
you playing?
Who am I supposed
to play with?
There is a girls' team
and a boys' team.
Where do I fit?
Yeah, but there's an
opportunity.
Look. I already get called
a freak by people on this team.
If I played?
I-- I get that, but
sometimes, you--
No, you don't.
You can't.
I'm happy to help.
Okay?
Okay.
But I think you should
give it a second thought.
Don't worry
about me, okay?
Worry about Algoma Heights.
They are tough.
All right.
You want to tell me
a little bit more or--
Already emailed
it to you.
All right.
(crowd talking,
shoes squeaking on floor)
- (crowd cheering)
- Motion!
Let's go, Gunnar!
Player: Gunnar, I'm open!
He's not moving
the ball.
(shoes squeaking
on floor)
You guys gotta
get open!
Get open!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
(whistle blowing)
(cheering)
Coach: Motion!
That's what motion means!
- Not one pick and stop!
- (whistle blowing)
Player:
Tee up! Tee up! Tee up!
Get him!
Ball, ball, ball, ball,
ball! Box out, box out.
(whistle blowing)
Let's go. Let's go.
Gunnar!
- Coach: Ah!
- (whistle blowing)
This is going to be an ugly
game unless something changes.
(whistle blowing)
Box out! Box out!
Run the play!
Player: Drive it!
All the way, G!
- Defence!
- Player: Defence, Russell!
(crowd cheering)
Go, go, go, go, go,
go, go, go!
Player:
This way!
(crowd cheering)
- (buzzer sounding)
- Man on speaker: Halftime.
Hey, can I use this
for something?
- Yeah, for sure.
- Thank you.
- Shlomo: Seriously?
- Hey, Coach.
No cards. You don't want
anything in writing.
- I'll tell you later. Go ahead.
- Quick word.
I gotta get the boys
ready for the second half.
Bilal: No, no. I get that.
We gotta shake it up, man.
We gotta get shots
up quicker.
They are jumping on us and
anticipating the passing lanes.
We really should spread the
floor. Josue and four shooters.
- I drew this up just now.
- All right. Listen. Listen.
Listen.
Listen. Listen.
This is my team.
These are my systems.
You have been nothing,
but extremely helpful,
now it's time to
sort of stand to the side
and let me do
my job.
Let me
get them ready.
Bettina:
Told you.
He won't listen.
(crowd shouting
excitedly)
(whistle blowing)
(crowd cheering)
Come on!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
Time!
- (whistle blowing)
- Come on!
Let's go! Move, move, move.
Get in there.
- Bilal: Come on. Come on.
- Get in there. Let's go.
Bilal: Come on. There you go.
There you go. There you go.
Gunnar, you keep
throwing the ball away.
Well, nobody's open,
so I can't do anything.
They're beating us
to our spots.
Yeah? Why don't you run a
little faster, then, buddy?
Wesley: Run faster? What you
talking about, run faster?
My grandma is 95, and she can
run faster than you, buddy!
- What are you talking about?
- Guys!
Just fight for your
positions, okay?
You got to get there
faster, you understand?
You got to want it. Come on.
"Team" on three.
- One, two, three.
- All: Team!
- Come on!
- Hey. Come here. Come here.
Coach:
Let's go! Keep it going!
On the inbound, come
and get the ball.
Inbound the ball to Wesley.
Get to one of the corners.
They're leaving them wide open.
As soon as you cross half,
attack the lane.
When they collapse, kick it out
to Russell in the corner.
Only shoot threes.
- What about our sets?
- I'm co-coach, right?
I thought you were just
the assistant.
Just go!
Crowd:
Algoma!
(crowd cheering)
Come on! Come on!
Run the play!
What is this?
- Yes!
- (crow cheering)
Yeah!
- (cheering)
- Time!
You don't have
possession, Coach!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
- Time! Bring it in!
- (whistle blowing)
Why'd you just waste
a timeout?
Bring it in!
Bring it in.
Hey, can you explain the pick
and roll to Josu?
- Yes. Yeah.
- Damn it already with you.
Good job. Good job.
Coach: Why are you guys not
running the plays?
But what Coach
said worked.
The coach?
I'm the coach.
Do you know pick and roll?
Okay. So...
Run the sets.
Understood?
- Okay. On three, "team."
- (Josu speaking quietly)
- Coach: One, two, three.
- Coach, players: Team!
- Bilal: Come on. Let's go.
- Coach: Get out there.
Wesley:
What did Bilal say?
Bilal, what the hell
are you doing?
Trying to win, Coach.
(cheering)
- Foul ball!
- (whistle blowing)
Follow the play!
Follow the play!
- Yeah!
- (crowd cheering)
Time! Time!
You only got one
of those left, Coach.
You might want
to save it.
- Let's go!
- Let's go! Let's go!
People in crowd: (chanting)
Warriors! Warriors! Warriors!
- Yeah!
- (crowd cheering)
Hey, pick it up!
Ah! There you go.
There you go.
Whoo!
(Bilal cheering)
(buzzer sounding,
crowd cheering)
Yeah!
(cheering)
One in five. Our win
projection just got an uptick.
We're on the board.
(laughing)
Bettina:
All right. Come on.
Player:
Is that what that feels like?
Bilal:
That's how you do it, right?
Player:
Right. Yeah.
(people talking
indistinctly)
Man:
Good game, boys.
(car engine starting)
Girl: Did you see that?
That was unbelievable.
What the hell do
you think you're doing?
What? What are you
talking about?
What am I talking about?
I got 23 winning seasons out
of 27.
Can you say that?
No, you can't.
Hey, hey, let's go inside,
and we can talk about this.
- All right?
- Yeah.
The high school hero that went
out there all confident,
the big shot that didn't need
nothing or nobody except himself
until something
went wrong.
And you wind up
right back here.
All right.
Things have changed.
You haven't. You need to
grow and move on.
Move on. How does--
How'd that work
out for you?
When was the last
time you got a call
from one of your
old teammates?
"Hey, Bilal.
How you doing?
How's everything
going?"
Where can you
actually call home?
(scoffing)
(door closing)
(bell jingling)
I'm sorry.
We're closed.
Oh.
Hey.
Just need to sit
for a minute.
- Rose: Okay.
- (sighing)
Coach:
She really loved you.
She was... so proud,
so happy for you
when you left here.
That's why it hurt so
bad when she passed
and you didn't call,
you didn't come back just
to say goodbye.
- I'm sorry.
- No, no, no.
Don't even go there.
She would
have defended you,
because you did something
with your life.
You did something
special.
You were reaching
your potential.
Why do you think
I left Brooklyn?
My heart made me leave
everything behind
and come be with her,
and I don't regret that.
I had Martha.
And I had my team.
Do you understand?
(basketball bouncing)
Come on, Wes. Your feet to
the basket. Let's go.
Come on, Wesley. Nice.
Money Mason.
Let's go. Let's go.
Nice. Nice.
Come on, Russell.
Follow through.
Follow through.
Come on.
Come on, Gunnar.
Gunnar, you got to be
in athletic position, man.
You had about three air
balls. Come on.
You got to keep that elbow
in and follow through.
All right?
Come on.
Yeah, yeah.
Come on. Let's go.
LB, nice shot.
Come on. There you go.
Come on, Josu.
Josu:
Ah.
Hey, hey, take a
deep breath.
Hey, don't hang your
head, all right?
You just started. All right.
Load your legs.
Follow through.
Elbow in. Okay?
Hey, Shlomo, you
got next. Let's go.
Hey, nice
shot, freak.
Freak?
What is freak?
Ne faites pas attention
lui.
Well. Hey, can I
tell you something?
You do know you don't
belong here, right?
- Hey!
- You know where you do belong?
In the back of a restaurant,
cleaning up my dishes
- when I'm done with them.
- Bilal: Hey!
Gunnar:
Freak foster kid.
(thumping)
Don't bring that
shit up. Ever.
(door opening)
What's going on
over here?
Just wrapping
up, Coach.
Yeah?
Just wrapping up?
Right, Gunnar?
Yeah. Yeah.
Just wrapping up.
Wrapping up?
All right.
Let's bring it in, boys.
People.
People. Sorry.
(school bell ringing)
Jules:
Hey, Bilal!
Can I see you in
my office for a minute?
Do you remember when you
were here, we had that logo?
The-- like, the...
It was, like, the--
(whooping) Yeah.
- Right. Yeah.
- So, no more of that.
They took it off the gym floor,
took it off the jerseys.
We even got it
off the yearbook.
Um, but we kept
the name, Warriors.
It was really important
to us. Ogichidaa.
- Oh-gee--?
- Ogichidaa.
- Ogichidaa.
- Yeah. It's not in the sense
that, you know, you
would think,
warriors at war,
you know, in battle.
Ogichidaa is when you go
out into the community
and you put everyone else's
needs before your own.
- Bilal: You did this?
- Yeah.
- It's tight.
- (laughing) Thanks.
I wanna put this
all over the school.
I want to remind these kids
what it means to be a Warrior.
And when they leave these doors
to go out into the world,
as Ogichidaa.
So, um...
I was hoping that maybe
we could raise a bit more money
to get some new jerseys?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh, leave it with me.
- Okay.
- Whew!
Great! (laughing)
Thank you.
Yeah, you got it.
(dog barking)
It ain't much, but...
Oh, merci.
It's great.
Um, there's a pull-out.
Not that you'll fit,
but there's bedding.
Um...
(phone chiming)
Uh, there's a pull-out
with bedding.
(phone chiming)
Oh, okay.
Merci, great.
All right.
And, hey, um, Mrs...
(phone chiming)
One day soon, you're gonna get
your ticket outta here.
You're gonna leave
and never look back.
Trust me.
I know what I'm talkin' about.
(phone chiming)
[ speaking French ]
parents,
they gave... everything.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
They love me.
Now, I have you
and the team.
[ speaking French ]
(crowd yelling)
What are you doing?
You're givin' them the game!
- Referee: Calm him down.
- Calm me down?
- Hey, hey, hey.
- This is calm!
- Hey, hey.
- This is calm.
- What?
- Just go hang out.
Hang out at the end.
Hang out at the end
of the bench.
Coach:
He's givin' away the game!
I got it.
I got it.
- I got it.
- (whistle blowing)
(crowd cheering)
All right, inbound.
Inbound.
- Move, move.
- Set up the offence.
Set up the offence.
Problem is Gunnar's
just standing at the top
of the key unless he has
the ball, right?
Bilal: I know. I know
We need someone running point
who gets everyone involved.
Player:
Gunnar!
Maybe try someone else
at the point like Wesley,
like a point forward
or something.
Bettina:
It's not gonna work.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Come on, come on!
Gunnar, move the ball!
Hey, Gunnar, I'm open!
Player: He's wide open.
Hey!
That was a foul!
Yo, blow, that was a foul.
Crowd: Aw!
Oh, my God.
Ref: Technical foul
on two-three.
Oh, come on.
That's a technical foul
on two-three.
- Oh, hey, that's two!
- What?
- That's two.
- You got in my way.
- Relax, relax.
- No, no, no, no.
- You're gonna cost us the game.
- Get back.
Ref: That's two technical
fouls on 2-3.
(shouting over each other)
- Go to the locker room.
- Ref: Get him outta here!
- Come on.
- Chill.
- Get to your locker.
- Get off me!
- Chill, just go, man.
- Boo!
Get outta here!
Bettina:
What the Hell, Gunnar?
- Shut the hell up!
- Gunnar, just go.
- Get off me!
- Just go, dude.
(crowd booing)
Okay.
Okay, uh...
All right.
All right, Shlomo.
You just got called
to the big show, buddy.
Let's show 'em what you got.
- I can't.
- What?
Come on.
Come on.
You've been practising.
You don't even--
I can't.
Everyone will be watching.
Well, you call attention
to yourself more than anyone.
The joking.
The Insta posts. What?
Like, you know
all that Instagram stuff?
I'm doing that alone online.
People are laughing with me.
Not at me.
You know?
Mo, we need you.
Leave it alone, Bilal.
Just leave it alone.
Ref: Hey, Coach.
Who are you puttin' in?
Uh...
We're gonna have to go
with four.
Okay, all right.
All right, bring it in.
(crowd cheering)
Okay, "team" on the three.
Let's go.
All:
One, two, three, team.
- Come on.
- Let's dig in, boys.
(crowd cheering)
We can't do this.
They're just gonna
get embarrassed.
Their confidence
is gonna be wiped out.
- What do you want me to do?
- Coach, come--
What do you want me to do?
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
- Time!
- (whistle blowing)
Ref: Time out.
White.
Coach: Little late
to freeze the shooter.
Bring it in.
Bring it in.
Come on.
Come on.
Put Bettina in.
Both:
What?
Shlomo, take your jersey off.
There isn't a person in here
who has a higher basketball IQ
than Bettina.
I've seen it
and I know you have too,
even if you've been
ignoring it.
You know I'm right.
Hey, Coach.
Gotta get your team out there.
- Shlomo, give her, uh--
- Them.
Coach: Sorry, Bettina.
Give them your jersey.
Ref: Uh, no.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You can't...
A girl can't--
You're in luck,
because they aren't a girl.
Yeah, I don't think
that's how that works.
Yes.
It is.
Jerry, let it go.
(yelling)
All right.
All right, listen up.
Bettina is playing point.
Watch them.
Move to open spaces.
Cut the gaps.
Lay-ups and threes, all right?
- Yeah.
- Bettina will find you.
- Hands in.
- Coach: "Team" on three.
All: One, two, three.
Team!
Let's go, Warriors.
(crowd booing)
What is that?
(crowd cheering)
- All right.
- Right here.
- Line 'em up.
Bilal: You guys,
you gotta move.
Hey, side blue.
Bilal: Hey, hey. Watch the back
door. Watch the back door.
Player: Watch the back door.
Back door!
He's gonna slip the screen.
Damn it.
(crowd cheering)
Bilal: It's okay.
It's okay.
(whistle blowing)
Break! Go, go, go, go, go!
Special, special!
- Bilal: Go, go, go!
- Player: Bettina, reverse it.
Swing it.
Help, help, help, help, help!
Player: Help, help, help.
Coach: Get back!
(crowd cheering)
- Time!
- (whistle blowing)
Ref:
Time, white.
I'm sorry, Coach Irving.
I-I-I...
You belong.
You understand me?
You belong.
I know that.
Coach Schmidt knows that.
Your team knows that.
So do me a favour.
Show each and every one of them
who doesn't know that yet.
- (crowd yelling)
- Woman: Come on!
Bilal:
All right?
- Yeah.
- Go get it.
- Player: Let's go!
- (crowd cheering)
(whistle blowing)
Ball, ball, ball.
(crowd cheering)
That's my jersey!
That's my jersey!
- Yes!
- (cheering)
Woo!
(crowd cheering)
Special!
Bettina, Bettina!
(yelling)
Let's go!
Shlomo:
Let's go, Mason!
So, we do
the triangle offence,
but we still run
the motion play.
- You like that?
- You-- That's my play.
I'm just updating it.
Good job, good job.
Back on D, back on D.
Let's go,
let's go, let's go.
That's you!
He's crowding them, ref!
Eh!
Ah!
Set the back pick.
Set the back pick. There you go.
- I like this.
- I get it, I get it.
People see this,
they go knowledge.
This is foreign.
This is like
a Jurassic Park type thing.
- This is crazy.
- (laughing)
Bilal: There you go.
Go, go, go, go.
- Come on, come on.
- Go, go.
(yelling)
(chuckling)
Bilal:
Hey, bring it in.
(team cheering)
Player:
You deserve it, Bettina.
All right, go ahead.
Dig in. Go ahead.
- (cheering)
- That was awesome. Nice pass.
(phone chiming)
Uh, to Coach Schmidt who's been
with us from the beginning
and always cares
about our future
and our legacy.
And, to our new coach,
who thought
we were too small,
too... too slow, too bad
to make it to the finals.
We salute
your reverse psychology.
- All: Hey!
- (laughing)
For he's a
miserable fellow
For he's
a miserable fellow
You're talking about him.
For he's
a miserable fellow
Which nobody can deny
(all laughing cheering)
All right, you kids have fun.
We'll be right back.
Okay?
Come on.
Come with me.
Been a long time since
you've been down here, huh?
Wow.
It's still the same.
Oh, come on, Coach.
You still got this up?
I'm not gonna take down
Sports Illustrated.
What are you?
Crazy?
I wanna have
a little toast.
And I can't believe
I'm makin' this toast.
All right.
This toast
is to my assistant,
and me, for being smart enough
to listen to my assistant.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Mm.
- Ah!
Could use that.
Wow.
That's a big book.
- Yeah.
- Something Martha would read.
Coach:
She was.
You know Martha used to tell me
about this book.
You know, like, the story,
the characters,
and you know,
I would just sorta, like nod,
but not really listen.
So when she died, I just sorta
wanted to experience something
she was going through,
so I started reading it,
and, I just...
can't get past where
she stopped reading it.
She didn't get to.
I don't know.
I know it sounds crazy.
(sighing)
Hey, Coach,
it's nice to see
what you
and Rose got goin' on.
- Stop it.
- What?
I see you cozying up to her
a little bit.
"Cozying up."
She's in the diner.
- You know, she's nice.
- It's okay.
Come on.
You know that, right?
It's okay for you to have
feelings for somebody else.
We know you love Martha.
I don't know.
You know what?
Let's go back upstairs.
Come on. Take your drink.
Let's get outta here.
Mason:
It's actually really good.
Bettina: It's all icing, you
know? I don't--
Mason:
Oh, 100% all icing.
But there's cherries in there.
It's actually really nice.
Bettina:
Where's the cake?
Mason: But it's good though.
You should try it.
Great speech.
Really, good stuff.
Who made you captain?
What?
You just always gotta make it
about yourself, hm?
Whether you're inventing some
pronoun crap to feel special
or up there
makin' a speech, right?
Speakin' for us.
I never said
you could speak for me.
Gunnar.
Knock it off.
Shut up.
You side with her now?
- Them.
- Oh...
Gimme a break
with that crap.
She just always has to do
something weird or different
so that she can stick out.
I mean ever since
we were kids
she'd always be making it
about herself,
because otherwise
no one would--
Gunnar, knock it off, man.
- I said knock it off.
- Piece of shit!
Don't touch me.
Don't you touch me!
- Let go!
- Hey, hey! Break it up!
- Break it up!
- What is going on in here?
- Guys!
- Get your hands off me!
You know what?
Screw this!
And screw all of you.
You know what?
Good luck winning without me.
I quit.
- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm all right.
Thank you.
That guy's a dick.
(laughing nervously)
Wait a minute.
Bilal.
- Coach?
- What is...
- Coach?
- Just give me a--
Hey, you okay?
Hey, someone call 9-1-1!
- (all chattering)
- I don't know what it is.
Just breathe.
Just breathe, okay?
Hello, everyone.
Some good news.
He's fine.
It was actually
just a false alarm,
but since we still
have him here
I would like to run a few tests
I couldn't earlier
because of his
great escape.
And, I still need to prescribe
him some medication,
so it'll be
a little bit longer.
- So, what happened?
- She can't tell us.
Doctor-patient
confidentiality.
It was gas.
I'm sorry.
What?
Gas, like the stuff
that you...
that comes out
when you flatulate or belch.
Sometimes a build-up of gas
can cause chest pain,
but not unlike
a heart attack.
But, since he's
had one before,
you actually made the right
decision bringing him in.
- So, Coach just had to fart?
- (laughing)
Basically, anyways, I still
can't let all of you see him,
but he has asked for Bilal
and Rose.
- Me?
- Yes, yes.
So, why don't we just
do it one at a time?
You can wait outside
while Rose talks to him first.
Why don't you two
follow me?
Why would Coach
just need to fart? That's...
Hey, can you hold onto
this for me?
Sure.
(all chattering and laughing)
Coach:
...been back to New York.
Rose:
Don't judge me.
Coach: No, I mean, it's the
greatest city in the world.
You can go
to a Broadway show...
Who knows... I might
you know,
I might take the trip.
I don't wanna go alone.
I'm not saying I'm going.
I'm not asking you
right now, like, to go.
Rose: Mm-hm.
I've gotta go.
All right.
Rose, I'm gonna
come lookin' for you soon.
Just take
your medication, okay?
I'm gonna.
I promise.
- All right?
- Okay.
Coach:
Gonna take the medication.
Hey, Coach.
Um, I swear to God, man,
I wasn't trying to kill you,
or disrespect Martha.
I was just trying--
- I asked her out.
- What?!
Look at you, man.
She just wants to wait
for the medication to kick in,
because, you know, if things
get a little hot and heavy,
she don't wanna,
you know, kill me.
- Wow.
- It's all I'm saying.
Mental picture.
Check.
It's nice to see you haven't
lost your sense of humour.
(sighing)
About the team.
- They're yours now.
- What?
They look up to you.
They listen to you.
They...
You don't have to demand things
from them the way I do.
They like doing
what you tell 'em.
And it's okay, you know?
Choices.
Life's all about choices.
Hopefully you
make some good ones.
What do you mean?
Martha.
She was the best choice
I made in my life.
(chuckling)
She was on vacation
with a couple friends,
in New York,
she was never to New York.
And me, I just won
my district championship,
so I was out celebrating
with a couple buddies
and, well...
(chuckling)
We wound up
in this jazz club,
and I'm looking
around the room,
we're celebrating.
And there she was.
Let me tell you something.
When she looked up,
I knew my life
would change forever,
and I knew I found
the other half
of my heart.
And like I said,
life is about making choices,
and you're going to
have to make one soon,
because...
(chuckling)
...that team,
that team...
...is calling
your name.
(ball thumping)
Where is everybody?
How am I the early guy?
Just you and me, my man.
Suit up.
This feels weird.
Is there some sort of loan
- I haven't made good on or?
- (chuckling)
Get up. I wanna give you
something. It might help.
Is it some
of your hotness?
It's this.
What?
My No Fear Zone.
(net swishing, ball bouncing)
Uh, thanks?
This spot, it's mine.
I know it.
I take 100 shots
from here every day.
Nobody knows this
spot more than me.
You shoot
and shoot and shoot,
and when you get to this spot
in the game, it's yours.
Your No Fear Zone.
Nothing can touch you here.
And if I miss
or mess up.
Doesn't matter.
Your No Fear Zone.
(exhaling)
(phone ringing)
Hey, what's up?
Pack your bags,
my man.
What do you mean?
Why?
You, good sir,
are going to be a Timberwolf.
Or Timberwolve?
They got rid of the timber,
didn't they?
Wolf? Wolves? Whatever.
You are going to Minnesota.
Hey, hey.
Hold up, hold up, hold up.
What?
Yeah, half the team
went down with injury.
They need to fill it out
with some 10-days.
When?
Tomorrow.
- (phone pinging)
- No, no. I can't.
The team's playing
in the finals tomorrow.
Can you just put
my drink over there?
Look, there's over 500 guys
in the G-league who would
kill for this opportunity.
You need to get on a plane ASAP.
I can't just bail.
Yo, can't they wait?
Just a couple of days?
Carter:
No, they got a game tomorrow.
They need a full roster.
Carter,
what about my brand, man?
Shouldn't I see
this through?
Why? B, you did it.
It worked.
I'm booking
our tickets ASAP.
(exhaling)
Hey, you get on that plane,
or you can lose my number.
- But Car--
- (Carter hanging up)
(sighing)
Prt partir?
Yeah. Yeah, let's go.
Practice.
On y vas.
Mo's gonna win us
the chip.
(all laughing)
Wait, they're giving out
a trophy? Like, a big one?
- Oh, dude, you haven't seen it?
- Shlomo: No.
It's like the size of you.
- (chuckling)
- It's huge.
Mo, maybe you'll get
one of those, up on there.
Yup.
Shlomo. We'll have Shlomo.
- Bettina: Number three.
- Number three, Shlomo.
(all laughing)
Russel:
Yo! What's up?
Josu! Hey, coach.
Mason: What's up?
Bam.
Russel:
Hope all is good.
Mason:
What took you so long?
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
- Shlomo: What? What's--
- Russel: What's he saying?
Josu: Go.
Bettina:
You're leaving?
Bilal:
What?
You're leaving.
Look, I wanted to wait 'til
after practice to tell you--
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait.
So, when?
Tomorrow.
- What?
- But the game's tomorrow.
- We've been working so hard.
- You can't leave tomorrow.
Mason:
You serious?
Look, this isn't
for nothing, all right?
This is an NBA contract.
You want me to turn
down an NBA contract?
Bettina:
This late in the season?
Is it a 10-day?
Yeah.
Yeah, but they
can extend it.
You're leaving us to
sit on a bench for 10 days?
Whoa. Look, I helped
this team get to the finals.
What more
do I need to do?
So, all of this
was just for you?
No--
All of that Instagram stuff
was just you using us?
Okay, how can you say that?
I got this team to the finals.
I helped you get there!
No, you helped yourself.
What is with
all of you?
If you get a ticket
out of here, you take it!
You think you can be your
fullest self here...
in this place?
Any of you,
you get an opportunity
to get out, you go.
What the hell is
worth staying here for?
Us?
Thanks.
(people shouting, singing)
All right.
(crowd cheering)
- (buzzing)
- (cheering)
That's it.
All right, bring it in.
Bring it in.
(crowd cheering)
Gather in.
Come on, guys.
All right.
I see your faces,
I know what's going on.
All right?
I feel bad he's not here, too,
but we got something
to do out there, okay?
Nothing else
should be in your head
other than moving faster
and quicker
and outrunning these guys
and outscoring these guys.
Then after we can
feel bad together,
but right now we got a job,
so let's do it, okay?
Defence on three,
come on.
All:
One, two, three, defence!
Get out there,
let's do this.
(crowd cheering)
Okay, ready?
(grunting)
(crowd cheering)
Bettina:
Get open!
Constant movement!
- Get to your spot, come on!
- Tina!
Push it!
(crowd cheering)
Yeah, yeah!
Player: Okay, go back.
Back, back.
Bettina: Back on D,
back on D. Come on. Come on!
Work as a team!
As a team!
Russel:
More of that, more of that!
(crowd cheering)
Russel: Hup!
Cover your man!
Russel:
Come on!
Bettina:
Shot, shot, shot!
(crowd cheering)
Play your game, not theirs!
Your game!
(crowd cheering)
Go, go!
- (crowd cheering)
- Bettina: Yes, that's right.
Yes. Yes.
Bettina:
That's good. Come on.
Russel:
Shot, shot, shot!
(crowd groaning)
Come on.
Russel:
Drive it!
(crowd groaning)
Woman:
Mr. Irving?
Ticket and passport, please.
We're just waiting
on you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
My bad.
Oh, I don't need this, sir.
(crowd cheering)
Come on, yeah.
(crowd cheering)
That's right.
Russ, Russ, Russ, Russ, Russ!
Yeah!
(buzzing)
(blowing whistle)
Man:
Hot dog!
(crowd cheering)
Locker room.
Let's go.
(crowd cheering)
It's okay.
Stay focused.
(crowd cheering)
Let's go.
Woman: Yeah!
All right, listen. I know
what you're feeling, okay?
I understand, but we can
still do this, all right?
(crowd chatting)
(crowd cheering)
We're going to have
to do the box-and-one.
The play we've
been working on. Here.
Hey, this isn't about
Xs and Os, Coach.
Holy f--
Forget something?
Yeah, yeah.
I forgot to say
a few things before I left.
We don't want to hear them.
Shlomo: What's your advice?
To just leave?
All right, would you
let him talk?
Listen,
life is God damn hard.
All right?
And I was like
all of you, man.
Back then I felt like a nobody
in the middle of nothing.
Thrown to the wolves
after my parents died.
It put this hole
inside of me.
This hunger,
this fight.
To go out and take what's mine,
you know? What's owed me.
And that's, uh...
when I wish I could have
figured it all out,
but you all know I didn't.
It was that hunger, man.
That hole.
Listen, I messed up
every situation I was in.
More often than not,
I was out for me,
and I messed up my life
and wound up right back here.
I wanted to see if
I could turn you into winners
so it would
look good for me.
So, I can get out
of here again,
and I did it.
I wanted to get on that plane so
God damned bad, let me tell you,
but that would mean
losing all of you,
and losing
the sense of belonging.
Here.
Am I crazy?
Should I fight like hell to
get back to somewhere for me?
Or do I belong
here with you all?
You belong...
here.
All right.
All right, let's bring it in.
Let's go, Coach.
Let's hear it.
Warriors, on three.
All:
One, two, three. Warriors!
- Let's go!
- Let's get out there!
(crowd cheering)
Come on, come on.
Bring it in. Bring it in.
All right, they're up 16,
they think they won
this basketball game.
You think they won it?
I don't think they won it.
No, no, no.
I don't think they won it.
I think we are
still in this game.
(crowd cheering)
Motion, motion! Go, go, go,
go, go, go, go, go, go.
- (crowd cheering)
- Ah, nice! Nice! Let's go!
All we have to do is
bring it within two,
and we can do that.
Yes! Woo!
It is not over
until the buzzer sounds.
This is a whole new half,
a whole new game.
Nice screen, nice screen.
Money Mason, Money Mason!
Yeah!
Coach has a great
plan to slow them down,
but we need to speed
this up on the other end.
(crowd cheering)
Ah! Get up, Wesley!
Nice!
Move, set picks,
sacrifice yourself.
Be Warriors.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
Ref: (blowing whistle)
Foul, 55 Red.
Two shots.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
Charge! Charge!
Boy: Side to side!
(blowing whistle)
Foul. Blocked.
Oh, are you kidding me?!
(all shouting at once)
Bettina:
It's okay, it's okay.
Referee:
Foul, 55 red.
(crowd cheering)
(shouting)
Time out, time out,
time out!
Jump ball.
Possession blue.
What?
No, I said time out!
John, what are you calling?
- What?
- Time out!
- That's a jump ball.
- You understand?
You want a time out?
I'm calling time.
Time out. Red.
Bring it in, bring it in,
bring it in, bring it in,
come on, come on.
Coach, I swear
I said time out.
- I know, I saw.
- I swear, I swear.
You're good, you're good.
You're good, bro...
Eight seconds left.
Eight seconds left.
Okay, here's what
we're going to do, all right?
As soon as the ball inbounds,
foul whoever, okay?
No, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no.
Foul before the inbound.
That way there's no
time off the clock, okay?
Their number four is
a 48% free throw guy.
You got a 50-50 chance.
It's called analytics, Bilal.
You should try it some time.
(chuckling)
Okay?
All right. Foul number
four before the inbounds.
LB, foul him
before the inbounds.
We only have
one time-out left,
which means when he misses,
we really have to
throw out the Xs and Os.
We don't have Josu
to bail us out.
It won't be
about positioning.
It'll be about what Coach
Schmidt has always taught you.
You need to want it more.
You just need to
flat out want it more.
Warrior strong on three.
One, two, three...
All:
Warrior strong!
(crowd cheering)
LB, foul before the inbound.
(crowd cheering)
(blowing whistle)
Foul! Number 10.
There we go.
- Red, two shots.
- Come on.
(crowd applauding, whistling)
(exhaling sharply)
- Yes!
- Yes!
(crowd cheering)
That's it! That's it!
Time! Time! Time!
Yeah! Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on.
Yes! Yes!
Good job. Good job.
All right.
Okay. Okay. All right.
(clapping)
Listen up, all right.
Let's go for two
and tie this game up. Let's go.
Bettina, as soon as you get
the ball,
you do a quick read
of the D.
If Russell is open in
the corner, drive and kick,
if not, try to draw
in a double team
and dish it
to Mason at the rim.
Wesley, you stand as a release
valve at the free throw line.
Okay?
Warriors on three!
Wait.
We should put Shlomo in.
Go for a three.
- Oh, my--
- Mason: What?!
Your spot,
it's right there.
Hey, he hasn't played
all year.
Russel: Coach,
no one'll be expecting him.
They'll leave him
completely open.
He'll have the best
shot of any of us.
And you know what, Shlomo?
They won't even see it coming.
I'm not sure if
I even see it coming!
Okay, who do I take out?
You can take me out.
No, they can't take you out.
Take me out.
You want us to
be Warriors, right?
The only way this
is going to work is
if Bettina brings up the ball.
You have to stay in.
Coach, use me as a decoy.
Bettina: Yeah, yeah.
If we use Russel as a decoy
in one corner, it'll overload
their defenders to that side,
right, 'cause they'll
probably run a tight zone
to prevent the two, then,
if LB, you run towards me,
and set a pick,
it'll collapse,
and then Shlomo will be wide
open in the opposite corner
for me to hit.
Okay, slow down.
It's easy enough for me to
hit threes alone in the gym
while no one's guarding me,
- but I--
- No, no, no. You'll be so open.
Okay?
It'll feel like you're alone.
- Trust me.
- Oh, my God.
- Trust us.
- We're with you, Mo.
We're with you.
You got this, Mo.
- You got this.
- Deep breath.
- Bettina: You got it.
- You got this.
- Hands in. Come on.
- Hands in, hands in.
All: One, two, three.
Warrior strong!
Come on.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Russel:
We got this!
- (crowd cheering)
- Go, defence! Come on, defence!
(crowd cheering)
Crowd (Chanting):
Defence! Defence!
(blowing whistle)
(inhaling, exhaling)
(all cheering)
(all cheering)
Bilal:
Come on! Yes!
Team:
Shlomo! Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo!
Yes! We did it again, right?
We did it again!
Woo!
Oh, my God.
You did.
Stop. We did it as a team.
We did it as a team. Stop.
You know what?
We did it as a team.
You did it as a coach.
Thank you.
Now, let's go see our team.
Come on.
(cheering)
There it is.
(shouting)
You got this!
There you go. There you go.
- Hey, Shlomo!
- (all talking over each other)
Bilal: Hey, hey, hey, hey!
We gotta get
a picture, all right?
No, no.
This one's just for us.
Coach:
You get on that side.
Can you take a picture, man?
Thank you so much.
Coach: That's right.
Shlomo in the middle.
- One!
- Warriors, baby. Number one!
Coach:
Warriors!
(all cheering)
(camera snapping)
Hey, B. It's me.
Here in Minnesota.
Waiting in the hotel.
Uh, you're not here yet.
Hurry up, man.
(chuckling)
Okay, talk soon.
I've-- I've been
looking on the socials,
and I see that
you guys won.
Congratulations.
I guess you didn't miss
your plane.
You just didn't get on it.
Am I disappointed that
you didn't sign? Yes.
Have I had to smooth things
over with the Wolves? Yes.
But that's okay,
we're going to move forward.
What if we take this,
like, global? Youth camp.
We talk to Adidas,
and then I get you
back on a team.
I can do that
and I can get you some money,
but please,
call me back.
Bilal,
you (bleep) prick.
What are you doing?
You need to call me! (bleep)
Pick up that phone
and call me right now,
or I swear to God
I will never let you sleep!
what time it is
in whatever time zone
you're currently in.
I guess you, um,
you wanna do the right thing.
You wanna...
You're ready to just
throw it all away.
(sighing)
Have a great life, Bilal.
Oh, crap. Has this thing
been on mute the whole time?
What the (bleep)?
(crowd cheering)
Coach:
Guys, come on!
Box out! Box out!
Let's go! Box out!
Rotate. Rotate!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no!
Damn it.
Seriously?
You gotta be kidding me.
(whistle blaring)
- Hey!
- That's a foul!
What are you talking about?!
- What?
- Sit down!
What are you talking--
I'm not playing a bunch--
(grunting)
A bunch of goons.
(groaning)
Oh God... Oh!
Oh! Schmidt! Schmidt?!
- Coach!
- Schmidt!
- Schmidt!
- Coach?
I'm calling 911.
Schmidt?
Hey!
(voices fading out)
(time clock buzzing)
(crowd cheering)
(whistle blaring)
(ambient cheering)
(rock music playing)
(crowd jeering)
[ shouting in Mandarin ]
I... am not a decoy.
You are an ass!
And you're
a terrible coach.
(siren wailing)
Jules: Can we get someone from
geography from the city?
Maybe, like, a week?
I don't know, a month?
(moaning)
Oh, okay, I'm gonna call you
back, he's up.
Um, excuse me, hello!
Nurse? Hello!
(sighing)
You're awake.
What happened?
- You collapsed.
- I remember that part.
I'm talking happened
with the game?
We forfeited.
- You quit the game?
- Okay, you collapsed.
- We all thought you were dead.
- Do I look dead?
Doctor: Look who's decided
to join us. Hi.
Hi. So...
Are you his daughter, or...
- No, we're friends.
- I'm his boss.
- Thanks, Jules.
- How are you feeling?
Never better.
Uh... You know what,
I just need to sit up.
I don't know--
Okay, you need to take it easy.
Just for a bit, okay?
Yeah?
All right, all right,
just for a little while.
But I want to go home.
Um, can I talk
to you for a sec?
- Yeah.
- We'll be right back.
We're going to have to keep him
here a little bit longer.
I need to run
a few more tests.
- But he's gonna be okay, right?
- Mild heart attack.
I didn't know you could have
a mild heart attack.
He's gonna be okay.
And what about coaching?
Yeah, about that.
I'm afraid you're gonna have to
find someone else,
he can't be coaching.
There is no one else.
He's-- he's coach.
Well, we're going to call you
once we have the results, okay?
(tablet chiming)
Captain Carter,
what's the word?
Carter: Do you remember
the plan, Bilal?
It was a simple plan, right.
You go to China,
you rehab your game,
you set Shanghai on fire,
the fans go crazy
for you over there,
and then some desperate team
over here
brings you back
to the NBA, right?
That was the plan.
Instead, you self-combust into
whatever this is. Here.
Announcer: You say that's
a resignation,
I say that's a three-pointer
right there.
Announcer 2: Yo, what was that?
You can't do that!
- Announcer 1: Unbelievable.
- Carter: You're killing me.
- You know that?
- Bilal: He came at me!
(sighing) Look, you're not
seeing it, okay?
That's fine, that's fine.
You're not seeing it.
That's exactly
what I'm here for.
Okay, what am I not seeing?
We're in full damage control
mode here, okay, Bilal?
I had to call your old high
school and see if you could,
you know, donate money
to a scholarship,
or buy some new backboards,
balls, whatever.
The principal tells me they
might have to cancel basketball.
Why?
Carter: Coach had a heart
attack or something.
Hold up, coach had a heart
attack?
He's gonna be good, he's in
total recovery mode.
But the point is,
they need a new coach.
This is our soft landing.
- Seriously? Stop playing.
- Oh, come on.
It's...
It's kismet, Bilal!
They are gonna roll out
the red carpet for you.
Come on, man!
There's gotta be another league
out there somewhere.
Turkey? Australia?
B, right now everyone thinks
you're a coach killer.
Come on, man!
Doesn't matter how many points
you put up in China, okay?
So you think if I coach
a bunch of kids,
that's gonna get me back
to the league?
Look, stay in shape during
practice,
just Insta some pics of you
with the kids,
and after a couple of months,
we'll change the narrative.
You're the misunderstood
good guy, the, uh--
Carter, man, I haven't been back
there since I graduated.
If you don't do this, Bilal,
your basketball career
is over.
No more shots.
No more post-career with an
organization.
It's done. Nothing.
And as your agent, I can tell
you, it'll be over.
But...
It's your choice.
Okay, I'll talk to you later.
Have a great one.
Bye-bye.
(jet engines roaring)
(bossa nova music playing)
(music continuing
over tinny speakers)
(sighing)
Of course nobody is crazy enough
to fly here.
Ah.
Beautiful, beautiful. Okay.
Okay. Good.
What the hell?
Hey, my man,
could someone please--
My Jordans?!
(Grunting)
Thank you!
Damn it! This...
(grunting)
(jet engines roaring overhead)
Bilal!
Hey! Bilal Irving!
Hi! Welcome.
Okay.
How was your flight?
Flights.
Three of them.
Long.
Well, you can just put your
stuff in the back.
This is 40k
worth of clothes.
Oh, well...
Could just, like, tie it up.
Your choice.
Everyone's really excited to
have you back in town.
Yeah.
(engine revving)
Sorry about the sign.
We only had two L's.
Bettina even polished your
award.
- My award?
- Yeah.
The Promising Athlete award.
The one you sponsor.
I'm gonna get back to work,
so...
How's coach doing?
He's... he's okay.
He had a small
heart attack.
I didn't even know you could
have a small heart attack.
You remember where the gym is,
right?
Uh, Bilal?
The gym.
Yeah.
(ECG machine beeping softly)
(water running)
(tap squeaking, water stops)
No. No.
(team shouting)
Player 1: He shoots!
Move, move.
Player 2: Get your man, get your
man, get your man.
Player 1: Get the ball.
-(Boys shouting over each other)
-Pass!
Okay. Go. Go.
It's all right.
Who's guarding LB!
Lockout, defence!
Oh, stopped by Russell!
(shouting continues)
Player 1:
Swing that, swing that!
Whoo!
-Get him, get him!
- LB!
Ball, ball!
Bilal Irving?
- (whistle blaring)
- Bring it in!
Come on, bring it in!
Boy (mockingly):
"Come on! Bring it in!"
Guys, come on.
Uh, Bilal Irving.
That's him?
Yo, you played here?
Why do you think his jersey's
up there?
What, the rest of the team not
feel like practicing?
That's it, coach.
That's the team.
Sorry, can I call you coach?
What are you,
the assistant, or...
- She wishes.
- (team chuckling)
Uh, no.
Just the equipment manager.
Sorry. Right. Right.
Here you go.
Look.
Y'all do whatever it is that
y'all were doing,
and I'ma be, uh...
...over there.
Shlomo: Cool. All right,
well, good talk, coach.
All right, let's get back to
your ass-kicking.
We're up two!
Did you want to look at these,
or I could email this to you
if it's easier.
What am I looking at?
Oh, this is all of the players'
advanced stats,
including PER in order of game
share wins
the last couple years.
There hasn't been a lot
of wins recently.
Seven and 24 since I've been
going here.
You did all this?
For high school?
Y-Yeah, and if you
cross-reference that--
- Hey, just give me the basics.
- The basics?
Yeah.
Name and position.
Oh, um, yeah, right.
Okay. Uh...
All right.
Wesley plays the four.
Does the dirty work.
He's all heart and grit.
LB, our centre.
He needs a lot of work,
mostly on boxing out,
general coordination,
as you can see.
Yeah.
Oh! Now that guy, Russell,
he's got an endless motor.
Great athlete, good guy,
but he needs to come out
of his shell a little.
Skilled wing,
efficient in mid-range.
Mason Daniels, plays the two.
He could actually score more,
but he always defers to Gunnar.
Uh, he fancies himself
a point god.
- (swish of the net)
- (cheering)
What, baby!
He's got something.
Bettina: He averaged nine
turnovers a game last season.
- Don't touch me, boy.
- You missed like 5 times
Don't touch me!
I'm hot!
I take it
that's our sixth man?
Russell gets the ball, he's
almost standing at the...
Yeah, but he's mostly here just
to be a body in drills.
He's never actually played
in a game.
- Why not?
- Stage fright.
(shouting)
Oh man.
Oh, he goes through!
He scores!
That's what I'm talking about.
- That guy has stage fright?
- Here we go!
Let's go!
And what's your name?
- Bettina.
- Yeah, Bettina?
Wake me up in an hour.
(players shouting)
- Shlomo: Gunnar has the ball!
- Okay.
Passes it to Big Money Mason!
Gunnar!
(cheering)
Coach?
- What are you doing here?
- Practice.
What the hell is that?
It's, uh,
it's a sign.
(players shouting)
Player 1: Yeah. No.
I got it, I got it. I got it
Player 2:
LB, LB, what the hell was that?
- (whistle blaring)
- Bilal: I'm up, I'm up!
Coach?
What the hell
are you doing here?
What the hell are you
doing here?!
Wait, wait, wait.
I can explain.
(stammers)
I can explain.
It was either cancel the season
or find a replacement.
Body isn't even cold and you
bring him in the next day?
I didn't bring him in, okay?
His agent called and I just--
Oh, excuse me!
His agent called.
They asked me to come.
I'm here.
I didn't even know about your
whole situation.
My situation? My situ--
It's a touchy situation!
I had a heart attack!
- That is a situation!
- You want another one?
Okay, he also made a sizeable
donation
to the athletics department,
and it just--
Wait a minute.
He bought my job?
You bought my job?
I ain't the bad guy here.
Oh no, this is the prodigal son
coming home to save the day.
Can you guys, like, co-coach
or something?
Co-coach? No co-coaching!
If anything, it would be
an assistant,
and I don't need or want
an assistant.
Especially him!
- Especially him.
- I ain't no one's assistant.
Okay, you know what?
I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna
tell the kids
that the season's canceled.
Is that what you want?
'Cause if we don't figure this
out, that's what's gonna happen.
So, tell me what you want.
Fine.
Co-coach, whatever.
Fine.
Good.
Okay, I'm gonna
go tell them.
You do what you do,
and I'll do what I do, okay?
Okay, you know what?
Just keep you and your team of
losers out of the way
of my work-outs
and we are good.
My team of losers?
I guess you were one of
my team losers then.
- Is that what it is?
- Go kick rocks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Take a--
Go get one of those big
truck tires.
"Oh, look at me.
Look how strong I am.
You just gotta get the last
word out,
you can't just let me walk away,
you gotta say something.
- No, I can't.
- Right, every time.
- No I don't gotta say a word.
- Yeah.
Go pick on some dumbbells
or something.
- Why are you getting mad?
- I'm not mad! This is not mad.
(shouting) This is mad!
When I'm like this,
that's mad.
(quietly) This?
This is not mad.
I'm the coach!
Remember that!
Jules: Don't worry,
you're gonna love it.
Oh, hell no.
(scoffing)
Oh, hell no.
(shouting)
Oh, hell no!
(sighing)
(sighing)
(rustling)
(shouting)
Oh, Jesus!
Here, hydration
and natural light
will help reset
your circadian rhythm.
What?!
To combat the jetlag.
What are you doing here?
Morning practice,
it's in an hour.
What are you doing
in my bedroom?
(stammers)
I said that.
Practice,
it's in an hour.
- How? How did you get in?
- Oh, um.
I have a key.
Mrs. Graham, it's her place.
I look after it
when she's in Florida.
I can't believe this is
happening. This is crazy.
This is insane. I'm gonna...
No service, of course.
Uh, we should get going if we
want to get there.
- We're already running late.
- Yeah, late?
It's a 10 minute drive,
we'll be fine.
I told our principal not to come
pick you up.
Why would you do that?
Exercise, it's recommended
for jetlag,
so I figured
that we would run.
(groaning)
You figured we'd run.
You figure maybe I could eat
something before we go
for a 45--
What?
You should fast for the first
24 hours
after landing
for the jetlag.
- (groaning)
- Your fridge is empty, anyway.
- Of course it is.
- Wait. Oh, um.
But you can-- here-- have...
...this.
What's this?
Vitamin D.
It's for the--
For the jetlag? Yeah, got it.
Sorry I ever mentioned it.
Bon appetit.
(crunching)
(sighing)
Can I get dressed,
or are you just gonna...
Oh, right, right. Yes.
I'll be outside.
Yeah. Appreciate it.
Perfect.
(sighing)
So, why are you here?
What do you mean?
Well, starting from
the beginning,
after being a late
second-round pick,
you had four up and down seasons
in the league
and got traded to Charlotte,
basically as a salary filler.
- Wow.
- Okay, but then you had--
you averaged 14-4-3
off the bench.
Had seven 20-plus-point games,
and won the Sixth Man
Award twice.
It's around this time
that I put up a few posters of
you on my wall.
I mean, like, a real NBA'er,
from here?
It's like, I mean sure, most say
you don't even crack
the top 500 players of all time,
but I would put you low 300s.
Hey, easy. Easy.
So you get a really nice
extension, regular minutes.
You don't make an all-NBA team,
but you get close.
Two-time all-star reserve.
You're doing great.
But then throughout it all,
not only do you never
come back here,
you never even mention it
in interviews.
Not even in the SI deep dive
feature on you
after you went to China.
So, what's your point?
Well, that's my question,
really. Why are you here?
Are you one of those
spectrum kids?
No.
I mean, my SB-5 test puts me at
0.02% of the population
in terms of mental acuity,
so I may come off a bit weird,
but it's nothing to be
afraid of, you know.
It's just, I get super focused
on things.
So?
So what?
Why are you here?
To help.
Give back, or whatever.
Oh, okay.
LB, box out! Energy.
Let's go.
Great, great.
That's terrific.
- Sorry, coach.
- Well, well, well.
If it isn't the great
Bilal Irving.
First day, and late.
- It's nice to sleep in, huh?
- No, no, that's my bad.
I took a wrong turn on the way
here, and then I had to stop
to catch my breath, so...
All right. All right.
Guys, let's just get back to
practicing our sets.
Can't we change it up? Can't we
do some offence or something?
We're oh-and-three,
it's all about defence.
Uh, coach, at the beginning of
the season, you were like,
"We're only gonna
win with defence."
And we're oh-and-three,
you know.
I'm starting to have a bit of
trust issues.
Oh, are you?
Plus the impersonation of me?
Baseline.
Come on.
You did it
to yourself, Mo.
(chuckling)
Something funny, Bilal?
Nah, I think running your only
five players is.
Still doing outdated defensive
sets without touching a ball?
That's old school, coach.
Can't score unless you shoot.
And last time I checked...
Ball.
...shooting wins.
Well, you could do all
the shooting you want,
if you can't stop the other
team, what good is it?
When Shlomo stops running, why
don't you show him how to?
And if you can turn him into
a 20 plus scorer in every game,
well, then I owe you
an apology.
Until then...
- Team!
- (Whistle blaring)
- Other side of the court.
- Let's go, boys.
I'm gonna let you... you know,
practice shooting.
(cell phone chiming)
What?
This is defamation.
"Bilal Irving's whole dumb life
is a sitcom
"with the hackiest writers
in showbiz."
Some of those comments
are cold.
- Oh man! Look at that one!
- Hey.
You know this is
my life, right?
Not anymore, boss.
All right, I'm ready.
Hit me.
Coach zones out when I start
talking defensive zones,
so I figured
I'd work with you.
- That--
- Three, two, one.
Uh, new shoes.
Messing with my twitch muscles.
We could start with
Shlomo's shot.
I mean, obviously there's a lot
to work, but if we, you know,
bring his elbow in, maybe get
him closer to the net--
- Uh, yeah, I think...
You guys mind if I record some
of this for socials?
Like, you helping me?
That's crazy!
Okay. All right, man.
Look. Just...
- (camera lens clicking)
- Yeah, hey.
Yeah, you know what?
Yes.
That's actually
not a bad idea, kid.
I'm full of not bad ideas!
Bettina, you mind?
Uh, yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Cool, cool. Um, yeah, just come
a little closer, right here.
Yeah, here you go.
(chuckling) You got that?
(sighing)
What's going on, everybody.
My name is Bilal Irving, and
it's great to be back
where it started,
Dumont Warriors basketball.
I'm here with Mo,
who has a jump shot only
a mother could love.
Shlomo:
And she does!
(quietly) Hey.
- (chuckling)
- (heroic music plays on phone)
Now, I know threes are
all the rage,
but don't bother shooting them
until you can hit shots
up close with proper form.
'Cause eventually,
they'll look like this.
(net swishing)
But first,
let's get up close.
We aren't leaving until he makes
100 with proper form.
- What?
- That one doesn't count.
Follow through.
Shlomo: What did I do
to deserve this?
Woman:
As I live and breathe.
Mrs. Martin?!
Stop, you're making me
feel old.
A man your age should be
calling me Rose.
- Uh, all right, I'll try.
- What are you doing here?
Are you visiting
Coach Schmidt?
Coaching, actually.
He's letting someone else
coach the team?
Well, "letting" isn't quite
the word,
but I'm here to help,
because of the whole heart
attack thing.
Oh, that's nice.
You still a banquet burger,
fries, vanilla shake,
leave the tin?
Nah, nah, just a salad with the
chicken breast,
uh, hold the croutons.
You've changed, Bilal.
(door bell jingling)
You can't sit there.
You gotta get up.
What you, get all Jim Crow
in your old age?
This is where
she sits.
So you gotta get up.
(dog barking)
Woman:
How long is it gonna take?
It's night-time. All I hear is
this tap, tap, tapping.
I want to go to sleep.
How long is it gonna take?!
Boy: Presque fini--
uh, almost--
Woman: No wonder nobody ever
wanted you! You're useless!
Absolutely useless!
Boy: I'm sorry, sorry.
Dsole, I am sorry.
Woman: Right.
Sorry. You're always sorry.
Okay, boys. We know this team
comes out big, right up front.
LB, you get your ass into
those stomachs,
you gotta grab those rebounds!
I'm sure you've had lots of
practice
getting your butt into things.
- Shut up, Gunnar!
Just run the damn offence,
all right, Gunnar?
Coach, don't you want
to say something?
I'm sure Coach Schmidt's
got this.
Yeah, Coach Schmidt does
got this.
(time clock buzzing)
(camera lens clicking)
Woman in video:
A countdown from five.
And each number, you will feel
more and more relaxed.
(cell phone ringing)
Five, four...
Bilal Irving speaking.
Carter:
What the hell is this?
Kismet, Carter.
Kismet.
Hey, would you take that thing
off you face and look at this?
Ugh, what?
Carter:
This isn't good.
Hey, you told me all I had to do
was sit on the bench.
Well, I figured at least, you
know, you'd watch the game.
Hey, what about that training
video? That got some likes.
I even printed a Spotify
workout playlist,
and that got
some likes too.
Yeah, yeah, well,
that was all great, you know.
Because you were engaged.
You were actually trying to help
that kid get better.
You know, connecting with
people, you're good at that.
- (sighing)
- But, I mean, look.
You're ignoring the kids
while you're sitting on
the bench, okay?
That's not exactly good
for your image.
In fact, it's actually worse
than you were before.
All right, all right, all right!
So what? Cut bait.
All right? Let's do something
different.
Try something different.
Somewhere different.
No, no, that's the exact wrong
thing to do in this situation.
We gotta spin this.
Okay, you know what
you gotta do?
You gotta turn
this team around.
That's impossible.
They suck!
So, make them suck less.
I told you this would be
a bad idea, Carter.
Well, you'd better work some of
your Bilal magic
because "hometown zero" is
trending.
Okay? Fix it.
What?!
(Groaning angrily)
(Door bell jingling)
I can make
this team better.
But you've gotta
listen to me.
I don't have to listen to
anybody. Especially you.
You're still running the same
old offence
from when I was here.
That "old offence"
won us a banner and got you
a scholarship.
Listen, the other team
is just anticipating
and beating you
to the spots.
Well, then, we just gotta move
a little quicker
and get there sooner.
Okay, speaking of "sooner,"
you've gotta speed the game up,
play downhill,
pressure the ball.
Yeah, we don't have the bench
for that.
Okay, so get out of the
mid-range. It's an energy suck.
Shoot threes
and drive and kick.
Draw fouls. Stop the clock.
Be efficient.
You're talking
about flash, fads,
stuff that's going
out of style.
No. It's analytics,
and it's not.
You know
what wins a game?
Hard work
and defence.
What are you
scared of?
Scared? All right.
No, no, seriously. What do
you have to lose, Coach?
You've already
lost every single game.
Why not just try
something new,
just try moving on to
something else?
Rose:
Ha!
Sorry. You realize
who you're talking to?
Move on? Hmm.
All right.
You want
to talk about analytics?
If you're losing on
the boards, what do you got?
You can take all
the shots you want,
all the threes, the twos.
I don't care what you're doing,
but if you're missing,
you got an analytic
for that?
No, but I might have
something else for that.
Hey, kid.
I've been seeing you
around town.
My name's
Bilal Irving.
[ speaking French ]
- Where you from?
- He's from Haiti.
Oh, yeah?
How long you been here?
Rose:
He just started.
No, in town,
with Miss Smith?
Oh, few weeks. Why?
How old is he?
Boys, no.
Rose, guy's got a
seven-foot-nine wingspan.
He was born
for this.
Bilal:
You ever play basketball?
[ speaking French ]
"Basketball" ci,
"basketball" a.
What'd he just say?
Just let
him alone, okay?
He's just settling in,
brushing up on his English,
about to start his last
year of high school.
Last year
of high school?
- Mine, mine, mine!
- Whoo!
- Box out! Box out!
- Nice lay, G.
Okay!
Guys, gather round!
I want you to
meet Josue.
He's going to
be the new centre.
LB, that's the way
the ball bounces.
[ speaking French ]
Great. Just what we
need, a guy in an apron.
- Give it a rest.
- Coach: Cut it.
He's a new guy in town.
He was eligible,
so we enrolled him.
It's like he got all
my puberty hormones.
You-- you hit puberty?
[ speaking French ]
Uh, listen. He doesn't
speak much English, okay?
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
What's going on?
[ speaking French ]
Don't tell me he's gonna shoot.
He's going to shoot.
Yeah. Yeah.
He just shot.
(boys laughing)
That was bad.
- And that's coming from you.
- Was that real?
Bilal: All right.
Hey, listen up.
We're going to be taking a
lot more shots from now on--
Besides
taking shots,
we're going to be missing
a lot more shots,
so we're going to need
somebody to clear the boards.
Also... he can do this.
- Bettina.
- (boys murmuring)
Bettina: [ speaking French ]
(boys murmuring)
- Uh, spike, dunk.
- Oh. Okay.
- Yeah?
- [ speaking French ]
Josu: Okay.
Oh!
All right. Not bad.
Not bad.
Bettina,
you tell him nothing,
and I mean nothing,
gets past him
and goes in that net.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
- Oh, okay.
- All right. We set?
Gunnar, give
him your best.
I will.
Give me the ball.
Let's go, G.
Light him up.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
Yeah.
Okay.
He's ready for you.
Let's go, Josu.
You got this.
- (grunting)
- (boy laughing)
Shlomo:
Oh! G-dog just got G-jected!
I don't know what that is,
but I like it.
- That was a foul.
- Russell: No way.
Next time,
go like this...
Not in my house!
Not in my house.
Russell:
(laughing) Legend!
That was a foul!
Coach, you saw that.
You know what?
I don't want to hear it.
What do you mean?
He slapped my hand!
You know what?
Ten minutes. Face the wall.
What do you mean, I got to face
the wall? He slapped my hand!
- Coach: Face the wall!
- Shlomo: Not in my house!
Everybody else...
(blowing whistle)
...practise.
Bilal:
Lower, lower, lower, lower.
High, high.
Now, hard dribbles.
Hard dribble.
Pound the rock.
Load your calves.
Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going. Eyes on me.
Left to right.
Left to right.
Go!
Push! Push!
Ask for the ball.
Ask for the--
Deman-- Demandez
la balle. All right.
Laisser le en bas.
Laisser le en bas.
Bilal: Left to right.
Pound the rock. Call it out.
- Players: One!
- One.
- Players: Two!
- Two.
Finis-le Josu.
You better run!
Let's go!
There you go.
Triple threat position.
Shot fake.
Swing low.
You want to do it again?
You want to get at me now?
C'mon, c'mon. What you got,
Gunnar? I'ma come get you.
I'ma get the ball, if
you let me get the ball.
- You won't get the ball.
- All right. Rip again.
There you go.
- Boys: Zero.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go.
- Players: Five.
- There you go!
- Players: Five.
- There you go!
Five! Four!
Three! Two! One!
There you go. There you go.
There you go.
Bring it in. Bring it in.
Bring it in. Come on.
- One, two, three.
- All: Warriors!
How come you never
mentioned you could play?
I've been
watching you.
Stalker much?
Says the girl with
the poster of me on her--
Person.
Right. Sorry.
Says the person with
the poster of me on her--
Their.
Their room.
(chuckling)
Hey, point is, I see you
working with the guys,
and you've got it.
Zip. Flow. Feel.
And now,
I see you can shoot?
Why aren't
you playing?
Who am I supposed
to play with?
There is a girls' team
and a boys' team.
Where do I fit?
Yeah, but there's an
opportunity.
Look. I already get called
a freak by people on this team.
If I played?
I-- I get that, but
sometimes, you--
No, you don't.
You can't.
I'm happy to help.
Okay?
Okay.
But I think you should
give it a second thought.
Don't worry
about me, okay?
Worry about Algoma Heights.
They are tough.
All right.
You want to tell me
a little bit more or--
Already emailed
it to you.
All right.
(crowd talking,
shoes squeaking on floor)
- (crowd cheering)
- Motion!
Let's go, Gunnar!
Player: Gunnar, I'm open!
He's not moving
the ball.
(shoes squeaking
on floor)
You guys gotta
get open!
Get open!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
(whistle blowing)
(cheering)
Coach: Motion!
That's what motion means!
- Not one pick and stop!
- (whistle blowing)
Player:
Tee up! Tee up! Tee up!
Get him!
Ball, ball, ball, ball,
ball! Box out, box out.
(whistle blowing)
Let's go. Let's go.
Gunnar!
- Coach: Ah!
- (whistle blowing)
This is going to be an ugly
game unless something changes.
(whistle blowing)
Box out! Box out!
Run the play!
Player: Drive it!
All the way, G!
- Defence!
- Player: Defence, Russell!
(crowd cheering)
Go, go, go, go, go,
go, go, go!
Player:
This way!
(crowd cheering)
- (buzzer sounding)
- Man on speaker: Halftime.
Hey, can I use this
for something?
- Yeah, for sure.
- Thank you.
- Shlomo: Seriously?
- Hey, Coach.
No cards. You don't want
anything in writing.
- I'll tell you later. Go ahead.
- Quick word.
I gotta get the boys
ready for the second half.
Bilal: No, no. I get that.
We gotta shake it up, man.
We gotta get shots
up quicker.
They are jumping on us and
anticipating the passing lanes.
We really should spread the
floor. Josue and four shooters.
- I drew this up just now.
- All right. Listen. Listen.
Listen.
Listen. Listen.
This is my team.
These are my systems.
You have been nothing,
but extremely helpful,
now it's time to
sort of stand to the side
and let me do
my job.
Let me
get them ready.
Bettina:
Told you.
He won't listen.
(crowd shouting
excitedly)
(whistle blowing)
(crowd cheering)
Come on!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
Time!
- (whistle blowing)
- Come on!
Let's go! Move, move, move.
Get in there.
- Bilal: Come on. Come on.
- Get in there. Let's go.
Bilal: Come on. There you go.
There you go. There you go.
Gunnar, you keep
throwing the ball away.
Well, nobody's open,
so I can't do anything.
They're beating us
to our spots.
Yeah? Why don't you run a
little faster, then, buddy?
Wesley: Run faster? What you
talking about, run faster?
My grandma is 95, and she can
run faster than you, buddy!
- What are you talking about?
- Guys!
Just fight for your
positions, okay?
You got to get there
faster, you understand?
You got to want it. Come on.
"Team" on three.
- One, two, three.
- All: Team!
- Come on!
- Hey. Come here. Come here.
Coach:
Let's go! Keep it going!
On the inbound, come
and get the ball.
Inbound the ball to Wesley.
Get to one of the corners.
They're leaving them wide open.
As soon as you cross half,
attack the lane.
When they collapse, kick it out
to Russell in the corner.
Only shoot threes.
- What about our sets?
- I'm co-coach, right?
I thought you were just
the assistant.
Just go!
Crowd:
Algoma!
(crowd cheering)
Come on! Come on!
Run the play!
What is this?
- Yes!
- (crow cheering)
Yeah!
- (cheering)
- Time!
You don't have
possession, Coach!
(players shouting
indistinctly)
- Time! Bring it in!
- (whistle blowing)
Why'd you just waste
a timeout?
Bring it in!
Bring it in.
Hey, can you explain the pick
and roll to Josu?
- Yes. Yeah.
- Damn it already with you.
Good job. Good job.
Coach: Why are you guys not
running the plays?
But what Coach
said worked.
The coach?
I'm the coach.
Do you know pick and roll?
Okay. So...
Run the sets.
Understood?
- Okay. On three, "team."
- (Josu speaking quietly)
- Coach: One, two, three.
- Coach, players: Team!
- Bilal: Come on. Let's go.
- Coach: Get out there.
Wesley:
What did Bilal say?
Bilal, what the hell
are you doing?
Trying to win, Coach.
(cheering)
- Foul ball!
- (whistle blowing)
Follow the play!
Follow the play!
- Yeah!
- (crowd cheering)
Time! Time!
You only got one
of those left, Coach.
You might want
to save it.
- Let's go!
- Let's go! Let's go!
People in crowd: (chanting)
Warriors! Warriors! Warriors!
- Yeah!
- (crowd cheering)
Hey, pick it up!
Ah! There you go.
There you go.
Whoo!
(Bilal cheering)
(buzzer sounding,
crowd cheering)
Yeah!
(cheering)
One in five. Our win
projection just got an uptick.
We're on the board.
(laughing)
Bettina:
All right. Come on.
Player:
Is that what that feels like?
Bilal:
That's how you do it, right?
Player:
Right. Yeah.
(people talking
indistinctly)
Man:
Good game, boys.
(car engine starting)
Girl: Did you see that?
That was unbelievable.
What the hell do
you think you're doing?
What? What are you
talking about?
What am I talking about?
I got 23 winning seasons out
of 27.
Can you say that?
No, you can't.
Hey, hey, let's go inside,
and we can talk about this.
- All right?
- Yeah.
The high school hero that went
out there all confident,
the big shot that didn't need
nothing or nobody except himself
until something
went wrong.
And you wind up
right back here.
All right.
Things have changed.
You haven't. You need to
grow and move on.
Move on. How does--
How'd that work
out for you?
When was the last
time you got a call
from one of your
old teammates?
"Hey, Bilal.
How you doing?
How's everything
going?"
Where can you
actually call home?
(scoffing)
(door closing)
(bell jingling)
I'm sorry.
We're closed.
Oh.
Hey.
Just need to sit
for a minute.
- Rose: Okay.
- (sighing)
Coach:
She really loved you.
She was... so proud,
so happy for you
when you left here.
That's why it hurt so
bad when she passed
and you didn't call,
you didn't come back just
to say goodbye.
- I'm sorry.
- No, no, no.
Don't even go there.
She would
have defended you,
because you did something
with your life.
You did something
special.
You were reaching
your potential.
Why do you think
I left Brooklyn?
My heart made me leave
everything behind
and come be with her,
and I don't regret that.
I had Martha.
And I had my team.
Do you understand?
(basketball bouncing)
Come on, Wes. Your feet to
the basket. Let's go.
Come on, Wesley. Nice.
Money Mason.
Let's go. Let's go.
Nice. Nice.
Come on, Russell.
Follow through.
Follow through.
Come on.
Come on, Gunnar.
Gunnar, you got to be
in athletic position, man.
You had about three air
balls. Come on.
You got to keep that elbow
in and follow through.
All right?
Come on.
Yeah, yeah.
Come on. Let's go.
LB, nice shot.
Come on. There you go.
Come on, Josu.
Josu:
Ah.
Hey, hey, take a
deep breath.
Hey, don't hang your
head, all right?
You just started. All right.
Load your legs.
Follow through.
Elbow in. Okay?
Hey, Shlomo, you
got next. Let's go.
Hey, nice
shot, freak.
Freak?
What is freak?
Ne faites pas attention
lui.
Well. Hey, can I
tell you something?
You do know you don't
belong here, right?
- Hey!
- You know where you do belong?
In the back of a restaurant,
cleaning up my dishes
- when I'm done with them.
- Bilal: Hey!
Gunnar:
Freak foster kid.
(thumping)
Don't bring that
shit up. Ever.
(door opening)
What's going on
over here?
Just wrapping
up, Coach.
Yeah?
Just wrapping up?
Right, Gunnar?
Yeah. Yeah.
Just wrapping up.
Wrapping up?
All right.
Let's bring it in, boys.
People.
People. Sorry.
(school bell ringing)
Jules:
Hey, Bilal!
Can I see you in
my office for a minute?
Do you remember when you
were here, we had that logo?
The-- like, the...
It was, like, the--
(whooping) Yeah.
- Right. Yeah.
- So, no more of that.
They took it off the gym floor,
took it off the jerseys.
We even got it
off the yearbook.
Um, but we kept
the name, Warriors.
It was really important
to us. Ogichidaa.
- Oh-gee--?
- Ogichidaa.
- Ogichidaa.
- Yeah. It's not in the sense
that, you know, you
would think,
warriors at war,
you know, in battle.
Ogichidaa is when you go
out into the community
and you put everyone else's
needs before your own.
- Bilal: You did this?
- Yeah.
- It's tight.
- (laughing) Thanks.
I wanna put this
all over the school.
I want to remind these kids
what it means to be a Warrior.
And when they leave these doors
to go out into the world,
as Ogichidaa.
So, um...
I was hoping that maybe
we could raise a bit more money
to get some new jerseys?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh, leave it with me.
- Okay.
- Whew!
Great! (laughing)
Thank you.
Yeah, you got it.
(dog barking)
It ain't much, but...
Oh, merci.
It's great.
Um, there's a pull-out.
Not that you'll fit,
but there's bedding.
Um...
(phone chiming)
Uh, there's a pull-out
with bedding.
(phone chiming)
Oh, okay.
Merci, great.
All right.
And, hey, um, Mrs...
(phone chiming)
One day soon, you're gonna get
your ticket outta here.
You're gonna leave
and never look back.
Trust me.
I know what I'm talkin' about.
(phone chiming)
[ speaking French ]
parents,
they gave... everything.
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
They love me.
Now, I have you
and the team.
[ speaking French ]
(crowd yelling)
What are you doing?
You're givin' them the game!
- Referee: Calm him down.
- Calm me down?
- Hey, hey, hey.
- This is calm!
- Hey, hey.
- This is calm.
- What?
- Just go hang out.
Hang out at the end.
Hang out at the end
of the bench.
Coach:
He's givin' away the game!
I got it.
I got it.
- I got it.
- (whistle blowing)
(crowd cheering)
All right, inbound.
Inbound.
- Move, move.
- Set up the offence.
Set up the offence.
Problem is Gunnar's
just standing at the top
of the key unless he has
the ball, right?
Bilal: I know. I know
We need someone running point
who gets everyone involved.
Player:
Gunnar!
Maybe try someone else
at the point like Wesley,
like a point forward
or something.
Bettina:
It's not gonna work.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Come on, come on!
Gunnar, move the ball!
Hey, Gunnar, I'm open!
Player: He's wide open.
Hey!
That was a foul!
Yo, blow, that was a foul.
Crowd: Aw!
Oh, my God.
Ref: Technical foul
on two-three.
Oh, come on.
That's a technical foul
on two-three.
- Oh, hey, that's two!
- What?
- That's two.
- You got in my way.
- Relax, relax.
- No, no, no, no.
- You're gonna cost us the game.
- Get back.
Ref: That's two technical
fouls on 2-3.
(shouting over each other)
- Go to the locker room.
- Ref: Get him outta here!
- Come on.
- Chill.
- Get to your locker.
- Get off me!
- Chill, just go, man.
- Boo!
Get outta here!
Bettina:
What the Hell, Gunnar?
- Shut the hell up!
- Gunnar, just go.
- Get off me!
- Just go, dude.
(crowd booing)
Okay.
Okay, uh...
All right.
All right, Shlomo.
You just got called
to the big show, buddy.
Let's show 'em what you got.
- I can't.
- What?
Come on.
Come on.
You've been practising.
You don't even--
I can't.
Everyone will be watching.
Well, you call attention
to yourself more than anyone.
The joking.
The Insta posts. What?
Like, you know
all that Instagram stuff?
I'm doing that alone online.
People are laughing with me.
Not at me.
You know?
Mo, we need you.
Leave it alone, Bilal.
Just leave it alone.
Ref: Hey, Coach.
Who are you puttin' in?
Uh...
We're gonna have to go
with four.
Okay, all right.
All right, bring it in.
(crowd cheering)
Okay, "team" on the three.
Let's go.
All:
One, two, three, team.
- Come on.
- Let's dig in, boys.
(crowd cheering)
We can't do this.
They're just gonna
get embarrassed.
Their confidence
is gonna be wiped out.
- What do you want me to do?
- Coach, come--
What do you want me to do?
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
- Time!
- (whistle blowing)
Ref: Time out.
White.
Coach: Little late
to freeze the shooter.
Bring it in.
Bring it in.
Come on.
Come on.
Put Bettina in.
Both:
What?
Shlomo, take your jersey off.
There isn't a person in here
who has a higher basketball IQ
than Bettina.
I've seen it
and I know you have too,
even if you've been
ignoring it.
You know I'm right.
Hey, Coach.
Gotta get your team out there.
- Shlomo, give her, uh--
- Them.
Coach: Sorry, Bettina.
Give them your jersey.
Ref: Uh, no.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You can't...
A girl can't--
You're in luck,
because they aren't a girl.
Yeah, I don't think
that's how that works.
Yes.
It is.
Jerry, let it go.
(yelling)
All right.
All right, listen up.
Bettina is playing point.
Watch them.
Move to open spaces.
Cut the gaps.
Lay-ups and threes, all right?
- Yeah.
- Bettina will find you.
- Hands in.
- Coach: "Team" on three.
All: One, two, three.
Team!
Let's go, Warriors.
(crowd booing)
What is that?
(crowd cheering)
- All right.
- Right here.
- Line 'em up.
Bilal: You guys,
you gotta move.
Hey, side blue.
Bilal: Hey, hey. Watch the back
door. Watch the back door.
Player: Watch the back door.
Back door!
He's gonna slip the screen.
Damn it.
(crowd cheering)
Bilal: It's okay.
It's okay.
(whistle blowing)
Break! Go, go, go, go, go!
Special, special!
- Bilal: Go, go, go!
- Player: Bettina, reverse it.
Swing it.
Help, help, help, help, help!
Player: Help, help, help.
Coach: Get back!
(crowd cheering)
- Time!
- (whistle blowing)
Ref:
Time, white.
I'm sorry, Coach Irving.
I-I-I...
You belong.
You understand me?
You belong.
I know that.
Coach Schmidt knows that.
Your team knows that.
So do me a favour.
Show each and every one of them
who doesn't know that yet.
- (crowd yelling)
- Woman: Come on!
Bilal:
All right?
- Yeah.
- Go get it.
- Player: Let's go!
- (crowd cheering)
(whistle blowing)
Ball, ball, ball.
(crowd cheering)
That's my jersey!
That's my jersey!
- Yes!
- (cheering)
Woo!
(crowd cheering)
Special!
Bettina, Bettina!
(yelling)
Let's go!
Shlomo:
Let's go, Mason!
So, we do
the triangle offence,
but we still run
the motion play.
- You like that?
- You-- That's my play.
I'm just updating it.
Good job, good job.
Back on D, back on D.
Let's go,
let's go, let's go.
That's you!
He's crowding them, ref!
Eh!
Ah!
Set the back pick.
Set the back pick. There you go.
- I like this.
- I get it, I get it.
People see this,
they go knowledge.
This is foreign.
This is like
a Jurassic Park type thing.
- This is crazy.
- (laughing)
Bilal: There you go.
Go, go, go, go.
- Come on, come on.
- Go, go.
(yelling)
(chuckling)
Bilal:
Hey, bring it in.
(team cheering)
Player:
You deserve it, Bettina.
All right, go ahead.
Dig in. Go ahead.
- (cheering)
- That was awesome. Nice pass.
(phone chiming)
Uh, to Coach Schmidt who's been
with us from the beginning
and always cares
about our future
and our legacy.
And, to our new coach,
who thought
we were too small,
too... too slow, too bad
to make it to the finals.
We salute
your reverse psychology.
- All: Hey!
- (laughing)
For he's a
miserable fellow
For he's
a miserable fellow
You're talking about him.
For he's
a miserable fellow
Which nobody can deny
(all laughing cheering)
All right, you kids have fun.
We'll be right back.
Okay?
Come on.
Come with me.
Been a long time since
you've been down here, huh?
Wow.
It's still the same.
Oh, come on, Coach.
You still got this up?
I'm not gonna take down
Sports Illustrated.
What are you?
Crazy?
I wanna have
a little toast.
And I can't believe
I'm makin' this toast.
All right.
This toast
is to my assistant,
and me, for being smart enough
to listen to my assistant.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- Mm.
- Ah!
Could use that.
Wow.
That's a big book.
- Yeah.
- Something Martha would read.
Coach:
She was.
You know Martha used to tell me
about this book.
You know, like, the story,
the characters,
and you know,
I would just sorta, like nod,
but not really listen.
So when she died, I just sorta
wanted to experience something
she was going through,
so I started reading it,
and, I just...
can't get past where
she stopped reading it.
She didn't get to.
I don't know.
I know it sounds crazy.
(sighing)
Hey, Coach,
it's nice to see
what you
and Rose got goin' on.
- Stop it.
- What?
I see you cozying up to her
a little bit.
"Cozying up."
She's in the diner.
- You know, she's nice.
- It's okay.
Come on.
You know that, right?
It's okay for you to have
feelings for somebody else.
We know you love Martha.
I don't know.
You know what?
Let's go back upstairs.
Come on. Take your drink.
Let's get outta here.
Mason:
It's actually really good.
Bettina: It's all icing, you
know? I don't--
Mason:
Oh, 100% all icing.
But there's cherries in there.
It's actually really nice.
Bettina:
Where's the cake?
Mason: But it's good though.
You should try it.
Great speech.
Really, good stuff.
Who made you captain?
What?
You just always gotta make it
about yourself, hm?
Whether you're inventing some
pronoun crap to feel special
or up there
makin' a speech, right?
Speakin' for us.
I never said
you could speak for me.
Gunnar.
Knock it off.
Shut up.
You side with her now?
- Them.
- Oh...
Gimme a break
with that crap.
She just always has to do
something weird or different
so that she can stick out.
I mean ever since
we were kids
she'd always be making it
about herself,
because otherwise
no one would--
Gunnar, knock it off, man.
- I said knock it off.
- Piece of shit!
Don't touch me.
Don't you touch me!
- Let go!
- Hey, hey! Break it up!
- Break it up!
- What is going on in here?
- Guys!
- Get your hands off me!
You know what?
Screw this!
And screw all of you.
You know what?
Good luck winning without me.
I quit.
- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm all right.
Thank you.
That guy's a dick.
(laughing nervously)
Wait a minute.
Bilal.
- Coach?
- What is...
- Coach?
- Just give me a--
Hey, you okay?
Hey, someone call 9-1-1!
- (all chattering)
- I don't know what it is.
Just breathe.
Just breathe, okay?
Hello, everyone.
Some good news.
He's fine.
It was actually
just a false alarm,
but since we still
have him here
I would like to run a few tests
I couldn't earlier
because of his
great escape.
And, I still need to prescribe
him some medication,
so it'll be
a little bit longer.
- So, what happened?
- She can't tell us.
Doctor-patient
confidentiality.
It was gas.
I'm sorry.
What?
Gas, like the stuff
that you...
that comes out
when you flatulate or belch.
Sometimes a build-up of gas
can cause chest pain,
but not unlike
a heart attack.
But, since he's
had one before,
you actually made the right
decision bringing him in.
- So, Coach just had to fart?
- (laughing)
Basically, anyways, I still
can't let all of you see him,
but he has asked for Bilal
and Rose.
- Me?
- Yes, yes.
So, why don't we just
do it one at a time?
You can wait outside
while Rose talks to him first.
Why don't you two
follow me?
Why would Coach
just need to fart? That's...
Hey, can you hold onto
this for me?
Sure.
(all chattering and laughing)
Coach:
...been back to New York.
Rose:
Don't judge me.
Coach: No, I mean, it's the
greatest city in the world.
You can go
to a Broadway show...
Who knows... I might
you know,
I might take the trip.
I don't wanna go alone.
I'm not saying I'm going.
I'm not asking you
right now, like, to go.
Rose: Mm-hm.
I've gotta go.
All right.
Rose, I'm gonna
come lookin' for you soon.
Just take
your medication, okay?
I'm gonna.
I promise.
- All right?
- Okay.
Coach:
Gonna take the medication.
Hey, Coach.
Um, I swear to God, man,
I wasn't trying to kill you,
or disrespect Martha.
I was just trying--
- I asked her out.
- What?!
Look at you, man.
She just wants to wait
for the medication to kick in,
because, you know, if things
get a little hot and heavy,
she don't wanna,
you know, kill me.
- Wow.
- It's all I'm saying.
Mental picture.
Check.
It's nice to see you haven't
lost your sense of humour.
(sighing)
About the team.
- They're yours now.
- What?
They look up to you.
They listen to you.
They...
You don't have to demand things
from them the way I do.
They like doing
what you tell 'em.
And it's okay, you know?
Choices.
Life's all about choices.
Hopefully you
make some good ones.
What do you mean?
Martha.
She was the best choice
I made in my life.
(chuckling)
She was on vacation
with a couple friends,
in New York,
she was never to New York.
And me, I just won
my district championship,
so I was out celebrating
with a couple buddies
and, well...
(chuckling)
We wound up
in this jazz club,
and I'm looking
around the room,
we're celebrating.
And there she was.
Let me tell you something.
When she looked up,
I knew my life
would change forever,
and I knew I found
the other half
of my heart.
And like I said,
life is about making choices,
and you're going to
have to make one soon,
because...
(chuckling)
...that team,
that team...
...is calling
your name.
(ball thumping)
Where is everybody?
How am I the early guy?
Just you and me, my man.
Suit up.
This feels weird.
Is there some sort of loan
- I haven't made good on or?
- (chuckling)
Get up. I wanna give you
something. It might help.
Is it some
of your hotness?
It's this.
What?
My No Fear Zone.
(net swishing, ball bouncing)
Uh, thanks?
This spot, it's mine.
I know it.
I take 100 shots
from here every day.
Nobody knows this
spot more than me.
You shoot
and shoot and shoot,
and when you get to this spot
in the game, it's yours.
Your No Fear Zone.
Nothing can touch you here.
And if I miss
or mess up.
Doesn't matter.
Your No Fear Zone.
(exhaling)
(phone ringing)
Hey, what's up?
Pack your bags,
my man.
What do you mean?
Why?
You, good sir,
are going to be a Timberwolf.
Or Timberwolve?
They got rid of the timber,
didn't they?
Wolf? Wolves? Whatever.
You are going to Minnesota.
Hey, hey.
Hold up, hold up, hold up.
What?
Yeah, half the team
went down with injury.
They need to fill it out
with some 10-days.
When?
Tomorrow.
- (phone pinging)
- No, no. I can't.
The team's playing
in the finals tomorrow.
Can you just put
my drink over there?
Look, there's over 500 guys
in the G-league who would
kill for this opportunity.
You need to get on a plane ASAP.
I can't just bail.
Yo, can't they wait?
Just a couple of days?
Carter:
No, they got a game tomorrow.
They need a full roster.
Carter,
what about my brand, man?
Shouldn't I see
this through?
Why? B, you did it.
It worked.
I'm booking
our tickets ASAP.
(exhaling)
Hey, you get on that plane,
or you can lose my number.
- But Car--
- (Carter hanging up)
(sighing)
Prt partir?
Yeah. Yeah, let's go.
Practice.
On y vas.
Mo's gonna win us
the chip.
(all laughing)
Wait, they're giving out
a trophy? Like, a big one?
- Oh, dude, you haven't seen it?
- Shlomo: No.
It's like the size of you.
- (chuckling)
- It's huge.
Mo, maybe you'll get
one of those, up on there.
Yup.
Shlomo. We'll have Shlomo.
- Bettina: Number three.
- Number three, Shlomo.
(all laughing)
Russel:
Yo! What's up?
Josu! Hey, coach.
Mason: What's up?
Bam.
Russel:
Hope all is good.
Mason:
What took you so long?
[ speaking French ]
[ speaking French ]
- Shlomo: What? What's--
- Russel: What's he saying?
Josu: Go.
Bettina:
You're leaving?
Bilal:
What?
You're leaving.
Look, I wanted to wait 'til
after practice to tell you--
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait.
So, when?
Tomorrow.
- What?
- But the game's tomorrow.
- We've been working so hard.
- You can't leave tomorrow.
Mason:
You serious?
Look, this isn't
for nothing, all right?
This is an NBA contract.
You want me to turn
down an NBA contract?
Bettina:
This late in the season?
Is it a 10-day?
Yeah.
Yeah, but they
can extend it.
You're leaving us to
sit on a bench for 10 days?
Whoa. Look, I helped
this team get to the finals.
What more
do I need to do?
So, all of this
was just for you?
No--
All of that Instagram stuff
was just you using us?
Okay, how can you say that?
I got this team to the finals.
I helped you get there!
No, you helped yourself.
What is with
all of you?
If you get a ticket
out of here, you take it!
You think you can be your
fullest self here...
in this place?
Any of you,
you get an opportunity
to get out, you go.
What the hell is
worth staying here for?
Us?
Thanks.
(people shouting, singing)
All right.
(crowd cheering)
- (buzzing)
- (cheering)
That's it.
All right, bring it in.
Bring it in.
(crowd cheering)
Gather in.
Come on, guys.
All right.
I see your faces,
I know what's going on.
All right?
I feel bad he's not here, too,
but we got something
to do out there, okay?
Nothing else
should be in your head
other than moving faster
and quicker
and outrunning these guys
and outscoring these guys.
Then after we can
feel bad together,
but right now we got a job,
so let's do it, okay?
Defence on three,
come on.
All:
One, two, three, defence!
Get out there,
let's do this.
(crowd cheering)
Okay, ready?
(grunting)
(crowd cheering)
Bettina:
Get open!
Constant movement!
- Get to your spot, come on!
- Tina!
Push it!
(crowd cheering)
Yeah, yeah!
Player: Okay, go back.
Back, back.
Bettina: Back on D,
back on D. Come on. Come on!
Work as a team!
As a team!
Russel:
More of that, more of that!
(crowd cheering)
Russel: Hup!
Cover your man!
Russel:
Come on!
Bettina:
Shot, shot, shot!
(crowd cheering)
Play your game, not theirs!
Your game!
(crowd cheering)
Go, go!
- (crowd cheering)
- Bettina: Yes, that's right.
Yes. Yes.
Bettina:
That's good. Come on.
Russel:
Shot, shot, shot!
(crowd groaning)
Come on.
Russel:
Drive it!
(crowd groaning)
Woman:
Mr. Irving?
Ticket and passport, please.
We're just waiting
on you.
Oh, I'm sorry.
My bad.
Oh, I don't need this, sir.
(crowd cheering)
Come on, yeah.
(crowd cheering)
That's right.
Russ, Russ, Russ, Russ, Russ!
Yeah!
(buzzing)
(blowing whistle)
Man:
Hot dog!
(crowd cheering)
Locker room.
Let's go.
(crowd cheering)
It's okay.
Stay focused.
(crowd cheering)
Let's go.
Woman: Yeah!
All right, listen. I know
what you're feeling, okay?
I understand, but we can
still do this, all right?
(crowd chatting)
(crowd cheering)
We're going to have
to do the box-and-one.
The play we've
been working on. Here.
Hey, this isn't about
Xs and Os, Coach.
Holy f--
Forget something?
Yeah, yeah.
I forgot to say
a few things before I left.
We don't want to hear them.
Shlomo: What's your advice?
To just leave?
All right, would you
let him talk?
Listen,
life is God damn hard.
All right?
And I was like
all of you, man.
Back then I felt like a nobody
in the middle of nothing.
Thrown to the wolves
after my parents died.
It put this hole
inside of me.
This hunger,
this fight.
To go out and take what's mine,
you know? What's owed me.
And that's, uh...
when I wish I could have
figured it all out,
but you all know I didn't.
It was that hunger, man.
That hole.
Listen, I messed up
every situation I was in.
More often than not,
I was out for me,
and I messed up my life
and wound up right back here.
I wanted to see if
I could turn you into winners
so it would
look good for me.
So, I can get out
of here again,
and I did it.
I wanted to get on that plane so
God damned bad, let me tell you,
but that would mean
losing all of you,
and losing
the sense of belonging.
Here.
Am I crazy?
Should I fight like hell to
get back to somewhere for me?
Or do I belong
here with you all?
You belong...
here.
All right.
All right, let's bring it in.
Let's go, Coach.
Let's hear it.
Warriors, on three.
All:
One, two, three. Warriors!
- Let's go!
- Let's get out there!
(crowd cheering)
Come on, come on.
Bring it in. Bring it in.
All right, they're up 16,
they think they won
this basketball game.
You think they won it?
I don't think they won it.
No, no, no.
I don't think they won it.
I think we are
still in this game.
(crowd cheering)
Motion, motion! Go, go, go,
go, go, go, go, go, go.
- (crowd cheering)
- Ah, nice! Nice! Let's go!
All we have to do is
bring it within two,
and we can do that.
Yes! Woo!
It is not over
until the buzzer sounds.
This is a whole new half,
a whole new game.
Nice screen, nice screen.
Money Mason, Money Mason!
Yeah!
Coach has a great
plan to slow them down,
but we need to speed
this up on the other end.
(crowd cheering)
Ah! Get up, Wesley!
Nice!
Move, set picks,
sacrifice yourself.
Be Warriors.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
Ref: (blowing whistle)
Foul, 55 Red.
Two shots.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering)
Charge! Charge!
Boy: Side to side!
(blowing whistle)
Foul. Blocked.
Oh, are you kidding me?!
(all shouting at once)
Bettina:
It's okay, it's okay.
Referee:
Foul, 55 red.
(crowd cheering)
(shouting)
Time out, time out,
time out!
Jump ball.
Possession blue.
What?
No, I said time out!
John, what are you calling?
- What?
- Time out!
- That's a jump ball.
- You understand?
You want a time out?
I'm calling time.
Time out. Red.
Bring it in, bring it in,
bring it in, bring it in,
come on, come on.
Coach, I swear
I said time out.
- I know, I saw.
- I swear, I swear.
You're good, you're good.
You're good, bro...
Eight seconds left.
Eight seconds left.
Okay, here's what
we're going to do, all right?
As soon as the ball inbounds,
foul whoever, okay?
No, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no.
Foul before the inbound.
That way there's no
time off the clock, okay?
Their number four is
a 48% free throw guy.
You got a 50-50 chance.
It's called analytics, Bilal.
You should try it some time.
(chuckling)
Okay?
All right. Foul number
four before the inbounds.
LB, foul him
before the inbounds.
We only have
one time-out left,
which means when he misses,
we really have to
throw out the Xs and Os.
We don't have Josu
to bail us out.
It won't be
about positioning.
It'll be about what Coach
Schmidt has always taught you.
You need to want it more.
You just need to
flat out want it more.
Warrior strong on three.
One, two, three...
All:
Warrior strong!
(crowd cheering)
LB, foul before the inbound.
(crowd cheering)
(blowing whistle)
Foul! Number 10.
There we go.
- Red, two shots.
- Come on.
(crowd applauding, whistling)
(exhaling sharply)
- Yes!
- Yes!
(crowd cheering)
That's it! That's it!
Time! Time! Time!
Yeah! Come on. Come on.
Come on. Come on.
Yes! Yes!
Good job. Good job.
All right.
Okay. Okay. All right.
(clapping)
Listen up, all right.
Let's go for two
and tie this game up. Let's go.
Bettina, as soon as you get
the ball,
you do a quick read
of the D.
If Russell is open in
the corner, drive and kick,
if not, try to draw
in a double team
and dish it
to Mason at the rim.
Wesley, you stand as a release
valve at the free throw line.
Okay?
Warriors on three!
Wait.
We should put Shlomo in.
Go for a three.
- Oh, my--
- Mason: What?!
Your spot,
it's right there.
Hey, he hasn't played
all year.
Russel: Coach,
no one'll be expecting him.
They'll leave him
completely open.
He'll have the best
shot of any of us.
And you know what, Shlomo?
They won't even see it coming.
I'm not sure if
I even see it coming!
Okay, who do I take out?
You can take me out.
No, they can't take you out.
Take me out.
You want us to
be Warriors, right?
The only way this
is going to work is
if Bettina brings up the ball.
You have to stay in.
Coach, use me as a decoy.
Bettina: Yeah, yeah.
If we use Russel as a decoy
in one corner, it'll overload
their defenders to that side,
right, 'cause they'll
probably run a tight zone
to prevent the two, then,
if LB, you run towards me,
and set a pick,
it'll collapse,
and then Shlomo will be wide
open in the opposite corner
for me to hit.
Okay, slow down.
It's easy enough for me to
hit threes alone in the gym
while no one's guarding me,
- but I--
- No, no, no. You'll be so open.
Okay?
It'll feel like you're alone.
- Trust me.
- Oh, my God.
- Trust us.
- We're with you, Mo.
We're with you.
You got this, Mo.
- You got this.
- Deep breath.
- Bettina: You got it.
- You got this.
- Hands in. Come on.
- Hands in, hands in.
All: One, two, three.
Warrior strong!
Come on.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Russel:
We got this!
- (crowd cheering)
- Go, defence! Come on, defence!
(crowd cheering)
Crowd (Chanting):
Defence! Defence!
(blowing whistle)
(inhaling, exhaling)
(all cheering)
(all cheering)
Bilal:
Come on! Yes!
Team:
Shlomo! Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo! Shlomo! Shlomo!
Shlomo!
Yes! We did it again, right?
We did it again!
Woo!
Oh, my God.
You did.
Stop. We did it as a team.
We did it as a team. Stop.
You know what?
We did it as a team.
You did it as a coach.
Thank you.
Now, let's go see our team.
Come on.
(cheering)
There it is.
(shouting)
You got this!
There you go. There you go.
- Hey, Shlomo!
- (all talking over each other)
Bilal: Hey, hey, hey, hey!
We gotta get
a picture, all right?
No, no.
This one's just for us.
Coach:
You get on that side.
Can you take a picture, man?
Thank you so much.
Coach: That's right.
Shlomo in the middle.
- One!
- Warriors, baby. Number one!
Coach:
Warriors!
(all cheering)
(camera snapping)
Hey, B. It's me.
Here in Minnesota.
Waiting in the hotel.
Uh, you're not here yet.
Hurry up, man.
(chuckling)
Okay, talk soon.
I've-- I've been
looking on the socials,
and I see that
you guys won.
Congratulations.
I guess you didn't miss
your plane.
You just didn't get on it.
Am I disappointed that
you didn't sign? Yes.
Have I had to smooth things
over with the Wolves? Yes.
But that's okay,
we're going to move forward.
What if we take this,
like, global? Youth camp.
We talk to Adidas,
and then I get you
back on a team.
I can do that
and I can get you some money,
but please,
call me back.
Bilal,
you (bleep) prick.
What are you doing?
You need to call me! (bleep)
Pick up that phone
and call me right now,
or I swear to God
I will never let you sleep!
what time it is
in whatever time zone
you're currently in.
I guess you, um,
you wanna do the right thing.
You wanna...
You're ready to just
throw it all away.
(sighing)
Have a great life, Bilal.
Oh, crap. Has this thing
been on mute the whole time?
What the (bleep)?