Last Chance U: Basketball (2021) s01e07 Episode Script

1
[distant sirens wailing]
[buzz of conversation]
[man laughs]
[crowd cheering and whistling]
[John] You say they all got grades?
Lowest GPA on that team, probably a 3.5.
Hey, that one dude is a monster.
Yeah. Oh, he got D1s.
All the Ivy too. D1s.
Oh, he an athletic freak.
[John] So, usually recruiting happens
throughout the year, man.
Guys are graduatin', guys move on
and just when I start to, like
All these guys are leavin', Malik, LJ,
and I turn to Coach Ken, like,
"Hey, what's goin' on with recruitin'?"
"Oh, Coach, we got so-and-so,
we got 6'8" here, we got 6'5" here,
we got the number one guard here,
we got this guy that may
be comin' back from Division I,"
and I'm like, "Okay, Coach Ken is on it."
He showed me a list the other day
of, like, 15 kids,
that he is in communication with
every single day.
He goes to all the events,
he goes to high school games.
Man, the dude's just a hoop head.
Man, he's a basketball dude.
Coach Ken is as big a part of the success
we have at our program as any.
He's one of the top recruiters,
he's got a ton of connections.
- Russ, you meet You know Coach?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I know Coach. You know I know Coach.
[John] Coach Ken is out in the trenches,
he's everywhere, man.
He's a connoisseur of
being in that basketball world.
But to get up every day, and
to have his family have to physically
pick him up and put him in a car,
and to be there at those games,
and to grind,
it's a tribute to his family and his kids
and everybody that's made the commitment.
[gentle piano music playing]
[Ken] When I was young,
I was a basketball player.
I was playing at LA Trade Tech.
I got hurt, uh you know,
wrestling with my college roommate.
6'10" kid, 300 pounds at the time.
We just came down wrong,
and I was instantly paralyzed.
Fractured my C4 vertebrae in three places
and bruised my spinal cord,
which paralyzed me.
I moved back to Detroit for,
like, a year and a half.
One of the, like, worst neighborhoods
in the country.
The home of BMF,
one of the probably notorious
crime organizations ever
to surface in the US.
And so, uh, you know,
all my people was BMF guys
and I'm I'm in a house
with about 15 of them.
My coach comes to visit me
and he say, "Hey, man,
I know you can do better than this."
You know, "I know
you was meant to do better things."
And I said, "What do you mean, Coach?"
He said, "Well, I need you to come out,
come back come back, go to school,
come finish school,
and come coach with me."
At the time, I could barely move
from the neck down
and I was just startin' to get back
a little shoulder function.
And I said, "Coach, man,
how am I gonna coach when I'm paralyzed?"
He said, "You know how to talk to people,
you know how to get through to people,
they listen to you, they follow you."
He said, "I just want
you doin' better than this."
I talked it over with my wife,
she was workin' at FedEx at the time, and
you know, I just thought we could
do better out here in California.
So I spent 13 years
at Trade Tech coachin',
and turned that thing into a powerhouse,
and I started movin' on,
and it got out there
that I was leavin' Trade Tech.
Right away, I knew it, I was like,
"Oh, gosh, I gotta have"
"If he wants to come over here,
no doubt, come on over here."
This guy has somethin' great.
Coolest thing about him is he's
He is the realist dude.
He builds that relationship up
with kids so that he can,
when he needs to, you know,
put the smack down
or just be able to talk real with 'em.
I know damn well you hear me screamin'.
Stay in the paint, LJ.
That's you. It's a
it's a pick and roll in the top.
Your man all the way in the corner,
you should help.
You just movin' over
- and your man is sittin' in the paint.
- All right.
And then you gotta go rebound
them long rebounds,
- you gotta go get some of 'em.
- All right.
- [John] Turn the corner!
- Good job.
[Ken] You know, like I say,
you can call me any time, dude,
like, voice your frustration.
Voice whatever
you're goin' through. I'm here.
We've all been young before,
we have all made mistakes,
that's what junior college is about.
When you come from what I come from,
and you don't have that person there
that's givin' you
that positive reinforcement
to see outside of your problems
and things that you can do
to make your path better,
and, you know,
that's how I got to East LA College.
[birdsong]
[man] Knowing the season's
coming to an end,
and being in the playoffs now,
you just feel like it's
a whole different vibe with just everyone.
It's crazy. Like, the crowd's really
into it. I even feel different myself.
I'm honestly just surprised.
I didn't think they'd be this good.
I mean, for them to be
the third seed overall, and
only lost one game, that's that's crazy.
It's gonna be a crazy environment,
'cause all eyes are on us.
Everyone's expecting us to go
against San Francisco in the finals.
I mean, if we do make it,
we win on Saturday,
then it should be really good.
[shoes squeaking on court]
[John] Get back Yes!
Patience. Keep goin', Shaun,
keep goin', Shaun! Keep goin'!
- Keep goin'! Keep goin', Shaun!
- Yes, sir!
- You cleared that out for him.
- Fuck!
- [Ken] Like that, K.
- [John] Here we go.
[Ken] Yeah, so, like,
as far as junior college, man,
this is one of the better
collective groups that you can be around.
You know, I know this has been
the best one I've been around, ever.
Great thing about Deshaun,
what you see is what you get.
That dude is a relentless competitor.
Yeah, that dude is, you know,
going to the cold, man.
It's hard to get That dude is freakin'
Hard to get a kid like that.
Fool crazy, man. Lock fools up, shoot it.
[Ken] What you see in Joe, same thing.
He only got one year, though,
but it's a lot of schools
talking to him, man.
- [man] I heard that.
- [Ken] Super talented, man.
Super talented.
There's nothin' on the floor he can't do,
I mean, nothin'.
Oh!
- [Ken] Good pass, Joe.
- [Joe] Finish!
Finish. Come on, we need those.
Jab! Jab!
[applause]
[John] Simaine, you're not good enough
to dribble that much.
Joe was open.
Joe is the best post receiver in here,
I'm tryin' to get the ball to him.
You dribblin' way too much. Here we go.
- Stance.
- [Joe] Come on. White, get on!
Hurry up. Hurry up!
White, get on. Hurry up!
Run it, run it, run it!
Bro, come on.
[player] That's our ball, no?
[Joe] Fuck, no, nigga.
What the fuck is you talkin' about?
[player] White, white, white!
[Deshaun] Up top. Get up top.
- Yo!
- [Joe] Post, post, post.
[KJ] They messed up in the head.
[Joe] Man, all our guards
on the white are ass, man.
Can't even get the ball in the post.
[KJ] Oh, yeah, I love it, Jordan!
[Joe] Fuck.
Hey, Joe, I'mma I'mma just tell you,
bro, your energy is transferring.
I can't
I'm not gonna hold it back no more.
Your energy is transferrin',
and it's not right.
You said you wasn't gonna do that.
- We had this conversation.
- [Joe] I'm workin' hard as shit!
- And we can't even All right, bro.
- That don't mean you quit.
- For real, let's talk man to man.
- All right, bro.
- Man to man.
- We're talkin' man to man!
- Man to man.
- I'm bein' real.
- I'm workin' hard as shit, runnin'
- Guys
- We can't get the ball in the post.
- Listen. Guys are playin' bad
- [Joe] Fuck!
- [John] And your response is to walk
- and your energy is transfer
- Turnover after turnover.
- Exactly.
- If this is in the playoffs,
- we're not gonna win shit.
- Exactly. But your energy multiplies it.
[tuts] All right, if my energy is so bad,
I'mma step off the court, then. Fuck.
- Micah. Micah!
- [man] Micah!
[Joe] Damn, it's not even me,
it's all all these fuckin' guards.
Fuck, we can't even get
the ball up past half-court.
- [Rob] Let's go, let's go. Get me one.
- Coach, am I wrong?
We can't get the fucking ball up past
half-court. I have no reason to be mad?
I'm workin' hard, runnin'. Hard as shit!
- [John] I'm not talkin' about basketball.
- [Deshaun] What?
- He's mad at me, talking about energy.
- I'm not.
- I'm mad at you! All he asked was
- Fuck, man.
- Hey. All he asked
- Fuck this shit.
- Hey, hey. Wait, bro!
- Go with him.
[Joe] Can't get the fucking ball
past half-court.
Fuck this shit, bruh.
Oh, God.
Don't even record me, bro.
I don't want to be recorded. For real.
[man] Leave it?
Okay.
[Malik] He won't go, man.
- [clattering and thumping]
- [Joe] Fuck!
[Ken] Take me in the locker room
real quick.
- [man] Say what?
- Take me in the locker room.
I'll be back.
All right. Don't do that.
Don't do that.
- You better than that.
- Come on, bro.
- Come on, dawg
- Keep trying to pick on me and shit. I'm
Like, I'm done, bruh.
- That
- Why does he keep picking on me?
He talkin' about my energy,
what about the whole team's energy?
We keep turning the ball over.
We're not gonna win shit!
Listen How good are you, though?
- What the fuck?
- How good are you?
We can't even bring the fucking ball up
past half-court to run a play!
- I understand that, but is that
- It's not even me, Coach.
- Listen. Listen!
- I'm workin' hard for the team out there.
Listen. Listen. And you are.
- Fuck!
- I agree with you, you are.
But is that gonna be the response
when adversity hits?
- Is it gonna
- He's picking with me
- in front of everybody, for what?
- Is
Because he wants you to take a take a
He wants you to do better
than what you did with the situation.
That's not the response
He ain't sayin' shit, and we can't
bring the ball up past half-court.
- Of course I'm mad.
- You
- I'm trying to win, I'm a winner.
- No
- I feel you.
- What the fuck?
Hey, but you're
not actin' like one right now.
You're not acting like one right now.
Come on, man.
- Well, everybody else want
- No, no. Im' cool
I'm cool with your response to a point.
And you know I fucks with you.
- I know, Coach, but
- Come on, now.
Come on, now. All I'm sayin' is,
this not the response.
- So, what am I supposed to do?
- Listen Just
Just go back, handle your business,
finish your day.
You can be frustrated afterwards,
as a leader.
As a leader, you gotta understand that.
You know what I'm sayin'?
Come on, don't be the
don't be the bad seed.
You too good for that shit.
You got too much
on the line right now, man.
Too much.
Too much, don't throw your shit away
for a temporary bad situation.
You just went through
some temporary adversity.
You may face some in the playoffs,
you know what I'm sayin'?
And we may need you to step up.
It's simple, bro, you know? You ain't
gotta had a outburst, you good.
You a man. Just, shit, take it
on the chest, it's over, it happened.
Next, we move on.
Don't let shit stop you
from completin' this goal, bro.
You almost there, you 85%
of the way there. Finish this shit.
Let's roll.
Hold that door for me.
[Joe sighs] Yeah.
[Ken] Let's work. Finish your day, man.
[Joe] Yeah.
[Ken] He know what's on the line,
even though sometime,
he'll act like he don't care.
All right, I'm good. Right here.
He really do know what's on
He smart as hell.
Oh, man.
[John] This is a weird time.
Guys get nervous, they get
to the end of the year and they start, uh
gettin' nervous about recruitment,
so they don't know how to respond.
They they don't know how to react.
They'll act out.
They feel like other guys gettin'
more attention and they just get nervous.
And there's a choice to make, do you
do you act out in a way that distracts,
or do you just grind it out?
[Rob] There you go.
That's more like it. [laughing]
- Could you feel it durin' the game, Shaun?
- [Deshaun] What?
[Rob] I mean, you showed patience
by not forcing it, like
Was there a point in the game where
you were like, "Yo."
"Maybe I need to start forcin' it
a little bit. I ain't"
"It ain't really flowed to me,"
or nothin'?
- [Deshaun] No.
- 'Cause that's, like, 4 shots in a game.
- [Deshaun] Yeah, two for four.
- Wow.
Who would I rather have shoot
and attack through fouls, me or KJ?
- [Rob] I got you, but
- Feel me?
I mean, I'm just curious
how you felt during the process?
Was there a point in the game where
you were like, "This ain't"
"This don't look right,
this don't feel right"?
- I don't care. We was winning.
- [Rob] That's what I thought.
- [Deshaun laughs]
- [Rob] But you didn't feel frustrated?
- [Deshaun] Oh, no.
- [Rob] All right. Scoreboard.
[Rob] Shaun was, like, two for four,
but he had a really good game.
I mean, he didn't take bad shots,
he deferred to his teammates.
He's about winnin', and he understands
his JC career's about over.
He's gonna be a mid-major
to low Division I shooting guard.
He knows where he's gonna be.
He just wants to win right now.
[Deshaun] Yeah, it'll hurt really bad
if we lose,
'cause I love
Like
I love to win.
But
I gotta see the grand scheme of things.
I just wanna play D1, you know?
I I want it so bad.
Like, I wanna be a D1 player so bad,
that it drives me crazy to not be there.
[announcer]
number 30, the team
[Deshaun] My senior year was probably
my favorite year of basketball
to this day,
'cause, you know, we won it all,
and that was my dream.
Like like, our games were packed,
and it was just a lot of fun.
After high school, there was a school
that had expressed interest in me, UTEP.
They ended up offerin' two other guards.
People were telling me, "Go D2,"
you know, "Do this."
To me, that's like a slap in the face.
It's not your dream you're talkin' about.
That's my dream you're talking about.
I just decided that I could just
see what I can do, as a walk-on.
I had the ultimate faith in myself
to go there as a walk-on
and pull a scholarship in a year,
and then I just worked my tail off.
Every night, I'd go to the gym,
so I would go there at, like, 11 p.m.,
and be in there from 11 to one,
11 to two, 11 to three.
Bein' a walk-on isn't fun, at all um
but I tried to just
I tried to just, um take it head-on.
Coach Floyd really liked me and he told me
that he wanted to give me a scholarship.
Coach Bobby Braswell calls me in
and he's, like,
"Hey, I need you to come into the office."
And he's like, "So
the AD has decided
not to sign your scholarship."
He was brand-new,
he had never met me or seen me,
uh, or seen me play or anything like that.
And the coaches that offered me
are no longer at UTEP,
and that's actually that's why
um he didn't sign my scholarship.
And that kind of ruined everything
that I had just done,
because I had just spent this money
for this opportunity and it worked,
and then for it to be
snatched by somebody that
had never
has nothin' to do with the team,
was really, like, "Wow, like,
business is business."
And it was just like,
"Okay, so where do we go now?"
And I had heard about ELAC
from my travel ball coach,
and with my mom bein' sick
um
And I could feel
the clock tickin' on that.
Uh I had to come home.
I never thought about stopping
playing basketball or not playing D1,
so it was more, like,
"Okay, well, how do I just do it again?"
My experience at UTEP
gave me big confidence,
like, huge confidence,
because I went in there and I found out
quick that I could compete at that level.
It's always been my dream
to play Division I basketball,
like, since I knew that that was a thing.
- [man] How do you think you'll get there?
- Any way any way necessary.
[distant sirens wailing]
- [Dorothy] How's your day goin', Joe?
- [Joe] Uh
- Good, bad?
- [Joe] Yeah, it's cool.
- You guys ready? Ready for Thurs
- Hell, yeah.
- Okay. I am too.
- Are you goin'?
- Hell, yeah.
- [laughs]
- Oh, yeah. I'll be there. I'll be there.
- Aah.
- How are you doin' with the geography?
- That's right after my speech.
- So how are you doin' with it?
- It's cool.
- It's easy.
- What does that mean? Okay.
Are you 100% sure?
- Yeah!
- 'Cause sometimes you guys say,
"Okay, I'm doin' good,"
and that means a D.
- No. I I'm not failin' any classes.
- Have you had quizzes?
- Except for English online.
- Have you Wait. Okay.
- The English 101?
- Yeah.
That's the only one, and that's 'cause
I missed two assignments like a dickhead.
If you don't pass that one
that's not a good thing.
There's just gonna be a question
to make you eligible,
you know, where you fall as far as
your progress towards degree, that's all.
- For real.
- Do you know what your percentage is
- in your English right now?
- Fifty-something.
- You got two weeks to bring that up.
- I know.
Okay. You gotta e-mail her, you don't
wanna hesitate too long for that.
- Okay, gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
- All right, so
- Okay, so, this goes down to admissions.
- [groans] I need to bounce back.
- Ooh!
- Okay? Are you able to take it down now?
- Yeah, I can.
- Just say, "It's my graduation petition."
- Okay.
- Are you going to walk in the ceremony?
- I think we're all gonna walk.
- Okay.
Coach is making us, especially
if we win it, we're gonna all walk.
But even if you don't win it,
you guys should walk.
- [laughs]
- Okay. That goes to admissions.
- Admissions, here I come.
- All right. Thank you, Joe.
Where is admissions?
[boys chatting]
What the fuck?
Dean of Admissions and Student Service
Damn, bro.
How you doin'? Uh, I'm just
turnin' in my, uh,
- graduation petition.
- [woman] Okay, do you have ID?
- [Dorothy] You've had a lot of classes.
- [Malik] I know.
- Earth science
- [Malik] Is that bad?
- No.
- [Malik] Okay, cool.
Uh-uh. It's good. So, are you gonna
miss it when you're not here anymore?
Oh, no, I'm gonna be livin' my life!
I'mma
Like this was torture?
Yeah!
- What?
- This was
- You ain't seen what we been through?
- This was not
- This was not torture.
- I'm out I'm out the mud, finally.
- [laughs]
- I'm almost I'm almost out.
Almost served my sentence.
[laughing] You're
you're gonna miss it here.
You'll come back and say,
- "God, I miss you guys so much."
- No, I'm gonna come back,
and whoever that man is torturin',
- I'm just gonna laugh
- [laughs]
and be, like, "Ha, ha! Y'all turn."
- [door opens]
- [Mark] I'm back!
- [Dorothy] Uh-oh. Did I
- The man, the myth!
- [Dorothy] Did I do something wrong?
- The legend.
- MB3.
- No.
Mark, your boy is gettin' a degree.
- I know.
- I don't why you're shocked over it.
'Cause, like, you really
you really gotta understand,
I really never thought
I'd be in this position.
- Like, you know what I mean?
- I know. I had doubts.
- [laughs] You had doubts?
- I mean, it's
I had doubts 'cause you had doubts.
- You have an associate's degree.
- Like, you feel me?
- Like, that's next to your name now.
- [Dorothy] Yeah.
- Like, "Malik"
- I got that forever.
- [Dorothy] Nobody can ever take that away.
- Exactly.
Never take it away. I mean, it's huge.
Right, we got number threes,
- two number threes, wings and legs.
- My boy's done all right.
[Malik] This is all I need, bro.
This is all I need.
- [Deshaun] Budget's July 1st to July 1st?
- Yeah.
Do they ask you what's the likelihood
of you making it, so you can go to state?
Is that even a conversation?
People saying,
"Yeah, there ain't no money." Like
Like, what am I supposed to do, man?
I'll put it on my credit card.
I'll worry about it afterwards.
They gonna tell me, "Yeah, I don't know
if they can go to the playoffs."
- Yeah.
- Like, not even saying,
"Let's fund-raise for it," or whatever,
just saying,
"Yeah, you can't go to playoffs."
- Like, at the at a college level.
- [Rob] Yeah. Yeah.
Who says that? It's crazy.
All right, so, what we doing
when we win state? Is it
- What is it, Cruth's Riss, Riss Cruth's
- Vegas.
- [player] We taking it to Ruth's Chris?
- Vegas!
- No, we're going to No, no.
- Shit!
- We'll go to Vegas. Hell's Kitchen.
- Filet mignon!
- Huh?
- We're going to Hell's Kitchen.
- Hell's Kitchen in Vegas.
- Hell's Kitchen in Vegas.
- That shit is gas.
- Hell's Kitchen?
- Yes. That shit is gas.
- I got you.
I got you. Let's go.
- [Marquis] Goin' to Vegas!
- [Deshaun] Team trip!
Hop in, we gone.
- [Deshaun] Team trip!
- [John] We gone.
[John] This last little run, bro,
there's no greater feelin' than
gettin' to the end and finishin' it.
Right, yeah.
As far as we go, if we make it,
the better your life is gonna be.
I'm not talkin' about just a scholarship,
I'm talkin' about your life changin'.
So, we gotta win, we gotta make a run.
We gotta it gotta look special.
- Right.
- You know what I'm sayin'?
- It gotta look
- It's gonna be special.
It gotta it gotta look special.
It's gotta draw attention.
- All right.
- You know?
- I see, yeah.
- The way we do it has to draw attention.
We got momentum now,
you got momentum in your life.
Momentum goes like that.
Whether you go and say,
"I'm gonna go and play pro,"
or go school,
so just stay on that mode, man.
- Yes, sir.
- Stay on that mode, so
Proud of you, though. You made it
this far. I didn't think you'd make it.
- It's all thanks to you, my guy.
- I didn't think you'd make it.
I swore,
I didn't think you was gonna make it.
I was like, "Ain't no way
Joe gonna make it this far."
- It's all you.
- "I'm gonna just we'll just
let him show up and see what happen."
"There's no way."
You did put the ball in my court.
- Yeah.
- And you let me do what I had to do.
- So, I mean
- I told you I wouldn't give up on you.
- For sure. And you didn't.
- I ain't gonna give up on you.
- You didn't.
- Even though you
Even though Every now and then,
you had your moments,
but I wasn't gonna give up on you.
- But
- That's all I needed,
- was somebody to stay with me, man.
- For sure.
- You good.
- That's all I ever needed.
So, you and Shaun, you the alpha,
you and Shaun are alphas, bro,
y'all gotta be business-like.
You Dudes are gonna follow you.
You got a bunch of dudes that follow you,
and a bunch of dudes that follow Shaun.
'Cause the guys, they gonna look
out the side of they eyes and say,
- "What are they doin'?"
- Yeah.
"All right.
That's how I'mma base my response."
- [John] Y'all shoot free throws.
- All right.
You I need you to make 30
and then you can leave.
- All right. I'll make 50.
- Make 50 and then leave.
- Coach, can I get two cones?
- Two cones?
- Cones?
- Yeah.
- Cones for what?
- What you got? What you doin'?
- I'm gonna do some shootin' here.
- All right.
- [Rob] Trying to elevate?
- [Joe] Yeah.
[Rob] I'll get you some cones, kid.
[Malik] My nigga on the cone work.
[Joe] Aaah, I gotta hit that!
I'm just here to watch a pro work.
My nigga, like, shit.
[Joe] All the problems
that I've been through this year,
the adversity
that I've been through this year,
like, dealing with my attitude,
I'm just puttin' all that aside.
Four.
- Last one on you, Lik.
- All right.
[Joe] Just so I can get this ring. I mean
I don't want to make it personal,
but, I mean, this shit is personal.
I want this shit more than
I mean, I feel like
I want it more than everybody else.
So, I'm gonna put my bullshit to the side.
That would not help us win.
Aaah! I need to make this motherfucker.
And just do everything I can
to help us win.
[Malik] Yep. Good footwork, good footwork.
Now we're playing for something,
and it's serious.
So, I kind of feel the heat of the moment.
It's just, like, I can't wait,
I'm a little nervous now,
but I know for a fact,
tomorrow, when I wake up, I'm gonna
I'm gonna be fired up, blastin' music,
screamin' at the top of my lungs.
It's the game before we go to state,
so, yeah, it it's a big one.
We need to we need to get this one.
I wouldn't be surprised if we blow
these motherfuckers out by 20.
[scoffs]
[John] Lik, Lik, Lik.
Here we go. Let's go, back door.
[Ken] To make it to that Elite Eight,
to have that opportunity
is invaluable for players like Malik.
We know what it feels like to get
to the Final Four, the Elite Eight,
and have 50 to 80 coaches in the stands.
He doesn't have no idea.
They really need this opportunity.
He's thinkin' about that.
It really ain't about
winnin' the game, either.
Like, as much as he preach,
you know, winning,
he talkin' about winnin' in life.
And how you win in life,
you know, you get a head start
by gettin' an education paid for.
LJ, we ain't doin' no runnin' today,
so you should get some work in.
We ain't runnin' today,
so might as well go hard.
[Rob] Make Hey. Makin' 'em all.
Makin' every one of 'em.
[Rob] There's, literally, a million dudes
out there tryin' to get a scholarship
and there's not very many scholarships.
For Division I, I believe there's about
1700 a year that they're givin' out.
There's not a lot.
You start doin' the numbers,
the high school kids, military, transfers,
you start addin' all that up
and there's only, like, 1700 scholarships?
That's hard.
[John] Hey, bring it in!
[Deshaun] Let's handle business, man.
Tomorrow's about
playin' three games next week.
- [Joe] Yeah.
- [John] This Saturday, it'll be physical.
They got that sense
that they'll try to punk you.
They used to doin' that.
They've been on, like,
a seven-game win streak or whatever.
- Last game they lost
- [players calling out]
- [Deshaun] We on 25, Coach!
- Hold on, the last two games,
they've been
down 22 and 15 and won both of 'em.
- [John] Won both.
- [player] Shit.
Them fools is just reboundin',
scrappy, playin' hard, grimy,
not tryin' to lose,
and so that's what we we up against.
Everybody's primed
to get a scholarship if we get there
- and we win the thing, I guarantee
- We show up.
- I guarantee that.
- We show out.
I guarantee. I I I guarantee.
Every time we go, there's 30, 40 dudes
there that normally don't see us,
and they like, "Let me get him,
because he on the winnin' team."
But you wanna get where you came to get.
I'm a dreamer. I'm dreamin' for everybody.
- Let's go, let's go!
- [John] Do whatever y'all need to do.
- "Family" on three! One, two, three!
- [all] Family!
Yeah, a little nervous, man.
Trying to 100% figure it out.
I've been watchin' 'em all week.
I don't have it all the way,
I don't have a good idea
of what we're going to have to run.
I don't I don't have that yet, so until
I get that, I'll keep watching film.
I'mma spend all my energy,
all of my emotion,
tryin' to figure out
how to beat Hancock, so
that's the goal tonight.
[Lashaunda sings along to TV]
When a man is born ♪
- He's a man of ♪
- [Leah] Wait.
Then along come two
They got nothin' but their jeans ♪
- [boy] Wasn't he only in
- [family] Diff'rent strokes, it takes ♪
- [Lashaunda] Too loud.
- Diff'rent strokes, it takes ♪
- Diff'rent strokes to move the world ♪
- [girl] Oh
Everybody's got
A special kind of story ♪
Everybody finds a way to shine ♪
It don't matter that you got not a lot ♪
So what? They'll have theirs ♪
You'll have yours and I'll have mine ♪
And together we'll be fine ♪
'Cause it takes diff'rent strokes
To move the world ♪
Yes it does, it takes
Diff'rent strokes to move the world ♪
- They just have to take 'em.
- [Leah] I don't like Christmas episodes.
[Lashaunda] I was gettin' ready
to watch it.
Okay. Look, Daddy. Daddy, look.
- Mm-hm.
- Wait.
[Leah] Daddy, look.
- Daddy.
- [phone rings]
- Mm-hm?
- [Moriah] Hello?
- Hello?
- [Lashaunda] Oh.
- [Moriah] Hello?
- Talkin' about an expo or somethin'.
Mm-hm.
[laughter on television]
- It's a touch screen?
- [John] Move.
[Leah] I don't want it
Don't cry, I want to watch NBA.
[John] Pierce was up by 19 and then lose.
How did they have a 19-point turnaround?
And then they score 56
in the second half. Like
How does that happen?
Looks like them dudes just went crazy
and just start playin' hard. It's crazy.
That's what I'll be trying to find out.
Just stuff like that.
What did they do well? What's their DNA
that allowed 'em to do that?
So you can be prepared for that.
Be prepared for whatever
allowed them to to do this.
[Deshaun] Last year,
we won a bunch of games,
we were ranked pretty high,
but havin' that mindset,
uh, comin' into the playoffs,
just didn't work out,
you know, we struggled to execute,
we struggled to guard and we lost.
[man] Are you concerned
about that happening again?
Uh, no.
What's different?
I'm the captain.
[Malik] Comin' out last year,
I feel like it's a big difference
'cause we're just, like, so much more,
like, prepared and, like, ready.
I'm, like, really more excited
than, like, nervous.
That's when, like, the fans
are most intense and, like,
brings your game to a different level.
- It's, like, what I've been waitin' for.
- [gunfire in game]
[KJ] I think we're gonna win every game.
Feels like nobody works as hard as us, so
I feel like every game,
we got the advantage.
Nobody wants that road to end tomorrow,
so everything gotta be 100%, like, crisp,
make sure everything is right.
[girl] Why not wear your hair out?
- You ever thought of that?
- [Joe] Fuck, no!
- [laughs] Why?
- Look good, play good.
[Joe] If we come out
ready to play from tip,
then, I mean, it's no questions asked.
No team could ever beat us.
[Deshaun] We gotta take every opponent
seriously, every game seriously.
That's gonna be our main focus,
not overlookin' anybody,
stayin' focused on the details,
night in and night out.
- We gonna win
- [gunfire in game]
by a lot.
It's more at stake than just
a state championship,
like, this my whole reason for being here,
it's so I can get this championship,
move on,
go where I need to go.
'Cause I ain't workin' at no Foot Locker
or nothin' like that. I'll be damned.
[KJ] The more games we win,
the more schools
could be able to see, like, everybody,
so that's why we're tryin' to win state,
'cause then everybody
has a chance, like, to get good schools.
That's pretty much the goal.
[Maya] What's one face you make
when you play basketball?
[laughs] Oh, my gosh.
I'll be out there on the court
growlin' sometimes, like "Grrr!" Like
I don't know why,
but I just be so fired up,
I love that shit so much,
I feed off that energy.
No questions asked,
we're winning the state championship.
That is my word.
I'm gonna do anything I can to win.
If I gotta go out there
and break a leg, I will. [laughs]
We're gonna win, no matter what,
and I'll do anything that it takes to win.
- [balls bouncing]
- [players shouting]
It's cash.
That's cash.
- Oh!
- [Rob] Hah, Malik!
- [player] What time is it?
- [Malik] Playoffs!
- Nigga!
- That's what you tell me.
- [laughing] It's playoffs!
- That's what you tell me.
- Stop playin' with me, man.
- Yeah
[Joe] Fuckin' comin' today, nigga.
[laughs] I'm fuckin' fired up!
Balls on the rack. We'll take you
We gonna try to get through this,
real quick, so everybody get focused.
Execution's just gotta be good,
20-point game, whatever,
same as Saddleback.
Same deal. You come out,
you execute, you clean with it.
If you sloppy, you givin' a playoff team
a chance to get in the game.
They got physicality,
they can freakin' rebound. "Let's go."
They the most "Let's go"- ish
you gonna ever see.
We play fast and hard, 'cause all the
little coach-y coaches are gonna tell 'em,
"You gotta slow ELAC down,"
that's what everybody says, and anybody
If we struggle, it's because we've been
slowed down from our pace, okay?
Our pace needs to stay, like,
outlet, boom, early, dunk, kick, let's go.
Pressure, pressure, pressure.
Like a heartbeat, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And just when we have five possessions,
we get another rebound,
and our conditioning, they can't keep up.
Early, boom, run,
dunk on they heads from KJ.
- [Joe] Ha-ha!
- All that!
- He turned up! I fuckin' love it!
- Just all that, dawg.
- Just boom, boom!
- I love it!
That's how we practice,
that's how we play.
Them they feel it, and they try
to keep up in the first five minutes,
- and it can't happen.
- Aaah!
- Hey, man! Come on!
- Hey!
- Come on!
- [Joe] Ha-ha! [laughing]
Fucking playoffs, nigga!
- [laughter]
- Yes, sir!
Hee-hee-hee!
They here. This they last trip.
Hey, you see they brought they got
they paid for a bus to bring they fans?
- They got a bus to bring their fans.
- [clapping]
- Yeah! I love that.
- Same as yesterday!
[Rob] They got a charter bus
bringin' they fans.
[John] They got a charter bus. All that.
Y'all need to shut it down!
[commentator]
A thriller inside the E-Rena.
We welcome you to the playoffs,
the SoCal regional final,
a chance to enter the Elite Eight
and move on to West Hills College
in Lemoore, California
for the three-day state tournament.
[upbeat jazz music playing]
So, East LA with
the 28 and one record into this one
and Allan Hancock
with a 23 and six record.
And as Mosley and the Huskies
continue to produce at high levels,
the whole season is at risk.
It could be one and done for East LA.
Lose tonight and you're out.
[Malik yelling] Playoffs!
Yeah!
Biggest thing is we gotta play together
and everybody's gotta play hard.
So, every game we go through,
it's gonna get harder and harder
to win that state championship.
It'll get harder and harder.
But that's the beauty of it.
That's what's fun about it.
That's what's fun about it.
Playin' freakin' hard right now
and then winning.
Tonight.
Ain't nothin' but, what,
three, four games left.
Please finish this.
I'm goin' right in there
and I'm makin' reservations.
When you guys get home tonight,
I want everybody
to show me the ring y'all want.
Tonight.
Now everybody go look
and you show me what freakin' ring.
Everybody go pick out the ring tonight.
Everybody goin' everybody goin'
- to pick out a ring tonight.
- Yeah!
You turn up, don't let no
none of these dudes
- walk in our gym.
- I like that shit.
[John] Don't let nobody walk in our gym,
all right?
We pickin' out our ring tonight,
here we go.
[all cheering]
- "No air" on three. One, two, three!
- No air!
No air! Don't give 'em no air. Here we go.
[Deshaun] Don't give that shit up.
We worked too fuckin' hard for this.
[sighs]
[sighs]
- [player shouting]
- [shoes squeaking]
[commentator]
So, moments away from tip-off.
You gotta wonder if the pressure
is just too much for East Los Angeles.
[cheering]
[Joe] Hey, y'all hear that shit?
I love that shit, bro.
- I love that.
- [Deshaun] We know what to do.
Let's have a good night.
Let's have a good fucking night, bro.
[Joe] Just can't fuck with us, man.
Whoo!
Aaaah!
Turn me up, turn me up, turn me up.
Turn me up, turn me up,
turn me up, turn me up.
[Deshaun] Shit, fellas, you guys know
what to do. You already know what to do.
Now you get to go out
and have some fuckin' fun and do it.
Now you get to fly all over this bitch
and have some fun and echo, right?
Fly.
Get on that floor. Communicate.
Have some fuckin' fun, blue.
Let's get after it, blue, let's go.
- "Family," one, two, three.
- [all] Family!
[commentator] So, here we go,
this is the Sweet 16 game.
The SoCal regional final,
a chance to play at the state tournament.
[Deshaun] Let's go, let's go, let's go!
- [John] Come on, K! K!
- [commentator] Mensah underneath.
Yes, right side. Layup good.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Green! Green! Hurry up! Green!
- Highler, to Allen on the elbow.
- [buzzer sounds]
Yes, splashes it.
- [crowd chanting] Defense! Defense!
- [clapping]
- Defense!
- This is the second time in three seasons
that the Bulldogs
have played in the Sweet 16.
So, this is a team
with a lot of experience.
To Akinsanya, hustlin' his way through.
- Oh!
- [John] Ooh!
- Oh!
- Yes.
Highler into the front court quickly,
he'll attack coast to coast.
Gets it to go on the right side.
Intensity is high inside the E-Rena.
Highler to the cup.
- Hey, come on!
- Rejected from behind.
Allen left side, and one.
- Muscles one through.
- [yells]
[Joe yells]
Play me!
- You see how physical it'll be?
- Yeah, yeah.
Just take
- You know how to play. It's your game.
- Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Highler.
Behind his shoulder,
Muhammad cuts to the cup.
Let's go!
Loses his dribble,
felt the presence of KJ.
Zeigler attacks on the right side.
The lob inside, and
- [whistle blows]
- Hancock was ready for that one.
The drive by Cooper.
No, grabs his own, the putback.
Get the rebound! Get it! Goddamn it.
Let's go! Defense!
So, that's a rarity, East LA
getting beat on the offensive boards.
Inside, Hampton gets met at the cup,
will have his hands full this evening.
Highler will try to take the charge.
Wide open, Carver, good.
[buzzer sounds]
- Watch the steal on the switch.
- [Ken] We need five guys to the rebound.
- Everybody's gotta
- Everybody go rebound now.
- You guys
- Let's finish these dudes.
- We.
- Take it home.
- "Finish" on three. One, two, three.
- Finish!
Talk on D. Talk on D. You got it?
- Let's go. "Family." One, two, three.
- Family.
Carver defended by Regans,
he'll drive to the lane, pulls up,
from eight feet, gets it to fall.
[chanting] Defense! Defense!
Searcy with five seconds to go,
pulls up in the paint!
Gets the friendly roll.
[John] Go to Joe.
Pass to Hampton, will bulldoze in,
he's off the mark on the left side.
Rebound, Harding, loose ball.
Kris Smith comes up with it,
Polynice from the wing.
Baseline, Hampton, no.
It's a two-on-two, and Allen gets ripped.
Wide open.
- [whistle blows]
- And a lead for the Bulldogs.
And Coach Mosley calls timeout.
We got one guy reboundin' right now.
That's KJ.
We need more rebounders, we gotta
rebound in order to win this game.
We gotta fly and get that wolf,
because 32 and 42
are tryin' to put it on the floor.
- Got it?
- Yes, sir.
Good. Let's go.
- "Defense," one, two, three.
- Defense.
Zeigler drives, will fall on his chest,
fouled from behind.
[referee] Be cool, be cool.
Take your time.
Hey, it's go time, bro.
Hey! Hey, let's turn this fucking
let's turn this shit up, bro.
Hey. Hey. Let's turn this shit up, bro.
For real.
Come on. Come on, bro.
Let's go. Go! Go!
Hampton
- Another steal.
- [John] He initiated contact!
Coach Mosley felt that Hampton was fouled.
Harding to the cup.
Gets it to fall.
Hancock 19, East LA 16, 8:45 to go.
Mensah, the three-point expert.
[Joe] That's not who I'm guarding.
Rips the net there.
Biggest lead of the game for the Bulldogs,
East LA at risk of being knocked out
and upset by the number ten seed.
East LA coming into the SoCal regional
as the number two seed
and the number two
ranked team in the state.
- [whistle blows]
- Push off by Highler.
- [buzzer sounds]
- Offensive foul, that's his second.
Launches a deep three, yes.
Back to a five-point lead.
The Bulldogs,
one of the scrappier teams in the state.
All right, come on, come on!
We need y'all. Turn it up. Turn it up!
Right elbow, that's Hampton.
Loose ball, offensive foul on East LA.
Bro! Where's the ref? Every time
I get the ball, they're hacking me.
Why y'all
Y'all didn't call not one foul today?
Hey, listen, listen.
I'm being hacked all game.
I understand that,
but we're letting both sides do that.
[John] Rick! Hey, Rick,
he grabbed him off the ball.
That's how that happened. Come on.
I haven't said nothin' the whole time.
We gettin' hit all day long
and you call a offensive foul.
Ricky Water, the head official,
saw that clearly.
Highler will bring it up,
Highler between two defenders.
- Fires No, off the back iron.
- [buzzer sounds]
And it is halftime inside the E-Rena.
The visiting Allan Hancock Bulldogs
are up at the half, 33-26.
An upset is brewin' here.
[Joe] They hacking, nigga,
they just not callin' that shit.
Second half, new half,
nigga, they gonna call that shit, nigga.
Fuck. We gonna keep goin' to the rim,
keep smackin' they fuckin' chest,
nigga, we're not changin'
none of that shit.
They could blow the whistle every time.
- [Malik] They told me they let us bang.
- Come on.
[player] You can't ask for nothin' more.
Right. Let's just boogie.
From where I'm sittin' on the bench,
it's pretty simple,
the guy with the ball
is better than you guarding the ball.
And then when you have the ball, you
aren't better than the guy guarding you.
That's what this half looked like to me.
'Cause I didn't see a lotta execution.
Hey, man, that's heart, yo. That's grit.
You gotta be better than one,
you gotta be better than the double team.
You gotta be better
than that dude that's foulin' you.
[John] Fellas, we we we goin' home
if we don't lock into that.
You got 20 minutes to fix everything.
Now you believe what I'm telling you.
Okay, yeah, we done ran through
some people, but you got 20 minutes.
We need to run our stuff with pace,
with tempo.
We need to get in it, we need to remember
what we doin'. We need to burst.
If you go to the hole, you go,
like the freakin' hole
and you freakin' get on balance!
Don't flop. They not callin' the flops.
Get on balance!
Get on balance, and if they don't call it,
you pivot, you kick out.
You find a drop off, you power up,
because they not
callin' the fouls, all right?
If you shoot the ball,
you go free throw line rebound.
I need guys crashin' the glass like this.
Now you believe me? We need pressure.
When the guy is comin',
we can't back up and go like
We gotta be right here the whole game.
All I can do is tell you.
- All I can do is tell you.
- [Deshaun] We gotta go hoop, man.
- [applause]
- Hey, we gotta go hoop, man.
- Let's go.
- [John] Get it.
- These niggas don't work like us.
- [John] Hey.
- These niggas don't work like us.
- [John] One, two, three.
- [all] No air!
- [John] Let's go, man!
- Hey, let's go! Let's go!
- [Joe] Hey!
Let's turn this shit up.
Come on, man. Come on. We cannot go home.
We're not goin' home.
We're not goin' home. Come on.
- Listen, listen. Hey, let's go.
- [Malik] Y'all, they made this a game.
You know we're gonna get in that paint.
Get in there, stop, fake,
make those extra passes.
- Here we go.
- [Ken] Pick the energy up.
- I ain't ready to go home. Fuck that.
- Let's go.
- Let's play. Let's play our half.
- [Joe] We gotta get 'em hyped up!
- [team chanting] Defense! Defense!
- [Joe] Defense!
- [team] Defense!
- Hey! Hey, bench!
We gotta get 'em hyped up.
We gotta get 'em hyped up!
Come on, we cannot go home.
We're not goin' home.
- Let's go!
- We're not goin' home!
[commentator] Akinsanya
around Muhammad on the right side.
[buzzer sounds]
Akinsanya on the right side,
again against Muhammad.
- All he doin' is turnin' and goin' right.
- Yeah.
Cut the fuckin' right off,
he don't have no left.
- [John] Listen. Hey, Lik, don't
- I'm not trying to hear that right now.
- [John] Hey, Lik!
- [Malik] Fuck, man, let me do me, bro.
Highler fakes left, goes right,
pulls up at the free throw area
Yes, off the back iron and in.
So, inching their way back in it.
East LA trails now, 39-35 to the Bulldogs.
- Ooh, here we go!
- [John] No foul! Hips back, L!
Hips back!
Mensah, the three-point
specialist gets it to fall.
East LA, their 24-game win streak
possibly on the line.
Mensah underneath. Yes, right side.
[whistle blowing]
[Rob] They tougher.
These dudes tougher than we are.
[Malik] Get in there!
Highler, drives. Will fall on his chest.
- Fuck!
- [Ken] That was a foul.
Slowly getting up now.
Grimacing in pain.
Oh, my God.
Lower leg injury, there.
Shaun cannot afford
to be out of this one.
It's gonna be an uphill climb
the rest of the way.
Has ELAC met its match?