Last Chance U: Basketball (2021) s01e02 Episode Script

1
Okay, he's tryin' to get nasty.
All the young hoopers comin' in.
They think they cold, too, look at 'em.
Y'all hoopin'? Y'all got a squad.
Y'all y'all must be nice.
Drives the lane.
Beautiful block by Ashton Kutcher!
Here comes the substitute gym teacher.
Call him the substitute gym teacher!
So white men can jump.
- He came over that one, didn't he?
- Hey.
- What made you come out here?
- You show up here,
- it's 12 league dudes on the floor.
- Right. Right.
We play tonight at home,
if you wanna come.
- Who's your main guy?
- KJ.
- KJ
- Westchester.
Get outta here!
Dreads KJ?
Is that right?
Yes, sir. He's the number one
freshman in the country.
Nineteen and a half. Ten boards.
Shootin' 68% from the field.
- What is he, like 230?
- 240.
See, yeah, you know I know!
- And he got them crane hands.
- Yeah. Oh!
You know what I'm talkin' about, right?
It look like everything that he
- come to him, he grasp.
- Right.
And, like, we got a kid named Joe,
and he was a high four-star,
five-star kid comin' out of high school,
and they ref him so horrible
because he's 6'8",
- he's 250
- I believe it.
and he he's super skilled,
and they know
that he got some hothead in him,
because they can affect him
by the way they call the game.
As a big dude,
he would expect those hacks,
- but that don't mean it's legal.
- Thank you. Thank you.
So if you gonna keep hittin' me,
don't get mad at me
when I get mad
because you ain't callin' it.
That makes the game real rough
to play, man. Some dudes quit.
- Right.
- Some dudes quit.
- "I can't play in front of this dude."
- Right.
Tella, tella, you done?
Oh, yeah. Everything cool.
Substitute gym teacher,
you are terrible.
Ugh, that was ugly. That was ugly too.
Now, in my younger days
I used to sport a shag ♪
When I went to school
I carried lunch in a bag ♪
With a apple for my teacher
'Cause I knew I'd get a kiss ♪
Always got mad
When the class was dismissed ♪
But when it was in session
I always had a question ♪
I would raise my hand
To make her stagger to my desk ♪
And help me with my problem
It was never much ♪
Just a trick, to smell her scent
And try to sneak a touch ♪
Oh, how I wish I could hold her hand
And give her a hug ♪
I normally walk,
but this is the, uh winter session,
and classes are
a little bit lighter but, man,
that spring session hits,
man, I'm in class from nine.
I I came here and they said, "Hey, uh"
"Mosley, we just want
a respectable program."
"We want our guys to graduate
and move on."
I was like, "Man, I'm not looking
for just respectable, man,
I'm trying to win
the state championship."
It gets very tiring, kinda doin' it all,
it's like teachin' a full load.
I got 18 hours I have to teach.
In California, that's how
we make our livin', is by teachin'.
I'mma teach spin class Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
teach a spin class
Bro, what's happenin'?
- You goin' camo today?
- All camo'd out.
- I'm picking up my stuff for practice.
- All right.
It's fun, though.
I like engaging with the students and
Um But then, the energy
to, you know, teach a spin class,
weight training classes,
and then to go in and have the same energy
for practice, it's I don't know.
Come to the game tomorrow, extra credit.
I don't mean to hold a gun to your head,
but there's a sheet
that'll be at the game, if you sign it,
you'll get extra credit.
You gotta come to the game, come on.
- I can't.
- All right.
- I already made plans.
- All right.
No rest for the weary
at the end of the semester,
'cause then recruitin' time starts
if you wanna keep this thing goin'.
I just wake up in the mornin',
I pray and I ask God to give me
the energy to be passionate, ready to go,
so maybe I'll rest,
and win the state championship.
I don't know if it's in me or not.
Y'all know I'm showin' out today.
Y'all might be in trouble.
What did you say last class?
- You barely sweat.
- Yeah.
That's a insult.
Everybody's up right here.
One, two, one, two. And here we go.
Tap, up, and switch. Go.
Get up!
I'm lookin' for rhythm here.
I can't take none of y'all to the club.
Kick back.
Kick. Yeah. Now walk it out.
Yeah. Get up, girl.
Are you sweatin' yet?
You ain't you don't get
to go to the club. Here we go.
Hey, sit down. Let's go. Come here.
Everybody's pounding the ball
to the basket.
You get in there
and bury to the rim so it creates space.
- Ready?
- "Win" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Win.
If you're just joining us,
now a 27 to 20 ball game
in favor of the Owls.
Three-point shot.
Drained from the top of the key
by the Owls.
Joe Hampton can't handle
the entry pass from Zeigler.
Drives baseline,
last touch by Joe Hampton.
Physical game underneath.
- Turner. He's fouled.
- Oh, come on, man!
Jeez, not the night of East LA.
Foul against Joe Hampton.
- Hey, Joe.
- Fuck, bro.
I know it wasn't a foul. Stay in it.
Get your bench into it. We good.
Bro, I'm tired of that shit.
It's every game, all season.
Keep tryin' to portray
that I'm this big-ass monster.
So fuckin' what? Bruh, these niggas
is little as shit, soft as fuck.
Tired of this shit, bruh.
Better than every big
on this fuckin' team, nigga.
- Here we go!
- Polynice to Allen.
Allen spins around,
pumps, shoots, splashes it in.
Back the other way are the Owls.
Kealen Allen soarin' through.
Huskies have crawled back into it.
Zeigler, low post.
Alley-oop for KJ Allen.
East Los Angeles taking their first lead.
KJ Allen with the rebound.
KJ Allen underneath the rim.
KJ doin' it all. Kealen Allen.
KJ Allen able to finish. Guess who?
KJ once again.
Allen just continues
to do it all year long.
East Los Angeles slowly pullin' away.
Hurry up, go! Spread!
KJ Allen! That might be the nail there.
You see how they force-feedin'
that nigga, though?
That's his son, basically.
But they force-feeding this nigga, KJ.
The win streak continues.
History has been made by East Los Angeles,
most consecutive wins in a row
by a men's basketball team,
as they move to 18 and one.
Hey! Go team.
- Hey!
- Yeeeeeaaah!
A-woooh!
By this point last year, bruh,
we had three L's.
Three! So we gotta expect
the same shit this year.
- We heard you, cap'n.
- I don't know why y'all got sweatsuits on.
- I don't know what y'all doin'. We goin'
- I'm listenin'
- Heeeey!
- We straight to the weight room.
Big dog in the house.
Proud of y'all again.
You heard the call, you made the plays.
You let us coach the game,
and y'all was men,
y'all was able to handle it.
KJ, way to clean up the defensive glass.
Let me see what you had offensive.
Oh, my gosh. KJ had 20 rebounds.
I gotta get some boards.
- K, 20 rebounds, bro.
- He don't got practice tomorrow.
- Huh?
- Yeah!
- No, he got practice tomorrow.
- No more
20 rebounds.
I mean, I ain't impressed.
What you tell me you was gonna get?
20 and 20.
- 20
- Oh, yeah, you only got 15 and 20.
You only got 15 and 20.
Okay, but continue to be men.
We not gonna lift right now.
- Hey!
- What?
- Listen
- What did he say?
- You guys hear?
- What did he say?
- What?
- Again?
Listen, we're not gonna lift right now.
- We ain't gonna lift?
- Hey, but listen! Listen, listen.
We got Listen.
I think this is a team that
has an opportunity to win it.
We've had groups in the past where one
or two guys may step out of their role,
purposely to disrupt things, and I don't
think that's the case with this team.
- Good job. Here we go. Family.
- All right, "family" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Family!
These guys, they like each other,
man, they hang out and they clown around,
so we'll see where that takes us,
but, uh, what we can't do
is respond poorly
to the adversity
that you're gonna see from here on out.
Some long days. I probably won't
eat dinner till nine, ten tonight,
so I bring in snacks, and
Coach relaxes more in there
when he's chewin' on somethin',
so I bring him somethin' to eat,
calm him down.
My car has turned into my closet.
In the back of the car is all my stuff
I hang up for game days
'cause you just never know.
It's about
a nine-to ten-hour day of work here,
tryin' to get to the needs of the team.
You have the team you gotta take care of,
but we also have, like, 15 individuals
that need to be taken care of
in some way during the day.
- KJ, how we doin' over there?
- Doin' pretty good.
- Okay, tell me when you can't answer one.
- All right.
I've found my niche
to be able
to help the kids academically,
which is important to me.
It took me a while to figure out
what kid needs what, and
I work with KJ the most,
because he needs it the most.
- Can you come and check this out?
- Yeah.
- I finished these right here.
- Are they correct?
- Yeah.
- Tell the truth.
They are correct.
KJ's a hard worker.
He struggled in high school
and didn't get good grades,
you would associate that with, like,
not wanting to, or an attitude, or lazy.
No, that's not the case at all.
If you say,
"KJ, we need to work at six o'clock,"
that dude will sit down
and work from six to ten o'clock.
But what if we fail this?
Be, like, half my fault, huh?
- We got three attempts, so
- We got three attempts?
- Yeah.
- Oh, hell, yeah.
- We're gonna pass sooner or later.
- What's your guess?
- Uh I think it's six.
- Six?
All right, roll the dice, kid.
Okay, we got 4.27.
- That's not a six.
- That is that is bad.
Wait, which ones did I get wrong?
Obviously most of 'em.
School is is really hard for me.
When I'm in class,
I know, like, what I wanna write,
but it's hard for me
just to, like, put it on the paper.
I get the words confused.
I just process it, like, a lot slower.
So right now we got a F.
But it's a F-plus, right? 5.7.
- We could for sure get a D out of this.
- Let's go back and try it again.
We've seen him do some crazy stuff
on that court, like, athletically,
but that kid gettin' a degree
would be the most impressive thing
that I might have ever seen,
and I think he'll do it,
because of his work ethic.
He wants to do better academically.
This is the last attempt,
Coach Ro
It's comin' down to it.
This is it, right here.
- This is the game winner.
- The game winner.
FIT, man.
Fuck it, then.
FIT, yo.
- Let's do that.
- Damn, I don't wanna click this.
Why? You afraid to fail?
- Ooh! You afraid to fail?
- No.
If we get a D, man
We're just gonna do better
on the next assignment.
- We're gonna ace the next one.
- Yeah.
- We'll get ten out of ten.
- Yeah.
Screw it.
All right, let's go.
- Boom, what do we got?
- Improvement.
Six point four?
- That's almost a C!
- Oh, man, yeah, that's a strong D.
Yeah.
I was feeling like I messed up,
like I wouldn't have a second chance to
go to, like, a big school
or succeed in life,
'cause I wasn't prepared for anything.
You see how hard
we gotta work for this D?
Yeah, I'm takin' a day off.
Like, I talk to my dad a lot
and he helped me get through it.
He told me there are still
more opportunities out there,
just keep looking forward and think
Keep thinking good, not bad.
Yep, the youth center where
you played your first basketball games at.
This was built to give
y'all somethin' to do.
- Yeah.
- Keep y'all from being out here with the
with the knuckleheads.
- We'll go through this way first.
- All right.
Yeah.
This is where all the kids
used to hang out, here on the corner.
This is where all the guys used to hang
out. Some good, some bad.
- Most most bad.
- Yeah, most of 'em bad.
Most of 'em.
I started playing basketball
when I was three.
My dad taught me how to play basketball.
He played a lot.
I was 23. So I was startin'
to let go of my own dream.
Supportin' him,
makin' sure that I got him right.
He's always been around the game,
since he's been born.
It was good, like, just havin' him there.
And he, like, taught me
everything that I know
as far as, like, basketball,
like, growin' up, bein' a man.
It was just It was great.
Them the first courts
you used to shoot on.
When I was out here workin' out,
you'd come to the gate,
trying to look over there and see me
on the court playin' ball.
Oh, no, I was I
I made sure I had my eyes on you.
"I see you. Make sure my daddy all right."
I was all right.
As long as you said you was gonna
be over there, I'd keep lookin'.
I did all that on purpose.
I knew if you seen me
playin' ball at that age,
that eventually it was gonna
make you wanna do it.
I was pushed to the limit with my father
and I basically pushed him to the same.
I used to call him and say, "You're only
gonna get two, I'm gettin' 15."
I used to do him like that on purpose,
in front of his friends,
just to make him really
wanna beat my butt one day.
Uh-oh,
we got another KJ right there.
- What's goin' on?
- What's up, little man?
I put it in him early,
you know, "I know how to play,
and to get me, you'll have to
really get good to get me."
So I set the bar high,
and he's been chasin' it.
I'm still six and one on you
in the last three years.
- 'Cause you won't play no more.
- Exactly! I retired at the right time.
You still gonna go soft
on your pops, though.
You too nice.
I know. That's my problem.
He's nothing like other players.
He's very humble. He's very quiet.
He sticks to himself.
He's not cocky at all.
He's not a cocky kid.
- Has he ever been, or is
- Never.
First high school game,
he got his first dunk
in the end of the first quarter.
I scratched my arm on the backboard.
This right here.
I was 13 at the time.
I was definitely the biggest
in my class all the time.
I got in trouble a lot,
because I was always the tallest,
knocking people down on accident.
As a father, you
you always believe in your kid
but, uh his tenth grade year,
that's when I kinda knew
that he wasn't a normal kid.
He had the "it" factor.
Because of his grades,
he wasn't able to go D1 right off the bat.
You know, the rules is
you have to do two years and graduate
from community college,
and that's what he's doing.
What made me come here was Coach Ken.
Like, I seen him at a few
of my high school games.
He recommended me to go here,
and best best choice, by far.
We went through it to get him.
I'm at his graduation,
and there's 30 national JUCOs there.
We don't do enough good in our life
to get a kid like that.
He's he's an incredible kid.
We don't deserve that. That's a straight
blessing. That's all it is.
Like the basketball gods and the
Almighty himself just, like, "Here, guys."
"Here's KJ," you know?
"Now, don't mess it up."
So, each day I get the locker room
ready for practice.
I think it's important that,
when a kid comes to a locker room,
all they worry about is practice.
We expect them to act
and be like D1 guys,
so I do the best I can
to get that feel for 'em,
so they feel like they have
a little bit of status.
And when you come in and your stuff's
hanging up, you feel a little bit
you feel a little bit better about it.
There's levels to JUCO,
and when you're really good,
that means you have good players.
And if you have good players,
then something went wrong.
Coach Mosley's the first one
to talk to 'em, bring 'em in the office,
'cause he realizes how hard this is,
just mentally, on a kid, to be told,
"Oh, you're the best. You average
20 a game, you're gonna do these things,"
and then the kid's left holdin' nothin'.
Now they're thinkin' about this option.
They're, like,
"Hey, I'mma go play junior college."
And there's a little bit of a stigma,
you know.
So every day, I'm motivatin' 'em
to work hard to be somewhere else.
Like, you don't wanna be here.
Wait, wait. Hold on. Me
- Wait. Me get a pie in my face?
- Yes, you get a pie in your face.
There are so many students
that wanna pie you, so 200 students
- Who'd wanna pie me?
- Who wouldn't? I would wanna pie you.
I don't know. That's too cute, man.
I'm a basketball coach.
- It's gotta be a reasonable number.
- 250?
We get 250 in here,
they can put a pie in my face.
- Go ahead, do your magic.
- Okay.
- You get 250
- All right.
I mean, the next game,
it better be 300.
And then the next game,
it better be 400 and 500.
- Our final game, I want five
- What kind of pies?
I want five to a thousand people in here.
What kind of pie do you like?
It don't matter. Oh, gosh.
Those are the things
at the JUCO level
you gotta worry about before playin'.
We don't have media outlets that alert
anybody the success that we're havin'.
We've just been fortunate
that we won games in spite of.
I said, "This don't make no sense.
You need to get people in the stands."
- Right.
- "Figure out somethin'."
So they're talkin' about
pie me in the face
Get outta here, man.
People assume you're top team
in the country, you have none of that.
No, it's the same.
- That rim high?
- Yeah.
- Nothin' we can do?
- No.
- Okay.
- Look how high it is.
It's worse than it was a week ago.
Is it high?
Oh, shit! It's high.
Basket is jacked up, man.
It's gotta be above a inch now.
They supposed to come every year
and service all of the motors
They never come this year?
They ain't came in two years.
With how much success he's had,
definitely doesn't get
the support that is needed.
The most successful program
in our district in the last eight years,
and we get our budget cut.
It just breaks my heart.
That rim is high as shit.
I missed so bad,
my shit hit the bottom of the rim.
- It's the layup bucket. Like outside.
- For real.
It's the outside bucket. When you play
outside, you just gotta get to the rack.
Freakin' number two in the state, and
we can't get the basket fixed. It's bull.
There's kids out here workin' hard and
we can't get the freakin' baskets fixed.
Yeah, it's some bull, yo.
Go, go, go, go!
Oh, damn, you know that rim's broke.
He barely got above it.
He barely got above that rim.
That rim is trippin'.
At a community college,
we're budgeted to help students
complete their program of education,
to be able to graduate,
or to be able to transfer.
So as a result, we don't have
a lot of dollars to give
to the athletic programs.
You have a lot of people
that might want to to support,
but maybe just don't maybe have
the time to or make the time to.
A lot of our students are people
that have families,
a lot of people are working.
The average age is about 27 years old.
The community colleges are
so important here in LA.
It was affordable
for the poor working-class kids
comin' out of East LA, South Central,
the Harbor, wherever they may be.
That's the importance
of the community colleges in LA.
They open doors that, in many ways,
you couldn't get opened,
but if you're trying to better yourself,
you're working-class, trying to survive,
you're just trying to get a decent job,
you know what I mean,
you're not thinkin' about sports much.
- Hello.
- What's up?
- Can you get all that stuff?
- What's all that stuff? It depends.
- Alfredo stuff.
- You have some weird Your items, man
- I I can't find all that stuff.
- John, don't start trippin', okay?
- There's noodles and what else?
- Heavy whipping cream.
- See, all that, I can't Yeah, that's
- Butter.
- I don't know where to get heavy cream.
- Butter.
- Where's heavy
- In the same Where the milk is!
- I don't know what that is.
- It's in a country carton, like the milk.
That's it, though, don't
don't put anything else on there.
- All right, peace.
- All right.
Yeah, she'd put on there
get somethin' I never heard of
and I'll be in there for
two hours tryin' to find it.
Oh, okay, go
Did you find it? Okay.
My wife does all the cooking,
so I wash and clean and do all that.
Two dollars here,
if you fold these on my bed.
- Put them on your bed?
- Two dollars, yeah.
- Fold 'em for me.
- Oooh!
- What time you goin' to bed, John?
- Probably never.
Hah! He'll be like this
What happened
with that situation at the game?
- You talkin' about Joe?
- Yeah.
- Uh A tech. It was wrong.
- Why?
We watched the film. It was wrong.
Joe is big and so You know, like Shaq.
Him and KJ, they get a extra lick in.
They hit 'em harder.
I keep reminding the official,
"It doesn't matter if they're strong,
you still have to call the foul."
Just 'cause they're strong,
and they finished through the foul,
- it's still a foul.
- A foul. Yeah.
So, like, it's Joe's fault
for being 6'8", 250?
KJ ain't gonna do nothin'.
He, like, a good dude.
- He just be smilin', huh?
- Just smilin'.
But you hit Joe extra hard,
now he's, like, "Man"
You know, he's shakin' his head, and then
the player who hit him,
they'll whisper under their breath,
like, "You went up with that weak junk,"
and now Joe's out of control.
"Well, he's gotta be under control."
Well, if you got slapped five times
in a row, it's hard to be under control.
You got a spare moment, Joe?
Be up, J.
Here, son.
Oh, yeah.
Let me know if I gotta
wake y'all up. Let's go! Get up!
The whole fucking play
was a fucking bucket.
I don't want sloppy,
I don't want lazy.
We not runnin' our stuff like we need to.
Clean up, man. Clean it up!
Let's go.
Watch the walls. Watch the line!
How are you guys doing?
Oh, we gettin' there, man.
We got a good group, you know?
Good group of dudes. We gotta
clean up our execution offensively.
Defensively,
it's been so-so somewhat, you know?
How's Joe doing?
He's been good, man. You know.
He practices with you guys every day?
Yeah, I love him to death. Like,
he has the talent to play at a high major.
There's nothin' on the floor he can't do.
But then sometimes
he can get in his feelings.
- Whoo!
- Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Kill him! Kill him!
Right ahead, go on!
Fuck!
Ain't no excuse.
That's your second excuse today.
Two, two, two.
You know, he gettin' there, man.
He'll have, like, four good days
and then he'll have that one bad day.
- Mm-hm.
- But he's all right.
He gettin' there.
Everybody Everybody
on the line, man. Everybody on the line.
I can't watch this no more.
Everybody on the line.
We got 38 turnovers right now.
Thirty-eight. That's unacceptable.
That's at least six in a row.
Five in a minute.
Hell, yeah.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Down and back, Joe.
Need a nine-second down and back.
Here we go.
Let's go, Joe.
Burn out, Joe. Burn out.
Come on, boy.
Ready?
Let's go, Joe!
Eight, seven, six,
- five, four
- Come on, Joe!
three, two, one.
Give me a nine-second, Joe.
I've been sittin' on the fuckin' sideline
this whole fuckin' time, bro.
- Come on, Joe.
- We know who you are.
We with you, Joe.
Ready?
- Let's go, Joe.
- We with you, Joe! We with you.
- Seven, six, five, four
- Come on, Joe.
three, two, one.
I don't wanna hear it, bro.
Come on. Come on.
Ain't about him.
What about me? What about him?
He's just testing you. That's all it is.
- He's testing you, bro. Come on, now.
- Come on.
- He's testing you, bro.
- Come on.
One time.
- One time.
- One time, bro.
- One time.
- Go, Joe.
We with you, Joe.
- Come on, let's go!
- Ready. Eight
seven, six, five, four
three, two, one.
- Good job, Joe.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Here we go.
- Let's go, y'all. Let's move.
- Let's focus on the last play.
- Pay attention to the foot.
- Walk.
Right there.
Here we go, ready?
Go through right. Go, go, go, go!
He's out?
Just go in the locker room.
Yell at himself.
Joe makes everybody's life harder.
He he does, by by his actions
and the things he does.
He makes coaching difficult.
I mean, at the Division I level,
no one's puttin' up with that.
There's no way they'll put up with Joe
at scholarship basketball.
All right.
Penn State, it didn't work out.
He left there.
Pasadena City College,
didn't work out there, and if
what Joe is going through
affects the team,
then I have to eliminate the distraction.
You know, he's like
that dude that's a two-time felon,
you know, the next strike, you a lifer.
I'm just sittin' on the sideline.
Come on, bruh.
Bro, we've given up too much for this.
Bro, I am just sittin'
on the sideline.
- It don't matter.
- Fuck.
I'm not about to sit
on the sideline like a fuckin' dummy.
You'll get in the game!
But what the fuck am I workin' on,
nothin'?
Just sittin' on the sideline
looking like a dummy, bro?
- Sub in!
- The fuck.
- Don't leave, though.
- I'm on the court or I'm gone, bro.
- Come on, man.
- You know I got shit going on.
- I know. I know.
- I don't need to be here at all.
Niggas need to work on shit, I didn't do
none of the whole transition shit, right?
The reason I'm not a starter is he felt
like he couldn't trust me in transition.
- So why am I not workin' on it?
- Ask him.
- The fuck? I'm a grown ass
- Why you leaving?
I don't need to do that, fool.
Best nigga on the team,
and I'm sitting there on the sideline
looking like a dummy.
Best nigga on the team gonna leave?
Where are you going?
I need you in the game, Marquis.
Come on.
Eat that shit, fool.
Let's go.
I need you in the game, kid.
Ain't your problem, dawg.
You are thick up in here, yo.
- Day one.
- We got about 24 guys.
- My gosh.
- They show up on the first day.
I remember
being that 18-year-old kid.
- Gotta cut that group down.
- Push it!
Make a play.
Make a play, Deshaun. Good, make a play.
How long was it in between you
getting out of jail, and tryouts?
Wow. I wa I wanna say a week.
Not even a week.
Like, I had literally just got out.
Oh, yeah. Too little. Yeah, Ronnie.
Here we go. Elbow, elbow.
When I left Penn State, I was lost.
I didn't know what to do, really.
Sat at home, didn't do shit.
And probably the lowest
I've ever been in my life.
I really just wanted
to crawl up in a ball and die.
Good, Shaun. Come on, run!
I was done with basketball.
Like, I quit at that point.
Uh, I gave up on myself.
I had two injuries, uh, my senior year.
I tore my my right knee.
Freshman year at Penn State,
I tore my left knee.
I left Penn State. Went home.
I was just done. I was done
with the game of basketball.
I gave up on myself completely.
So when I went to LA, I was trying to
figure out what to do in life in general.
I was in California for two years.
I even got jobs.
I worked at Dollar Tree for some time,
and Big Lots, so
Yeah, it was Real life set in for me
at that point,
and it was no more fun and games,
you know, big boy time.
- Come on, KJ. You got it, K.
- Come on. Oh, come on, Quis.
I was hanging
with the wrong group of guys,
and me and another guy, we actually,
uh took some things from someone
and I got caught up,
and picked up another charge
at a bank, uh
tried to do some bank fraud stuff.
Ultimately, I was on the run
for two court cases,
and I didn't show up to court for both.
Get those knees up.
Don't drag 'em, Joe.
It's so easy to do the wrong thing.
Quis didn't make it.
KJ didn't make it.
Joe didn't make it, Taj didn't make it.
One night I was sittin'
on the couch, watchin' the Hornets play.
on the line.
I was looking at my teammate
at Oak Hill, Dwayne Bacon.
He was killin'.
Like, doin' an exceptional job.
And I was just
kinda disappointed in myself
for how I gave up on myself.
Not harder. Work smarter.
Ultimately, like, I started
to push back towards my goal.
Big long strides.
I actually gave Coach Mosley a call.
He gave me the workout schedule,
when to come to school,
and just before I started my ELAC season,
I got arrested, um pulled over.
Headlight situation, um
Ran my name and they said that
I had two outstanding warrants
for some time ago,
and they had no choice but to take me in.
I was there 17 days.
It's hell. Really.
I don't wish jail on my worst enemy.
I'm thinkin' about family,
thinkin' about what I wanna
do to change my life when I get out,
promisin' myself that I'm not gonna
do the same things that I was doin'
to make myself come back here.
You weep, you cry.
What you seen on TV,
it's really it's really that.
I kept everything a secret
from Coach Mosley.
I didn't tell him anything
that I had going on, so
when when he found out, it
I guess it it was a shock to him too,
so, um, I'm grateful
for how he responded to that as well.
He never turned his back on me.
I'mma tell you somethin'.
Like, you really think
you gonna just hoop?
You really think you gonna just hoop?
Without him, like,
I would not be here today at all.
I'm not supposed to be here.
I'm supposed to be in jail
for two, three years right now,
but Coach Mosley, he wrote
a letter to the judge and the judge
showed some leniency, really,
and let me out
to continue goin' to school
and playin' ball.
- Here we go, we got three times.
- Run.
Come on, Shaun! Hey, Shaun!
Mosley has this no man left behind
type of type of deal with him.
Like, you really have to give up
on yourself and him
for him to give up on you, really, like
It meant the world to me,
'cause every day, I felt like I was
working back towards my original goal.
Coach Mosley told me it's always
light at the end of the tunnel,
so I was just workin' towards that light.
I feel like a chip on my shoulders ♪
I feel like I'm losing my focus ♪
I feel like I'm losin' my patience ♪
I really didn't wanna bring
any baggage into our program,
but he told me,
"I made a mistake. I need help."
I feel like it ain't no tomorrow
Fuck the world, the world is ♪
That right there, that won me over.
As long as you don't walk in here
and damage what we've built,
I was willing to take that risk
and, to my surprise, man,
everybody loves him.
I ain't feelin' you all ♪
He has all the skills,
it's just really controlling his emotions,
not letting his frustration
get the best of him.
I feel like ain't nobody
Prayin' for me ♪
Joe is hot and fiery
when somethin' gets his blood boiling,
but people are the way they are
for a reason.
He's a good dude,
but kids like him,
somethin' flips a switch
and it makes 'em go off the rail.
I can't breathe, look
I feel like I can't sleep, look ♪
I feel heartless, often, off this
Feelin' of fallin', of fallin' apart ♪
I told him, like, "We're not
going to be the reason that you fail."
No matter I mean, it
and if it gets bad,
and it's gotten bad with Joe,
but we're not gonna quit on Joe.
Like, if you cut Joe because he missed
some practices, all right, that's it.
There's nowhere else for Joe to go.
Hopefully, we are praying,
Joe will learn from this experience
and these things
don't happen at the at the next place.
Use basketball as that tool to grow.
I'm an adult now,
so I have to lead by example.
I'm just a different Joe.
I'm just better.
In how many days is your B-day?
- I don't care about my birthday.
- I care about my birthday a lot.
I care about your birthday a lot too.
Is that okay?
That's fucked up.
I care about your B-day more than mine.
Nigga don't give a fuck about his B-day.
Good? Do you wanna put, like, some
lemon in water to kinda make you better?
- I'm also sick as hell.
- You look fine You know, you look green.
- I look green?
- Yeah.
I was trying to offset that look with
by wearin' the black.
- So I wouldn't look as green, you feel me?
- We all look green. Shit.
Where'd you guys get
those sweats? How come I don't have those?
- Oh.
- Yeah, you gotta talk to Mosley.
He got these for us.
- Those are nice sweats, though.
- Nice?
- I like 'em.
- They're okay.
You don't like the green?
I wish they were a different color.
I can't wear this shit nowhere.
- You guys look good in green.
- My English teacher failed me.
I missed one assignment.
I can't believe my teacher failed me.
You didn't e-mail
and ask why?
I asked her to keep it open,
but she closed it, like
- Okay, well
- I was maybe a day late.
- It was my fault.
- Yeah, but remember,
deadline dates are deadline dates.
I think I'm gonna add
you back in that history class.
When they come here,
they know they're good in basketball.
And I think they wake up somewhere
between their junior year and senior year,
realizing that academics
has to now become their way of life.
- Can you do a physical geography?
- Yeah.
Geography's cool.
- Yeah, put me in that.
- So you have physical geography.
- All right.
- So I'm able
Joe, he's made some mistakes.
We just have to clean up
some of his baggage.
Let's get back on track.
Okay, so, what are we taking?
Life saver!
- Okay. And then do we have all
- Still on time, right?
- We're still on time? Spring?
- Well, hope Yes, we should be.
I think it's gotta be
very hard for him, extremely hard.
His whole life, things have not gone
the way he's wanted to.
In the back of his head,
he thinks maybe he's a failure,
and he's not.
I think, somewhere down the line,
he has to let it go, forget the past,
and focus on what he's doing now.
- So you did accounting one.
- Yeah.
Accounting two. The econ one.
Men's basketball, their GPA is pretty high
because Coach makes 'em
come to study hall.
I mean, Mosley wants to win.
I don't think for himself,
he wants to win for the kids.
He wants the kids to win.
We got the famous
Miss Dorothy Teola in class today.
I don't mean to put more work on you, but
hey, if you havin' issues, go see Dorothy.
She'll even cry with you.
If you need to shed a tear, she'll cry.
I really wanna say Mosley's a pain
in the ass, 'cause he's demanding as hell.
He thinks I am his only counselor,
even though we have 16 sports.
Start ordering
official transcripts.
- Yes.
- Okay.
- Wow!
- Okay.
- You tootsie roll on the way out?
- I'll tootsie roll
across the stage like this.
- Okay! Okay!
- Thank you.
- All right.
- Me and Jordan.
- Y'all gonna be tootsie rollin' on stage?
- You too, nigga!
- I ain't gonna be on stage.
- Why not?
My mom not comin'
for no associate's degree.
She better come for the bachelor's.
She's your mother,
what are you talking about?
Y'all niggas keep downplaying this shit
like y'all ain't achievin' nothin'.
Just a year ago,
I said fuck basketball,
so I'm walkin'
- I'm walkin'
- I'm not you, nigga.
I'm walkin' across that stage, nigga.
I don't give a fuck.
- What's up?
- What's happenin'?
- We gotta work on Long Beach.
- All right.
They have two guys
averaging 55 points a game.
- Yeah.
- One averages 32, the other averages 23.
They're very well-coached,
and they'll have a chip on their shoulder.
- Yeah.
- I'm sure all week, the coach has been
building towards this game,
and he's telling 'em, you know,
"If you win this game,
you break their streak."
We're taking every team's best shot.
Which is cool, I'd much rather be the team
that, you know, people are shootin' for.
What did your wife say?
First of all, the pie in my face
happens after the game.
- Yes.
- After the win.
- Of course. I actually knew that.
- If we lose
- I'm not takin' no pie to my face
- I'm gonna run across the gym,
and throw it in your face, then,
'cause I promised it.
Who's gonna clean
my jacket or my suit
I'm gonna put you in a little parka,
so your little suit don't get dirty
and a little sign with
a little bull's-eye, so you in the face.
Yes?
- I love your reaction to this.
- You would
Ain't no head coach supposed
to get a pie in his face.
- How about they pie you next game?
- No, I don't
I'm not really like that idea.
I'm just a background artist here.
How's your season going, good?
Yeah, solid, bro. I mean
I think we're, like, 17-1 right now.
But we won, uh
We have, like, 14 in a row.
- No way.
- Yeah, so that's a school record now.
We tryin' to keep going with that.
- It's your last year of school?
- No, I got two more years after this.
We'll see where I end up.
Hopefully in California, though.
You're gonna get drafted?
I mean, we'll see.
- I wanna go play overseas, bro.
- That'd be sick.
Have a story like one of those guys
that goes overseas,
ends up makin' it
into the league, like, ten years later.
- How many games you guys got left?
- We have nine in the regular season.
Then we'll hit the playoffs.
We've got a tough one tomorrow
- against Long Beach.
- Who you playing?
- Long Beach.
- Long Beach?
At the house, yeah.
- Is Long Beach a harder team?
- They're good, bro.
They're good.
They got some they got some guys.
They're a type of team that could,
like, whup our ass, bro.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, like,
if we don't, like, come out
and play hard.
Yeah.
They could definitely beat us by 20.
- You ready for tomorrow?
- Oh, yeah, I'm ready, man.
I've been waiting for this game.
It's the one game I had circled.
Right?
It's the one game
I had circled, for real.
Hello and welcome,
Husky fans. It's a top-25 match- up
as number 23, Long Beach Vikings,
invade the E-Rena.
There's a chance for the Dog Pack
to extend their historic record
for most consecutive wins in a row.
We know what's at stake.
This a hood game.
All right? This is local against local.
We gotta get after it.
The Vikings on a six-game win streak,
and they're on fire, sitting on top
of the South Coast Conference.
Nice, there we go. Let's go!
Let's go!
KJ from 11 feet. He's off the mark.
At the free throw line,
pulls up from about 11 feet, drains it.
Muhammad,
stops at the left elbow to Polynice.
Polynice back to Muhammad.
Muhammad right in front of the rim,
can't get it to go.
- Oooh! Foul?
- Damn.
- Come on, get out there, Malik.
- Schmidt splashes a three.
Highler cuts to the basket.
Gets fouled from behind.
Sub.
Joe Hampton will check in
for the first time,
and Muhammad will step aside
for the Huskies.
East LA trailing by two.
Go to Joe. Post, weave, set!
To Hampton. Hampton goes to work.
The lefty, off the window.
Quick work there by the Huskies.
Runner. Splashes in.
East LA tryin' to push the pace here.
Hampton feelin' it.
- Let's go!
- Guys, move! Cover!
- Hey!
- Nice!
Hampton with his own follow-through.
Yeah, Joe!
Yeah, Joe!
He tends to be that emotional spark
off the bench
and now a 19-17 ball game.
So a quick start for both teams.
Good block by Joe Hampton.
Go, go, go, go, go! Go, go!
- Hampton, jab steps.
- Oh, my God.
- Hampton!
- And one!
- Gets his layup to fall through
- Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Yes, sir, Joe!
Hampton to give East LA back the lead.
- Okay, Joe!
- Left wing.
- Yes, dude!
- Five seconds on the ticker.
And the drive by Willis, easy layup.
Extends the lead for the Vikings.
A steal for Jelks.
Wide open lane to the cup.
- Five-point lead. A quick swing.
- LJ, sub.
The momentum, all of a sudden,
into the hands of the Vikings
as Highler will be the trigger.
He'll have to hurry.
Rainbows it into the hands of Zeigler.
No, straight into the hands of Long Beach.
- Ofoegbu with a slam.
- Timeout, timeout.
And gives the Vikings a seven-point lead.
Come on, man.
You get up and you jam
and you stop the ball.
Every time we score, they score. Why?
'Cause we smooth joggin' back
like, we just joggin' back like we nice.
They up.
Even if it's not your man,
you need to be ready to help.
Here we go. "Finish" on three.
- One, two, three.
- Finish.
I wouldn't call it a shocker if the
Vikings can come away with the victory.
Long Beach in search of some respect,
and East LA is trying to prove
something to themselves.
Zeigler drives. Kicks out to Allen.
Allen slams it down. Two-hand flush.
Out of his way.
- Let's go!
- Right, right, right!
Williams. Drives.
Well defended by the wall of East LA.
- Hampton feelin' it. No.
- Oh!
We should be up by 20,
not running patterns, man.
Freakin' call somethin',
they not runnin' it.
Come here. Come here.
- Come here! Come here!
- I know, I know, I know.
Why you running right?
When I realized, I ran the other way.
I was just too late.
That shit don't work anyway.
Fuck.
I don't know why we stopped goin' to me.
Go to me. Fuck!
1:40 to go.
Ofoegbu is fouled on the jumper.
- We had it
- I got the ball.
Okay. I didn't see. I didn't see.
- I didn't see.
- Hampton is accused there.
That was a foul. Lik, sub. Sub.
That shit is weak.
Why'd they stop goin' to me anyway?
Fuck, nah.
One-point deficit now.
- Go, go, go!
- LJ! LJ!
To a cutting Allen! Tomahawk!
Grown man at work. Out of his way.
Zeigler quickly attacks.
Low post. Allen spins off.
Easy layup on the right side.
Zeigler with a beautiful pass.
Let's go, man!
The alley-oop done to perfection.
- Yes, sir!
- Gives East LA the lead.
Joe. Joe, Joe, Joe.
The highlights from KJ Allen
giving some momentum back to East LA,
and here, Joe Hampton will check in.
Williams pulls up.
Hampton with the rebound.
Loose ball.
Hampton in search of a foul.
Hold Hey, don't say nothin'.
Don't say nothin'.
Highler, pull up at the free throw area.
No. And a push off.
- No, don't!
- Against Hampton, I believe, of East LA.
- He called it.
- What am I doin' wrong?
You can't push him from his back.
I didn't push him, I went
we both went up top.
How did I push him with my hands up top?
One thing about Joe,
if he stays out of foul trouble,
he would get so much more PT.
- How many fouls do I have?
- I just want it even if that's a foul.
- We get rebounds, they hit us.
- Fuck, why refs keep doin' this?
- We bigger and stronger.
- Why do they keep calling
- these petty-ass calls?
- So it looks Sh! Be quiet.
- It's every game all season.
- Joe, Joe, Joe, be quiet.
- Fuck.
- Seriously.
We getting beat up because we bigger.
Damn, bro, it's not like I'm out there
actually hacking.
Petty as shit.
Weak-ass JUCO shit.
It's halftime as East LA
holding on to a four-point lead
over the Vikings, 38 to 34.
We turnin' the ball over way too much.
Not valuing possession.
"Well, well, next time."
There's not gonna be a next time
sooner or later.
The season will be over.
There's no next time.
You practice not havin' a next time.
There's no next time with the ball.
Take care of the ball. Good passes.
No, "My bad. My bad!" No more bad!
Let's get clean here and let's get
prepared for what's ahead. Here we go.
They try to portray
like I'm this big-ass bully or somethin'.
- It's what they tell each other.
- It makes me wanna not play no more.
Goin' into the second half,
East LA up 38-34.
Playoff seeding is definitely at risk.
So a must win for both teams.
Sit down, stay down!
Schmidt for three. Splashes that one.
Come on, Lik. Come on, Lik.
Muhammad, wide open shot. Left alone.
Muhammad, such a versatile player.
He attacks. Behind his back
Gets stuffed from behind by KJ Allen.
From the wing to the lane, over to
Muhammad, Muhammad, reverse layup, good.
Schmidt tries to go reverse side,
gets stamped by Muhammad.
Yes, sir!
Meeting at the rim.
You gotta like the effort by Muhammad,
taking control of this one.
Ofoegbu loses his dribble.
KJ on a one on one.
Now Zeigler. To KJ.
Slams it down!
That's my son! That's my son!
Whooo! I see you, son!
Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe
Biggest lead of the game for East LA.
Subbing in for ELAC,
number 42, Joseph Hampton.
Muhammad will sit down.
Well-deserved breather,
as Joe Hampton will check in.
- Give him the ball!
- Hampton off his spin.
Takes too many steps.
- That's a pro move!
- That's not a travel.
- That's a pro move.
- Good move, man.
- Hey, good move, Joe!
- That's not a travel.
- Good move, Joe!
- Nice, Joe! Good move, bro.
- That's a foul!
- Hampton goes to work.
- Drives, can't get it to fall.
- That's a foul, man!
- Too strong on that attempt.
- That's us.
- What?
- And last touch by Hampton.
Bro, fuck! Come on, blow y'all whistle!
- Come on.
- That's a foul!
- Hey, Joe, don't get a tech.
- Fuck.
- That's the third time, though.
- I know. Don't get a tech.
I want that same contact up there.
If that's how we callin' it.
Regans for East LA
will pull up from 18 feet.
- What?
- And a moving screen by Hampton there.
I didn't even turn.
So another foul on Joe Hampton,
with number three.
Ofoegbu
It's a blocking foul on Joe Hampton.
Hampton falls on his wallet.
I don't give a fuck.
I don't wanna play no more, bruh.
I'mma foul out right now on purpose.
- Come on, ref!
- Number 23
At least run a little faster.
He ain't seeing that, he five feet.
Two shots coming
Somebody get their auntie, bro.
Somebody get her, bro. She is tripping.
Hey. Stay in the game.
Okay, let's make a run right here.
What run? We up, we good, fuck.
- What? What did you say?
- We good.
I know. That's how it go.
I'm just telling you.
Let's go.
I'm about to foul out right now.
- Get six points before you foul out.
- For what?
- Six more.
- They not going to go to me.
Good shit, good shit.
It's true. It's true.
It's true. Good shit.
Bruh, I'm about to quit, bruh.
On everything I love, bro.
This nigga keep playing me
at the last minute and shit.
Sittin' on the bench.
Bruh, I'm this close, bruh. For real.
Give it to him. Give it to him.
- Give it to him!
- Joe, Joe!
Low post to Hampton.
Hampton, jab steps, goes right
Oh, he's called for a walk.
All right, take me out the game.
I I can't do it.
- Take me out.
- Sit down.
Take me out, bro.
- Take me out, Coach. I can't do it.
- Sub. Sub.
- Sub. Lik, you're up.
- Probably moved his pivot foot,
as Muhammad will check in
and Hampton gets punished.
Fuck!
Fuck!
- Fuck!
- No, man!
Hey, why do we look like this, bro?
We're winning. We're winning.
Why we look like this?
We winnin'. We winnin'.
Come on. Come on.
Turn up. Turn up. Turn up.
Why we look like this, bro? We winnin'.
We're winnin' the game.
Hey, eventually, we finna get
some technology out here.
- Y'all refs gonna
- Number two
Y'all refs gonna be toast!
Get some replay in this bitch,
y'all gonna be toast!
Hey, box him out. Box him out. Hey!
Zeigler will drive.
Right side! Blows through everybody,
and now a nine-point lead for the Huskies.
KJ goes to work.
Double team, triple team.
Good by KJ.
Have a seat. Have a seat.
They don't get offensive rebounds.
We need everybody on the glass.
Make sure we take care of the ball.
"Finish" on three. One, two, three.
- Finish.
- Let's go.
KJ Allen tries to get it.
Finds a friendly roll,
right side layup, good.
KJ Allen leading the way. Near perfect.
And East Los Angeles
stays undefeated at home.
Shoulda knocked his bitch ass out.
And the win streak continues to 15 games.
An 83-68 victory
I thought that I was gonna be
this top NBA prospect one day.
All my life, ever since I got ranked,
that's all everyone was tellin' me,
that I was big ticket,
I'm going to the league.
expired in regulation,
cleaning up a missed free throw
by Noah Dickerson.
From the corner, and the streak continues.
Joe Hampton for three.
I hated myself for what I have done,
disrespectin' the game.
I have those moments where I do explode,
and, like, I can't control myself, so
I regret a lot of things.
I regret a lot of things.
Fucked my life up.
I was supposed to be in a position
to help my family a long time ago,
you know, and I'm here
so, I mean
yeah, it's
I wish I
I wish I did a lot of things differently.
Yeah!
Come on!
Who's gonna do the pie?
Oh, my gosh. Who? Who?
Oh, the
Yeah! Yeah!
A lot of times, I'll let Joe kinda,
you know, dig his own hole.
I'm not gonna be the one
that drops him in there,
but being able to respond to adversity
is is something that
he's really trying to deal with,
and he's not doin' a good job,
hence the reason why
he's in the position he's in.
Get frustrated
and then respond the wrong way.
I'm not gonna go away
from carin' about him.
I'm not gonna give up on him, because
he's been given up on his whole life.
Just gotta get him through.
No!
26, 14.
Life hits me hard sometimes.
I would really get into this thought,
like, is this really
what I wanna do with my life?
Like, do I really wanna go down
and continue this
This path?
Don't think about it
Too much, too much ♪
Too much, too much ♪
Less than a minute
There's no need
For us to rush it through ♪
Oh ♪
Don't think about it ♪
Done sayin' I'm done playin' ♪
Last time was on the outro ♪
Stuck in the house
Need to get out more ♪
I've been stackin' up
Like I'm fund-raisin' ♪
Most people in my position
Get complacent ♪
Wanna come places with star girls ♪
And they end up on them front pages ♪
I'm quiet but I just ride with it ♪
Moment I stop havin' fun with it
I'll be done with it ♪
I'm the only one
That's puttin' shots up ♪
And like a potluck
You need to come with it ♪
Don't run from it, like H-Town
In the summertime, I keep it 100 ♪
Met a lot of girls in my times there
Word to Paul Wall, not one fronted ♪
I was birthed there in my first year ♪
Man, I know that place
Like I come from it ♪
Backstage at Warehouse in '09
Like "Is Bun comin'?" ♪
Fuck that, is anyone comin'? ♪
'Fore I show up there
And there's no one there? ♪
These days, I could probably pack it
For like 20 nights if I go in there ♪
Back rub from my main thing
I've been stressed out ♪
Talkin' to her like back then
They didn't want me, I'm blessed now ♪
Talkin' to her like this drop
Bet a million copies get pressed out ♪
She tell me, "Take a deep breath" ♪
"You too worried
About bein' the best out" ♪
Don't think about it
Too much, too much ♪
Too much, too much ♪