Page 167 of The Locker Room
found that hereallyhated the fact that he agreed with the guy. They"d
played like shit, and he"d be damned if he was going to throw this team
on his back and haul them down the court when he was up and running if
they couldn"t at least try to take on some of their own dead weight.
“You got something to add to that, Karcek?” Wilson asked, the
edge of his sarcasm dulled by the weariness in his voice. They"d been
run hard around the court, and Xander knew how that felt.
“Share the ball,” he said quietly. “Let someone else take your shot.
Seriously, Wilson—Burkins, Oswald, Pollack—they were all open
during that last turnover. They would have helped you out. But everyone
expected you to go for the shot and you didn"t disappoint them.”
Burkins snorted. “But it"s not like our percentage is any better!
Jesus, Xander—none of us have your shots. It"s like you and God have
that shooting percentage, you know?”
Xander shrugged. “But part of that is that I don"t take shots I can"t
make—I give them to someone else. And that helps their numbers too.
And, you know. Win/win, right?”
There was a sigh, and a buzz, and Xander looked at all of them.
They were his teammates, and he loved them. Not like Chris, but then,
what was?
“Look, guys—you hear that crowd?” Everyone nodded their heads
yes. “Man, most of those people aren"t rich. They gave up a better car or
better clothes or a home improvement or something to be here. Theylove
us and they gave up something to see us. It"s only fair we give up
something to please them, right? So give up the shot to your teammate. I
mean… we"re thirty points in the hole. Anything"s gotta be better than
that.”
144 Amy Lane
He would have loved to have stalked out of the locker room with
dignity, but he was still on crutches, so he sort of gimped out of there
