Last Chance U: Basketball (2021) s02e07 Episode Script

1
[mumbles]
[man] I live off of Cesar Chavez
in Downtown LA.
Born in Boyle Heights.
Just grew up down the road from there.
Same street.
It used to be called Brooklyn Avenue,
then Sunset,
then they've changed it to Cesar Chavez.
So, this street here.
I've pretty much been
on this same street my whole life.
[hip-hop music plays on speakers]
Decided to come back here to ELAC
to jump on the newspaper
and just cover sports.
And so, while doing all that,
I just got the bug for it. I'm like,
"Let me do some play-by-play."
[Dan] If there's one guy
who deserves a broadcast, it's Mosley.
It'd be amazing if I could, one day,
broadcast for a professional sports team,
but, for now, it's a hobby.
I wish I could just show up
and put on a headset
and just worry about broadcasting,
but I don't get that luxury,
because I'm at the JUCO level.
[inaudible]
[Dan] The travel costs,
the equipment, the platform
I have to pay
I have to pay for ELAC to stream
[chuckles]the games, so
I lose money every year.
["Superstar" plays]
You know, I always believed as a kid ♪
That stars fell from the sky ♪
When they hit the ground
They'd turn into a rock ♪
So, for all you superstars out there
Wherever you are, remember ♪
You walk around fly ♪
With your head in the sky ♪
I'm Dan Gudino for another installment
of Huskies basketball
here on SportsNetUSA.net.
Justin Gladney to Washington, easy lay-in.
Morrow lobbing it up to Calip
[chuckles] who tips it home.
Probably got lucky there,
but doesn't matter.
Gilmore to Morrow.
Morrow attacks. Morrow slams it down.
Huskies, 89.
Trade Tech, 53,
and a turnover for the Huskies.
Underhands it to Oliver.
- Oliver! Exclamation point!
- [spectators cheer]
Game. Set. Match.
95-57.
- Huskies with its 16th straight victory.
- [buzzer sounds]
[Dan] They move to 24 and 4.
And it's now playoff time
for the Huskies next week.
You got the stars
You got 'em in your eyes ♪
And all you want to do is ♪
[Dan] Being stuck in an office all day,
working seven days a week.
It's it gets draining, you know?
And so having a chance to call
Mosley's games is It's exhilarating.
You know, you get to shout
and scream sometimes. [chuckles]
So it's an extraversion for me
from being stuck
and so concentrated in one field
to just get to breathe a little bit.
What's the use of being a superstar
When you can't play in your own backyard ♪
Ahh! ♪
Oh! ♪
[song fades out]
[chuckles] Charlie,
it's Dan, your old smelter.
I've been wanting to work for ya again.
- I still wanna be your smelter
- [Charlie] I got nothing for you.
I know you'd have nothing for me,
but wanted to let you know,
I'm still around.
I'm still in Downtown LA.
Still in the same building.
And so whenever you're ready,
I'm ready. Okay?
All right. Well, good luck.
Hey, Charlie question. Do you receive
our daily email for bullion?
No. No, no. And I don't want it, please.
Okay, Charlie, fine.
Okay, take it easy, Dan.
All right, talk to you soon. Bye.
Yeah, the that happens all the time.
[chuckles]
They're just like, "Get off the phone!"
All right, let's go.
[Dan] The broadcast thing is
always something that I aspire to.
It is a hobby
because it doesn't pay any bills.
This is what pays the bills right here.
Stacking metal all day.
You know, all this stuff is from probably
like the '20s, '30s, the '40s, '50s.
Check this one out.
[metal clatters]
A lady's purse.
Mesh purse.
Gone.
We have no sympathy for it
'cause we need the silver.
Must have taken, what?
Probably hours, days,
to make something like this?
Maybe, I don't know.
And just seconds to destroy, right?
[melancholy music plays]
[Dan] Precious metals industry
pays the bills.
Broadcasting doesn't.
I'm 37 now.
When I was about 26,
I wanted a career change.
Just stuck in the melt room,
sucking smoke.
Felt like, man,
I can't suck smoke forever.
And so I decided
to look for something else,
and it's something that
gives me something to look forward to.
Game days, I really do
crank out, like, a 16-hour shift.
I'll do, like eight hours here,
and then head over to ELAC
or wherever we're playing at,
and that's another four hours,
'cause you I do the men's game
and then also the women's game too.
Whoo!
That happens.
Up to this date, I still get nervous
standing in front of this sucker.
I mean, that happens all the fucking time.
Um, explosions. Look at back there.
Stuff that has blown up,
just like, "Boom."
And it's a lo it's tough
to confront a lot of times, but
fuck it.
Zero education. No business acumen.
This is where I'm learning it.
I mean, it's taken me a decade
to be the main guy here.
I don't know what else
I would be able to do.
[music continues]
[instructor] Gotta look down here.
They usually say,
"Look up here." Look down here.
- All right?
- [player 1] Okay.
All right, welcome to Ventura Ranch.
This is gonna be fun.
It's gonna be safe.
So here is the rule.
For you guys that are over, uh, 6'1",
you're all gonna want
your safety hook to run in front of you.
We really need to make sure there's
only one person on a zip line at a time.
When my friend finishes
and is off to the side, she hollers
Clear zip!
So then I also holler, "Clear zip!"
Lift your knees up, bring 'em up
as high as you can, and lean back.
All right. There you go.
[John] You the leader, dawg!
[Dezmond] Yeah, you right!
- Ho! Shit! [grunts]
- [player 2] Oh shit!
[Dezmond] Oh God! [splutters]
[player 3] He say he not gonna
[Dezmond] Ooh shit!
Go all the way, all the way.
There you go.
- Hey, clear zip!
- [player 4] Clear zip!
["Take it Easy" plays]
I'm gonna take it easy ♪
[player 5] Let's go, Mar!
I'm gonna leave
On the next plane home ♪
[instructor] Pull your knees up!
I'm gonna lay down my worries ♪
Oh, okay.
Ain't gonna hurry ♪
[John] Now Dez is cocky now.
Yeah.
And get down, down, down ♪
And take it easy ♪
I'll get up
And get down, down, down ♪
Where the skies and the waves
Keep on rolling ♪
[quavers] Oh my god.
[John mimics quavering and laughs]
[snickers]
[John mimics quavering]
- [Demetrius] So easy!
- [Dezmond] I ain't doing this.
[John] You have no choice.
You are in it now.
[Demetrius] Why did I let y'all go
before me? I would've been done.
- [player 6] We gotta wait for Dez.
- Y'all need to stop blaming it on me!
[Demetrius] Then don't be first!
Everything is on the leader.
[Shemar] This shit far as hell, bro.
[player 7] No, you're good.
Take one step, bro. Take a step.
Shit. These steps are far. Ooh.
[Bryan] I don't like this at all, man.
[John] You've been in the air
your whole life at seven foot, dawg.
Come on, B.
[Shemar] Oh shit. [squeals] Oh shit.
[John laughs]
- Oh shit.
- [John] BP!
Oh sh
Oh shit!
[player 8] Step on the middle one, nigga.
[Shemar] Hold up, nigga.
I'm sweating. Let me hold up.
Fuck.
[player 9] Shemar, you're taking forever.
[Shemar] Bro, shut the fuck up.
This shit's scary.
Y'all niggas ain't trying to die.
I'm trying to live too.
- Fuck you talking about?
- [player 10] This one's actually hard.
- [Jon shrieks] Oh!
- [players chuckle]
[Bryan] Last one, baby!
I'll get up
And get down, down, down ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
And get down, down, down ♪
Fucking, motherfucking nice, nigga.
["Outstanding" plays]
[Demetrius] It look like y'all know
what y'all doing, kind of.
Just put it over there and cool it off.
[John] Chef Rob, you got the hat on, dawg.
Oh yeah, Coach!
- That smell like a family reunion, there.
- [John] Last burgers, bro. Hurry up!
[player 11] I'm waiting
for the second round.
- [Demetrius] Where the buns?
- [player 12] Come here and enjoy life.
[John sighs] I just need a little break
every now and then.
[Shemar] Coach Rob,
you gotta cook more, dude.
[Rob] Ain't nobody mother-effing
or screwing nothing right now.
Y'all don't even know,
this is the real songs to put the wood to.
You don't even know.
I always wanted
to learn to play the drums.
[Bryan] It's pretty easy.
The hardest part is the kick drum.
- You feel me? See, tap, and it's a tap.
- [Idrissa] Oh yeah.
- [Richard] Anybody can play drums.
- That's what I'm saying.
- Anybo You can just bang on shit.
- [Cory] You just banging, making noise.
[player 13] That shit hard.
When we was in school,
all the hoes played the flutes,
and all the niggas played the saxophone.
For real?
[Dezmond] Tyrelle.
[Tyrelle] I'm just gonna pray.
Come on, Dez. Join me.
Wanna come over here?
Yeah, let's get naked.
You gonna come here,
and disturb Relly's peace?
Are you? Oh, my bad, Relly.
You see him praying. Come on.
Put your hands out.
This shit working?
- [clicks teeth]
- [inhales deeply]
[chuckles] If you shut up,
it'll work, right?
[players chattering]
[John] All right, here we go.
Bring it back in. Circle up, circle up.
[players chatter]
[Rob] All season long, Coach has been
preparing each one of you for one moment.
When it comes to the last part,
this is it.
Whatever you thought
the season was is over.
Regular season's done.
But now we have another. Another season.
What are you going to bring
when it's your time?
Because junior college,
JC, by definition, is selfish.
Like, why why are you here?
[players mumble]
Yeah, you're only here
to go somewhere else.
But I truly don't believe
that we can get to that championship game
unless we become more selfless.
So, what I want
to hear from you right now,
how can you make us better
in the next two weeks?
Somebody give me What you got, Dez?
[Dezmond] I say, uh,
take accountability for everything.
Even if I feel like I'm right.
[Rob] That's a part of being a leader.
So I'mma hold you to being accountable.
What you got, B?
[Bryan] I feel I can improve my energy
and my motivation coming in day-to-day.
Just make sure everyone's energy is
higher and more motivated to work.
[Damani] Set the tone, making sure
we're locked in these last two weeks
and have no slip-ups.
- [Rob] Who left? What you got?
- Right here.
What's up, Shemar?
Okay, so I feel like what I can do is
just have a better mindset and attitude,
'cause, like, y'all niggas know
how I come in.
I might not just want to be there today.
If I just come in with
the right mindset and the right attitude,
bro, I feel like everybody else
will come in with the same type of energy.
And we just gonna be solid.
'Cause you understand it just takes one
to bring the whole thing down.
But it takes everybody to go
Takes everybody to go.
- Takes one to bring you down.
- [Rob] Just one.
Everybody in here can just chill
and go on with the rest of they life,
but unless everybody serves right now
at what they said they were gonna do,
we not gonna win.
At this moment, like,
you have an opportunity.
Lord, I thank you for these guys.
Thank you for this group.
Thank you for this team.
Lord, I know I'm hard, and I'm tough,
and they think I'm just crazy,
and they think I don't like them,
and maybe feel like I don't want the best,
'cause I'm hard, but Lord,
I thank you for them, O God.
And thank you for all of their gifts.
I'm so thankful, God, for
I thank you for all the players.
All of these guys make me look good.
The coaches make me look good.
And I just thank you for them in my life.
Amen.
[players] Amen.
[John] Hey. "Family" on three.
"Family" on three. One, two, three!
- [players] Family!
- [John] Let's go.
[player] Family!
[Rob sighs] All right.
Got to get some
inbounds plays scouted right quick.
See if they changed.
Oh, Cerritos?
Yeah. I gotta see if they changed up.
I'm guessing no.
You really think
you can slow this dude down, Damani?
- [Damani] Hell yeah.
- [Rob] Think he knows it's coming?
[Damani] A little bit,
but he's gonna go at me right away.
That's why I got him,
'cause I can draw offensive fouls on him.
[Rob] For sure.
That's why we put him on you.
- [Damani] Mm-hmm.
- That's why we doing that.
Cerritos' coach is, um well.
Let's be positive first.
He's a good coach. He is.
Solid program for years.
He's hard to guard.
The things he does are really good.
He does, um He's a good coach.
That being said,
Cerritos' coach is a hater.
He's mad because East LA is
far better than Cerritos.
It was never supposed to be like that.
If you know a thing about JC basketball,
Cerritos has been a powerhouse.
Every year I've ever looked at it,
they've been good, and East LA hasn't.
So East LA is not supposed to be good.
So there's animosity there.
He's not feeling that.
From that standpoint,
when the brackets came out,
anytime we get a chance to beat a hater,
that's that's I like that.
But if this team can slow us down
and shoot a really high percentage
from the three, we could lose the game.
[tense music plays]
[Ken] I thought our résumé was good enough
to be at least minimum top-five seed.
To have a seventh seed,
never saw that coming.
I have no control of
what goes over in the seeding meetings.
I could just,
you know, present my criteria sheet.
I fill it out and give it to 'em.
It usually gives me fuel, anyway,
'cause I don't like our seeding,
so I can just get pissed off about it,
and get our players pissed off,
and we can go out there and compete.
I don't think since I've been coaching
that I've saw a team
with our résumé get a seventh seed.
Twenty-four wins.
The second-most wins in the state.
We're the seventh seed
because we lost three games
by like four points on last-second shots.
Against really, really good teams
really early in the season.
I know that Sunday morning,
like, everyone who thought
they had a top-four seed
was just praying
that they weren't gonna play us.
[John] I've kind of operated from the
What'd he say?
"Started from the bottom, now I'm here."
Working my way up
and grinding and not being content,
so I kinda like
to be in that mode all the time.
[Rob] Since Christmas Day [chuckles]
we've been the best team in the South.
'Cause we have the most talent,
and we're getting better,
and we're still getting better.
So I'm pretty confident
that we're gonna play.
We're gonna play good basketball
this Thursday and Saturday.
[players chattering]
[player 1] I turn 21 in August.
- You got something missing?
- [assistant] You got time.
- You could do those right now, okay?
- [Dezmond and JT] Damn!
[assistant] Don't let her leave.
15 points is a lot, dude.
- Don't let her leave those up.
- [Dezmond] Oh, it's due today?
- [assistant] So let's do it now. Now.
- Oh, at 12. Fuck, all right.
- I'mma knock it out right now.
- [assistant] Right now.
- All right.
- [assistant] Click the button right now.
[John] Portal is thick, so if y'all
not doing y'all work, y'all in trouble.
[Rob] Okay, you just getting
You getting right into it, huh, Mar?
Hold, hold, hold
What time we got this test today?
Come on now. We gotta lock into that.
Come on. Oh, here we go. GED.
Hold up, uh
Don't you gotta go Is it here?
No, that thing ain't online, dawg.
- Where'd we say we're taking that?
- [Shemar] It's not online?
Dude, that test is in Corona, homie.
What time?
[clicks teeth] At 12:30.
At 12:30? I thought it was 3:00.
No, it was at 12:30.
[person talks on phone]
No, I'm trying to reschedule
'cause I've missed one today.
I had scheduled one for 3:30,
and then I just, I didn't look,
and then I looked,
and it said it was 12:30.
Okay, so she said
they gonna let me reschedule it.
- All right.
- She just said they gonna tell me.
I gotta take it
now in five to seven business days.
- Got it.
- Then they gonna give me another day.
[Rob] Five to seven days.
- [Shemar] But like
- You can't miss that. We gotta know that.
I wasn't finna even missing
- I was ready today.
- [Rob] Nah.
- I was supposed to take you last night.
- I thought that bitch was at 3:00.
[Rob] I should've took you home with me
last night. I was trippin'.
Damn, bro.
This shit's gonna drag on another, bro.
Come on, bro.
[interviewer] Whatcha doing, Shemar?
Man, finna go get in the shower, upstairs.
Feel me?
[interviewer] Where's the other shower?
[clicks teeth] It's upstairs by the pool.
[interviewer] Why do you use that one?
Because the bathroom messed up, bro.
The sink, the whole the tub.
Everything dirty, bro. It's clogged.
Even if you do shower,
it'll go all the way to the top,
And then it'll stay there for three days.
And then all the dirty water
that's in there don't even go nowhere.
So it's it's all bad up in there.
[interviewer] Where do you sleep here?
[chuckles] Me and Driss.
I sleep on Driss' bed.
He sleep like this,
and then I sleep this way.
Yeah, this is that
[sighs]
Driss sleep that way. I sleep that way.
That's why there's a pillow right there.
On my shit, right there.
Um
And yeah.
And shit, the shower broke.
We got to shower upstairs.
No, yeah, this is definitely, like, yeah,
this is definitely not
how I would choose to live.
You feel me?
Like, if I had, like, my own space,
it would look different, like,
it would be way more cleaner.
Like, you feel me?
Shit, the floor wouldn't be dirty
and all type of shit, but, like,
under the circumstances that we in,
you feel me?
Like I said,
this the best we get, for real, but, like
Like, this is not my home, but shit,
I just feel like
this is home as of right now.
Like, this is, like, it's not home-home,
but, like, you feel me?
Shit, this where I lay my head at,
when I really feel like I home. Feel me?
When I feel like
I don't got nowhere to go,
shit, I'mma come over here with my niggas.
We finna just kick it.
[interviewer] If you get a D1 offer,
and you get out of here,
do you ever think about
the things that will mean?
Like having a dorm to yourself.
Having a cafeteria you can go to
and get food whenever you want.
Do you think about those things?
Or does it just seem too distant?
No, of course. I definitely do
be thinking about them things.
It's just like, yeah, bro, like,
it be hard to see
the vision when it's like,
when you got to go through shit like this.
I definitely do be picturing that.
Like, shit.
I'm just trying to get through this
to get to there, so.
- I'm on the way.
- [Shemar] I don't know. Find it?
That's a hair oil?
Yeah. Here. Do you want this?
I'm finna use this.
- Bring that back. I'm gonna put this in.
- "Lock it and leave it."
- All right
- I needed this shit, like, two days ago.
[Rob] Aw, man.
[Krysten] I know.
I'm still kind of hungry.
[Rob] Yeah, I'm feeling way better about
Because we never see each other.
- [Krysten] Well
- Well, briefly in the morning.
By the time he gets home,
I've been home for an hour or two, so
[Rob] I kind of see her
for 15 minutes in the morning,
and then we see each other about
8:00, maybe?
I don't see much of her and very rarely,
like like, with real clothes on.
[laughs]
That's funny, Bobby, real funny.
Y'all want to see where I make my shirts?
- [chuckles]
- Let's check it out.
We literally just buy
pieces of clothing that are blank.
We throw 'em over here.
If people wanna make something,
they can make it.
Over here, I grab the colors
that I want to make all my shirts.
It comes out of there and peel it off,
and then I press it here,
and I wear it to school.
Then all the players go,
"Rob, let me get one."
Everybody wants a Coach Rob ELAC shirt.
[Rob whistles]
- [Krysten] Should start your own store.
- I am.
[Krysten] Because you make only originals,
you could charge a good price for 'em.
- [Rob] Oh, I don't charge anybody.
- [Krysten] C'mon, let's be right.
- [Rob] Think we got it?
- [Krysten] "Jump stops changed my life."
[Rob] Jump stops will change your life.
Jump stops means you're being fundamental.
[Krysten] Chest passes, right?
Yeah, you're just being simple.
Just do the simple stuff every day.
Having a problem at work, jump stop.
Having a problem with your relationships,
chest pass.
- [Krysten] God.
- Oh, this is all bad.
[Krysten] We suck.
- [Rob] That'd have been so cold.
- Yeah.
It will look cool when it's right.
That would've been a nice shirt, man.
- [Krysten] What if you put it on these?
- You are really you are [splutters]
- It's okay.
- No. But I, like
[Rob] Hey, sometimes Hey, man.
Sometimes, end of the night, you lose.
- Yeah. No.
- It's just what it is.
- You play hard and don't come out on top.
- Look.
You lose by one,
then go back and practice for two hours.
[Krysten] We met at UC Riverside.
He was a basketball player,
and I was a softball player.
He was standing next to one of
my best friends at this fraternity party.
And I saw my girl Annette
standing next to him.
Later she goes,
"Did you see that guy I was next to?"
I was like "Yeah."
'Cause I remember, when I saw him,
I thought he had weird ears.
Like, he had little ears,
and he was wearing
really small short socks,
and that was weird back then.
And she goes, "He said when you asked
about him, that he asked about you."
And I was all [scoffs]
"What's this dude all about, right?"
[melancholy music plays]
The plan, when we got together,
was to follow the job.
He was gonna be climbing that
coaching-at-the-collegiate-level ladder.
And I was just gonna be
a teacher and follow him.
After being married five months,
unexpectedly we get pregnant with KJ,
with our first kid.
We're like, "Oh, shoot, that's gonna
[chuckles]gonna kinda derail things."
He ended up taking the job
at Notre Dame High School
as a substitute teacher,
and he worked there for over 20 years.
He never wanted to teach high school.
He never wanted to coach high school.
But he had a heart for the game.
And, if he could coach basketball,
he would be happy.
He sacrificed his career moves
for his family.
For 20 years,
he sacrificed what he wanted.
He won CIF, he was coach of the year,
all these things.
So we thought, "Okay,
he'll start putting out applications."
He put hundreds of applications
to colleges,
and maybe got three emails back.
We underestimated how difficult
it was going to be
for a highly successful high school coach
to walk into the world
of college-level basketball.
So Mosley, ELAC, comes along,
and, I mean, he's like,
"I ain't gonna make no money,"
and I was like,
"Well, we're gonna figure it out."
When we got married, the deal was,
we're gonna follow the job.
And I wanted that life.
I like the idea of being a coach's wife,
because I love sports.
I love helping kids.
I also know this.
I want him to be happy.
So he went
and worked for basically nothing.
And we managed for a year.
And then the next year was COVID, right?
So COVID hit,
and this dude's out there hustling.
[Rob] During the pandemic,
I didn't have a job,
because I didn't have
a job here at East LA,
but I was able to get this gig going.
Masks at a kiosk to make money.
[Rob] I mean, I had my own mask empire.
I had, like, 20 different Kobe masks.
I had so many different Dodgers masks.
When they won the championship,
I started hustling T-shirts.
Shoot, at Christmas,
I was selling beanie-mask combos,
sunglass combos with masks,
and that was that was my job.
[Krysten] Nothing turned out
like it was supposed to.
[Rob] When I say
I don't wanna be here next year,
it's not that I don't wanna be here.
I absolutely love coaching here.
But I gotta get outta here because
I'm ready to do something different.
Like, I'm ready to be a head coach.
These two or three years
have prepared me for that,
and I'm forever grateful.
[John] I can't ask for anything else
from Rob.
Rob feels the same as Damani
and Bryan and Josh and all those guys.
In the back of my mind and in my heart,
I'm like, "I gotta get Rob outta here."
I just gotta get him out.
[Krysten] I just really want to see him
get what I think he deserves.
[Bryan] Coach Rob.
[Rob] Well, okay, Bryan. What you up to?
[Bryan] So when's the after-season banquet
and everything?
- [Rob and Josh] After what?
- After season.
- [Rob] I ain't heard about no banquet.
- [Bryan] No banquet?
[scoffs] The fuck you thought it was?
You was expecting a banquet?
Didn't Mosley say
something about a banquet?
[Josh] We gonna sit down
and give out awards?
I don't know, though,
because the first year I was here,
everything got shut down.
- So I didn't have a spring.
- [Bryan] I just
I just wanted to make sure if I needed
to show my face after the season.
There's a Especially if you got a deal,
we ain't gonna see you.
We might not ever see you again,
if you got a deal.
So then the ride back
directly after the game then.
- [Rob] Ah.
- [chuckles]
[Rob] When the game is over?
Who gonna say what and do what? What can
[Josh] The fuck they gonna tell me to do?
How they gonna tell me to lift?
Like I ain't just get done.
[Bryan] I just wanted to make sure
we was on the same page.
[Rob] Who's gonna say what?
I mean we're gonna give you a ride home.
Okay, I'm not saying nothing.
- I just wanted to make sure
- We lose that last game, you think I'd
First of all,
what we're gonna do is [knocks on bench]
We not losing to nobody
in this motherfucker. Definitely not.
[Rob] It's not like
we don't give nobody a ride.
- Like, "Nah, man, eff y'all. We done.
- [chuckles]
Nah, we're gonna give you a ride. However
If, at that moment, you be like,
"You know what? I'm not going with y'all."
"I'm going to Tahoe.
I'm not going back to East."
- I'd be like, "I understand."
- Yeah.
[Rob] You need to be right,
right now, Dez.
- [Dezmond] I'm right here. Let's go.
- Come on, man.
You gotta guard the point guard tomorrow.
[Dezmond] Come on! Come on. I'm here.
- That's the matchup. That's the matchup.
- [Dezmond snarls] Nigga!
[John] What's up, Coach? What's happening?
What do you need? Everything, you said?
Shit, I need everything.
You got five wins, man, six wins.
You need to look at Josh in the red.
He's starting for us now. He a monster.
[John] Everybody right now
wants a scholarship,
and they believe
that they're gonna get it.
What level are you do you feel like
you're ready for right now?
[Demetrius] Any level.
Like, what conference?
Like, give me a give me a school
that you could play at right now.
USC.
[John] Okay.
[Rob] Every one of our kids came to ELAC
and was like, "I'm going Division I."
To a kid, you have to
somehow get him to believe, like
All right. It's cool to be Division I.
It is. That's a
It's an incredible opportunity.
For one, you get a full ride,
something to eat, somewhere to stay.
[chuckles] That's important.
But, when you look back,
the only thing that's gonna matter
is, "Did you get to play?" That's it.
[John] Dez. He's a Division I talent,
but I just kinda know the temperature
right now at the recruiting level.
It's hard.
- Hey, Josh, meet Coach Carlito here, man.
- Hi. Josh Phillips. Nice to meet you.
Incarnate Word. We're moving into
WAC next year from Southland Conference
[Rob] With Josh, it's got to be someone
who understands,
"I gotta be willing to coach
this person more than the player."
[locker slams]
Fuck.
[John] I wanted to be clear
about Josh's autism
so that these coaches have an opportunity
to coach him better.
I've had coaches call me,
"Coach, we gotta have him.
We think this, we think that."
But they said, "If those things happen,
if those stints happen,
I don't know
if we're prepared to deal with it."
My biggest concern is that he's with
someone who understands.
If Bryan is right
if Bryan is right,
then them two should be our best.
In terms of Bryan protecting,
sometimes Bryan will get lazy
and won't close out or won't,
you know, do something, but
[John] If you're not at a point
where you're extraordinary,
it's rare to get an opportunity.
That's the reality of it.
And it doesn't mean
you're not good enough.
It just means that things have changed.
Dude, I wish all of them could
get a scholarship right now,
but the reality of what's going on
in recruiting right now is, it's tough.
I think it'll all depend on
how they finish this season.
Do we get back to the Elite Eight,
and do we play in front of
those extra hundred coaches?
That's gonna have a big say-so.
- [Rob] All right, man.
- [Carlito] Have a good practice.
Yeah, he's an incred
Aw, he's a great kid.
Look at the duckies.
- You like the duckies?
- Yeah.
- [Dezmond] You gonna put your glasses on?
- Yeah.
Put 'em on.
[Dezmond] Showtime.
Yeah. High five.
[chuckles] Yeah.
That's what I'm talking about.
Princeton, you want to play basketball
when you get older?
- [Princeton] Yeah.
- Like me?
[Princeton] Yes.
Like you play basketball.
- [Dezmond] So you gonna play
- I can't reach the basketball.
[Dezmond] Yeah, not yet,
but you're gonna be able to.
- [Princeton] Yes.
- You wanna be, like, seven foot for me.
Make it easy on me.
- [Princeton] No.
- Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Be seven foot!
- That way
- [chuckles]
You can just dunk.
You ain't gotta worry about nothing else.
- I'mma go slow, okay? You hanging on?
- Yes.
- You got it?
- Yep.
- [melancholy music plays]
- [Dezmond] I have someone depending on me.
Something happen to me,
what is going to happen to him?
That's what I think about everything I do.
[Dezmond] Ooh! [chuckles]
[children chattering and shouting]
You on that daredevil life. Daredevil.
Come on.
Want me to help you up there?
- No.
- You got it?
Princeton came along
Dez's 12th grade year of high school.
[Shanna] A blessing, but a big surprise.
He was scared and surprised,
but he knew that he had to be responsible,
and that this child
would not go without a father.
So, if I can help him, I help.
Because I know how it is to be a mom,
and not have
the other side of the family help you.
I had Dez, like,
a week before my 16th birthday,
so I was still in high school.
We kinda grew up together,
because I had him so young.
It was stressful,
but motivational at the same time.
He needed me, and I needed him as well.
A lot of times I felt bad,
because I missed a lot of events
that he were involved in with school.
I was always working,
but if I didn't work,
then I wouldn't be able to keep our place.
And I would explain to him why.
And I hope that he will understand
what I was trying to do for us.
[Dezmond] She worked morning to,
like, damn near night.
I was always on my own.
I was lonely,
didn't have nobody to talk to.
Just wanted to be around people.
You have a relationship with your father?
No, I never met my father.
- [interviewer] Never in your life?
- Never.
They say he was funny and stuff. And, uh,
that, uh, he had he has more kids.
My grandma actually told me that he said,
"He wasn't mine."
My grandma told him,
"No, that's your son."
"He looks like you. He is you."
"Do a blood test right now.
It's gonna be your son."
And he just ignored it, kind of.
And just went about his life.
He could have still reached out to me
or talked to me a little bit, but
he didn't want to.
Just, like, how to approach a situation,
how to handle certain aspects of life
that comes at you so hard,
and just make you want to melt
and break down.
I feel like a father can help you do that.
If I had my dad to call right now
in moments where I'm dealing with Coach
or dealing with certain stuff,
I feel like I'd be so much better,
'cause I'm sure he's been through
something similar,
and he'd just walk me through it.
[music continues]
I just want to be
in every part of his life.
If I was to walk in the room,
he's gonna be like, "That's my dad there."
To have somebody admire you that young
makes you feel good.
If I'm not around for,
like, a week or two,
I know he feels that too.
I know how much he loves basketball,
but, you know, at times it is
it's extremely um, hard,
because, again,
I don't get to sleep as much,
or even just stuff like this, where I have
to, like, do stuff alone with the kids.
Where Princeton looks for that, you know,
"Where's my dad, Mom?"
And then I have to tell him
like, "He's playing basketball."
And then Princeton looks at me like,
"Well, still, I want my dad," you know?
And it's just, like, I have to try
to make Princeton understand, like,
your dad loves and appreciates you, but
he just can't be with us at the moment.
[interviewer] If you got a scholarship
from a school that wasn't in California,
you wouldn't take it?
I don't think so, 'cause I need
I can't leave him.
I would think about him too much.
I wouldn't be able to play my game.
I wouldn't be able to focus.
Right now, I know he's 15 minutes away.
From there it's a whole flight.
[Jocelyn] I told Dez, if he wants to do it
for a year and travel, to do so,
I could work with him,
trying to get on the plane with Princeton,
so that he can have that.
I still struggle with this to this day,
being a father.
I'm still learning.
[Shanna] I feel him trying.
It makes my heart smile.
He loves that little boy.
[music fades out]
[basketballs bouncing]
[player 1] Come on, JT, bro!
- [Rob] Can you play hard?
- [Demetrius] Yep.
[Rob] I mean hard, hard.
Like, to the point of exhaustion hard.
Just give it all out there every day
so we can get you in this game Thursday.
[players shouting]
[Bryan] Wait! Go for it! Go! Ball!
[Bryan] Go for it! Go for it!
[players shouting]
[Bryan] Energy!
[Dezmond] And one!
- [Bryan] Explode!
- [player 2] Space!
- [Dezmond shouts]
- [player 3] Get that nigga out the way.
[player 4] Bully that little nigga!
Put your leg in between!
It's weak.
[Demetrius] Hey!
- [player 5] Move that nigga, Josh!
- [player 6 hoots]
[John] Do what we do to win. X, hands up.
Hands up in X. X!
You wasn't ready, Shemar.
- [player 7] Pick it up!
- [player 8] Pull!
- [John] Two, 15, 14, 13.
- [player 9] Move!
- [John] Twelve, 11, 10, 9
- [player 10] Press on!
You ain't commanding the floor enough.
You not freaking commanding the floor.
You ain't commanding the floor.
It's not matched up.
- [Josh] Huddle, Green!
- [John] Give me the ball.
- [Damani] Stay all the way back!
- [Josh] I need you to say that.
[John] Y'all still sleepwalking, man.
Hey, play corny and we win.
Just play like that. I need you to do
exactly what you was doing in the game.
Play super corny.
I know you trying to mock me.
It works though.
[John] It works. You can mock me all day
and work all day.
Set. That's it, B. Come on, B. One time.
Hey, this defines us right here!
This defines us right here. Come on, B.
- Go by him.
- [Bryan] Give me that!
[John] Yeah, B. Sit down, Chris.
Come on!
Hell yeah. [blows whistle]
We make dudes look ugly.
We make 'em look uglier than a mug.
Everybody, we make them
look uglier than a mug.
They be trying to go somewhere
They be trying to go somewhere,
and you just make them look straight ugly.
All right, so.
It's scarce. Scholarships are scarce.
All right? In terms of Driss,
in terms of Dez,
Bryan, Josh, Rich.
The guys we know
that don't have another year. Damani.
That do not absolutely have
another option but to get it done now.
Okay, we gotta win.
We gotta go.
Everybody, we gotta do it for everybody.
And that's what it's all about, right?
That's what it's been about here.
It starts by tomorrow.
We have to win tomorrow.
That's the only game that matters.
[woman] Moriah,
you hang with people that cuss?
[Moriah] Everyone cusses.
- [girl] Everyone cusses.
- [woman] That's sad.
[Moriah] I'm being for real though.
[girl] Everybody in the whole entire world
everybody cusses.
- [woman] No.
- [girl] Mom!
[Moriah] Even the teachers.
[girl] They cussed
when you were in school too.
[woman] Not everybody.
[John] That's true. Yeah, they all cuss.
- Teachers didn't.
- [John] Everybody cusses.
- Well, we didn't say teachers cuss.
- Moriah said that.
[John] I was bad. I used to cuss too.
- Daddy.
- [Moriah] Nah.
[John] I don't cuss no more.
- I used to cuss, real bad.
- [girl] They don't use that
- [John] I felt bad though.
- [Moriah] What was your gang name? Mickey?
[woman] What?
It was Mickey Mouse Mosley.
- [woman and girl laughing]
- [Moriah] Why?
[Moriah] Real wack.
- Yeah, I was You like that?
- [girl] So people called you Mickey?
Or my other nickname, Magic John-John.
[all laugh]
And then, uh, Bridget used to be like,
"More like Tragic John-John."
[snickering]
Knee-slapping.
[cell phone chimes]
[line rings]
[John] Dan, what's up?
Nothing much, man. Just got off of work.
My bad. I was running around, man.
- I know. You're a machine, man.
- [John] Well, I just
What's up with Cerritos? Gonna be close?
[John] It could be, man.
I mean they shoot the ball well.
You feel confident, though?
- [John] I mean, yeah. I mean, I think
- Of course.
[John] We've done as much as we can do.
I just I feel like we're gonna
play well 95% of the time. It's just
Just hopefully that 5% of time
don't show up tomorrow.
All right, Coach.
I just wanted to touch bases with you.
- [John] Yeah, I'll see you, man. And, uh
- Let's do it.
Yeah. Okay. All right. I'll talk with you.
[girl] I love it when you call me ♪
["Shame" plays]
It's playoff time
at East Los Angeles College.
This is the second round of
the Southern California Regional Playoffs
as East LA take on
the Cerritos College Falcons.
Put those stats and accolades
out of the window.
A brand-new season.
It's playoff time for the Huskies.
Still I want to stay ♪
Wrapped in your arms
Is where I wanna be ♪
I wanna be ♪
Wrapped in your arms
That's my high ♪
My high ♪
Shame ♪
You good?
[players chattering]
[Bryan] Aggressive. Aggressive.
Come on.
[John] You ready? Six minutes left.
Biggest thing is everybody's desperate.
They desperate. Don't be cool
when that ball goes in the bucket, man.
Everybody's sprinting back,
getting back in transition, ready to help.
The thing is, everybody has to be ready.
[announcer] Las Vegas, Nevada, number 24
[John] Okay? There's no tomorrow
if you not ready.
Everybody has to be ready.
I don't care who it is.
Everybody has to be ready.
- [player 1] Yeah, Mani.
- [John] We need to end it early.
Okay? They on one leg.
You need to take 'em
to the kennel right now.
And put 'em to sleep.
All right? Put 'em out of they misery.
Let's just send them home
right away, right now.
All this complaining. All this
I'm tired of all of this hate.
Let's just send 'em home
right away, right now.
Everybody. We're going to need everybody.
[spectators cheering]
[Bryan] Let's go, baby.
[tense music plays]
Everybody's going to have
to be committed to playing together.
Playing hard, freaking rebounding
like your life depended on it.
You got five games
to rebound like your life depends on it,
and you gotta do it.
You got five games
to defend like your life depends on it.
[players and cheerleaders cheering]
[John] Everybody here, that's it.
You wanna go somewhere?
You wanna go
where you thought you would never go?
D1 or wherever.
You win these next five games,
and it will happen.
- Here we go. Come on.
- [players cheering]
[John] Here we go.
"Family" on three. One, two, three!
- [players] Family!
- [John] Let's go!
[players woofing]
[Bryan] We're some hard fucking workers.
This motherfucker starts right here.
Five more fucking games.
Foam at the fucking mouth.
- Go fuck these niggas up!
- [player 2] "Family" on three!
- One, two, three!
- [players] Family!
[Dan] So the Huskies come in
with 16 straight wins.
Doesn't matter. It's playoff time.
Round two fight!
- [player 3] Josh!
- [player 4] Come on, Mani!
[player 5] Yeah, Josh!
[Dan] That's a three-pointer.
Cerritos will open up the scoreboard.
- [Ken] Ugh.
- [Rob exclaims]
[player 6] Hey!
[Dan] Whitlock will launch it way off.
[exclaims]
Hey! I need White to turn up.
I need White to turn up out there.
[Dan] 3-0 ball game.
Another opportunity for Cerritos.
[crowd groans]
[Dan] Here's Whitlock
from the wing to the lane.
This time, gets it.
[players chanting] Defense! Defense!
[chanting] Defense! Defense!
[Dan] Barnhill fakes.
Chenault again.
Three-point shot is good.
Hunt backing down his defender.
Fadeaway shot is pure.
[Bryan] Come on, Mani. Come on, Mani.
[Bryan] Board!
Ooh!
- [player 7] Space! Space!
- Come on!
- [player 7] Space!
- Fuck!
- [player 8] Help!
- [Rob] Not the guy we leave!
[Dan] From the corner, that's Shores,
rattles home a three.
[spectator 1] Come on, guys!
They got three offensive rebounds.
We need to make sure
five guys are on the glass, all right?
[Dan] Cerritos on top.
- [Ken] Bryan should be able to dominate.
- [Rob] Oh, he's ready.
[Dan] Cofield will bounce it in
to Penn-Johnson.
Johnson backing down Fields.
Easy layup. Size matters.
[Ken] All we gotta do, Coach.
They can't stop that shit.
[Dan] Penn-Johnson definitely is
gonna be an X factor into the playoffs.
- [Bryan] I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.
- [Dan] Chenault will walk.
[shouts] Let's go!
[Dan] Penn-Johnson
makes his presence felt.
Push! Go! Push!
[Dan] So the Huskies going with size now.
[Rob] I need that rebound!
[Dan] Penn-Johnson, rebound.
- Left side layup, good.
- [spectators cheer]
[inaudible]
Defense!
[Dan] Here's Shores over to Harris.
Fields attacks.
- Left alone and a block by Penn-Johnson!
- [spectators cheer]
[Dan] Penn-Johnson ahead.
- Rich Wilson for three! Good.
- [cheer]
- [Dan] Huskies with a thin lead.
- [Ken] They got it now.
[Dan] Harris.
Shores gets rejected by Langston.
[Rob] Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
They gonna get tired. We ain't.
[Dan] Down low to Langston
to a cutting Cofield!
- [player 9] Yes, Corey!
- [Dan] The connection works.
- [buzzer sounds]
- [Dan] It's halftime.
Huskies lead it 29-23
in this second round
of the SoCal Regional.
[John] We not running intentionally.
Okay? Not on offensive transition,
nor defensive transition with a purpose.
Every time we run,
it's not with a purpose.
We not playing pickup,
where we could just draw back
and chill and say, "Good shot, bro." No.
They gets nothing. Everybody sprint back
with pace and energy.
Then everybody sprint back on offense.
Same thing.
And it'll start to open up.
We'll start to get easy shots.
Continue to guard hard,
and we'll wear 'em down.
All right? We'll wear 'em down.
Here we go. "Finish" on three.
- One, two, three.
- [players] Finish!
[tense music plays]
[Dan] Here we are. Oh, what fun it is
to ride the Huskies' sled.
We'll see if the Huskies
take a trip up north,
but first, here, second-round action.
Talking to Coach Mosley last night,
he said Cerritos has got a shot.
Mentioned Cerritos could
get streaky at times.
Make him go, Dez.
Don't let him run his offense, Dez!
[players chanting] Defense! Defense!
[Dan] Barnhill will launch.
- Forget it.
- [Rob] Ouch.
That's what Cerritos does.
They could get really streaky
from behind the arc.
In their previous meeting,
they made 10 three-pointers.
Jon! What are you doing, Jon?
[announcer] Three-pointer, Juice Belvin!
- [player 10] Help!
- [Rob] Help!
- [spectators groan]
- [whistle blows]
All we giving up is threes, dawg.
- [Dan] Three-point shot, Belvin.
- [Rob] Bad leave. That's a bad leave, Dez.
[Dan] Sanders will lift for three
too short.
[spectators shouting]
[Dan] Washington will launch his own no.
[Rob] That's cool, guys.
Just miss threes, dawg.
- [Dan] Belvin to the corner.
- [player 11 yells]
- [Dan] Gets it.
- [whistle blows]
[Dan] Husky basketball,
and Phillips loses it.
Fuck, Josh.
[Dan] On the sideline
in front of his bench.
Did that shit just happen?
Did that shit right there just happen?
[players chanting] Defense!
[Dan] Kicks it to the corner.
Three whips the net.
Cerritos will not back down.
[Shemar] I'm back to my old ways,
irritated as hell.
No, I know you are. I know you are.
It's all right, though, bro.
You know, 'cause he's gonna play you
in a big-time
[Shemar] No. I don't give a fuck no more
[Damani] Huddle. Huddle.
Hey, Coach wants us to pick it up. Get up.
Get up. Get up.
Turn the pressure on, right now.
Two minutes.
[thrilling music playing]
[Dan] So on the floor for the Huskies,
Hunt, Cofield, Whitlock,
Washington, and Phillips,
who grabs a steal.
Yeah! Let's go!
[John] Huskies first! Set!
[Dan] Down low to Phillips.
Phillips backing down Barnhill.
- Left-hand hook shot.
- [spectators cheer]
[Dan] Every single possession
is priceless from here on out.
- [Rob] Up in him! Up in him!
- [John] Come on! Come on, Damani!
- [Damani grunts]
- [spectators exclaim]
[Dan] Damani Whitlock, all season long,
has been able to take the contact
and sell the charge.
One of the tougher players I've ever seen.
No call there, but Shores,
losing the dribble,
gets it to Chenault.
- Chenault gets ripped.
- [whistle blows]
[Damani] Ah! Let's go!
- [Dan] Good defense by Whitlock.
- [player 12] Yeah!
[Dan] Attacking the lane
gets rejected by Phillips.
Great defense by the Huskies there.
Dez, I need them to feel you!
[Dan] Washington, now bounces it to
a cutting Cofield, double-clutching.
Phillips trying to go back up.
Easy hook shot.
- [announcer] number 35, Josh Phillips!
- Yes, sir, Josh!
[Dan] Up ahead, Washington
[spectators cheer]
brings down the hammer!
[Rob] Hell yeah, Dez.
- [spectators chant] Defense!
- Come on, Dez!
[Dan] The veteran Washington
giving the momentum to the Huskies here.
Great defense by the Huskies here.
- Bounce pass inside.
- [whistle blows]
[Rob] Come on, JT!
- [Dan] Count it.
- [whistle blows]
[Demetrius] Oh, we got bad refs.
[announcer] number 20, Dorian Harris.
[John] Spread. Go.
[Dan] No-look pass to Phillips.
- [Rob]grab the ball, dawg.
- [Dan] Phillips short on that attempt.
[Rob and John] Time-out!
Time-out! Time-out!
[John] Good job.
You good. You good. You good.
[John] The key is to make sure
that we get a stop.
That's the key. Unless it's Listen!
Unless it's a wide-open layup,
let's bring it.
Let's run clock. Spread. I mean
We just got to get it across.
That's the biggest thing,
and game is over. All right?
Let's make sure we finish it strong.
Here we go.
- Ready.
- [spectator 2] Two hands!
- "Finish" on three. One, two, three!
- [players] Finish!
[spectator 2] Two hands!
[Dan] This one, a super tight game.
Inbound. Looking, he'll have to hurry.
A steal by Whitlock!
[Rob] Take it out! Out!
- [Dan] The lob inside, no good!
- [Rob] Come on, Damani.
[tense music plays]
[man] Why are we making this harder
than it gotta be?
Oh my goodness. This is, uh
I'm sweating. I'm sweating and everything.
All right, come on, you guys!
Fuck, I'm glad this shit almost over,
bruh.
[Dan] Thirty seconds to go.
[Rob] We got nothing but time.
- [Dan] Whitlock attacks.
- [Rob] Mani!
[Dan] Can't get that layup.
[Rob] We had all that time
on the shot clock.
We had 15 seconds on the shot clock,
and they weren't fouling.
- [Dan] Coast-to-coast. Gets it.
- [Rob] The hell?
[player 13] They just
let these niggas score?
[Dan] Makes it a 59-55 ball game.
It's a two-possession game.
Take care of the ball.
That's all we gotta do.
[Dan] Cerritos still alive with
their ability to shoot the three ball.
Don't count 'em out.
This is torture.
[Dan] Anxious times, nervous times.
Exciting times.
Take care of the ball!
Take care of the ball!
- [John] Corey, take it out.
- Jalen! Go and catch.
[John] Go get him. Right there.
[Bryan] That nigga
going for the ball again.
- [Dan] Straight to the hands of Chenault.
- What the hell?!
[Dan] Chenault attacks.
Pulled down by Cerritos. Loose ball.
[music intensifies]
- [buzzer sounds]
- [spectators cheer]
[Dan] Huskies escape.
They move on to the next round.
They enter the Sweet 16
with a 59-55 victory
over the Cerritos Falcons.
The Huskies move to 25 and 4.
They're now on a 17-game win streak.
What a game!
The Huskies will advance to the Sweet 16.
If they win
in the next game against West LA,
they move on to the state tournament,
the state championship.
So long till Saturday.
Good night.
We can't. That's too close, bro.
That's too close.
[spectator 3] Oh my goodness.
[Rob] Survive and advance, man.
- [spectator 4] That's what it's all about.
- [Rob] Yeah. Them fools hit 12 threes.
- [spectator 4] Second half?
- [Rob] I'm there, heart pumping.
- [spectator 4] They played hard.
- [Rob] Yeah.
Survive and advance.
- Good luck, bro.
- Love you, bro. Be safe.
I'm just happy we get to keep playing.
- [man] When y'all play next?
- [Shemar] Saturday. I don't know, though.
- [man] Yeah.
- You see how niggas giving me today.
- Yeah.
- Shit, I don't know.
You came here to get something.
You gonna leave without it,
just because somebody's bullshit?
- True. But shit
- You feel me? That's life.
I'm telling you.
It ain't gonna get no easier.
You gotta know how to get
what you need out of it, though.
[Rob] I need to watch this film.
- Hey, bro. I heard they were down 10.
- [Rob] Who?
West LA was?
- [Rob] They went on a run?
- And won by 15.
- Down 10 with 8 minutes to go.
- A run that we kept waiting to happen.
We just waiting
Same thing happened to us, right?
- Yeah, we about to run away with this.
- We about to do a 10, 15-point run.
- We straight. We got up 12, and then
- Something happened.
[Rob] Whop, whop, whop!
[Rob] Yeah, man.
Eff Cerritos.
I'm done with that. We done with that.
- We're done with Cerritos.
- [line ringing]
What's up?
- [woman] Did y'all play wack tonight?
- We played absolutely the worst ever.
- It was awful.
- But you still won?
I feel like we lost.
- Huh?
- I feel like we lost.
- I just feel This feels awful.
- Did you go wild on them?
Nah, I just was like, ain't no
Shoot, it's the end of the year.
Ain't no going wild on nobody. You just
say we played bad, and let's do better.
[somber music plays]
[John] I just want more time
with each and every soul.
I need to go through more with 'em.
Every game you win,
you add two more weeks,
because there's life you speaking into.
There's energy. There's excitement.
There's victory.
So I wanted to keep going for that reason,
for that reason.
The opportunity to continue
to help them grow is what I need.
And the reason why we need to win.
So I can continue to help 'em grow.
[Rob] West LA is a
It's a tough matchup for us.
There's only two teams in the South
that we have struggles matching up with.
That's one of them.
[basketball game plays on computer]
[John] I'm trying to look for, what's a
you know, a crack.
A crack in the armor, man.
What can I find?
[music continues]