by Jim Plautz
The basketball team kept winning, but it was how we won that made the season so much fun. Everyone played at least a quarter and everyone contributed. Rodney was still our leading scorer averaging just shy of 18 points a game, and he did it with fewer shot attempts. His shooting percentage was over 55%% and he doubled his assists. He also played aggressive defense. College scouts that had originally written him off as a ball hog and selfish were giving him a second look. Rodney had become a complete player.
The other starters also picked up their games. Tom was leading the team in rebounding and running the floor better each week. Only a junior, he was already attracting the attention of college scouts. Kevin and Sam averaged over 10 points a game and played great defense. They both had a shot at playing college basketball at small state schools such as Whitewater, Platteville or Oshkosh.
Kevin lost his starting position when Matthew joined the team, but it didn’t seem to bother him. His scoring average had actually increased as Matthew seemed to look for him when he came into the game. Two weeks earlier he hit his first six shots and was the game’s high scorer with 23 points on 8 for 9 shooting and five for five from the charity stripe. Matthew had only nine points that evening, but contributed 14 assists and sixteen rebounds.
Our substitutes were outstanding. Kevin, Andy and Erin were the leaders and took great pride in creating havoc when they came into the game. The second team always pressed full court and disrupted the other team’s rhythm. Their plus-minus scoring ratio was almost as good as the starters and their helter-skelter brand of play made them crowd favorites. They usually only played a little over a quarter, but always gave 100% all-out energy and effort. The 2nd team brought the same level of intensity to practice and usually played the first-team even up. Without Matthew, it would have been a close match-up.
Matthew, well, he did everything. His 15-point scoring average disappointed fans and sports columnists that just read the box scores and didn’t see him play in person. But watching him play games was not enough. You had to watch Matthew practice before you could appreciate his contributions. He could do anything on a basketball court that he wanted to, but instead he chose to make his teammates better. This was evident when I was forced to suspend Matthew for one game for missing two practices.
“Matthew, come over here a minute, we need to talk.” It was ten minutes before practice ended Thursday and the team was shooting free throws. Thursday was always a light practice, especially with games Friday and Saturday. Friday we were playing at Wauwatosa East who was in third place in the conference with an 8-5 record. It was going to be a good test for our kids.
“What is it, Coach?” Matthew asked in a way that made me think he knew what was coming.
I didn’t beat around the bush. “Matthew, you missed two practices this week and I don’t think it’s fair to the other kids if I let you play tomorrow night. I thought of having you sit out for just the first quarter, but I don’t think that sends a strong enough message. I’ve decided to suspend you for the entire game.” I looked up at him to judge his reaction.
“You’re right. If anyone else missed two practices they would expect to be punished. I should be treated the same way.”
“Okay,” I said a little bit relieved in spite of my conviction that this was the right decision. Matthew could have made this an unpleasant situation. “I’ll tell the team in a few minutes. By the way, how did it go yesterday?”
“Coach, it was wonderful. You should have seen the look in their eyes. Half of them were in wheelchairs and most of them will never be able to walk, much less play sports, but they were all competitive. I’m sorry I didn’t get back in time for practice, but I just had to stay and talk to these kids one-on-one. I didn’t get out of there until after seven.” Matthew had flown to Orlando to speak to 500 kids at a national Make-A-Wish Foundation retreat. I found out later that he had shaken hands with every kid and many of the parents and volunteers. Monday he spoke at a Junior Chamber of Commerce convention in Washington. Call me Mr. Grinch.
“Boys, gather around, I have something to say.” It’s funny how kids seem to have a sense when something is wrong. They gathered around me without any of the little jokes and playful comments that I had become accustomed to.
“I’ve suspended Matthew for tomorrow’s game against Tosa East. He missed two practices this week and you boys know the rules.”
There was a moment of stunned silence and then murmurs of dissent. “It’s not fair, Coach,” Erin argued. “Don’t you know where he was?”
“Yes, I know, but I’m coaching a basketball team, not a social service group. Our goal is to win a State Championship and it’s important everyone understands that this requires 100% effort from everyone on the team. We can’t be skipping practice, no matter how good the reason.”
“Yeah, but what’s more important,” Andy asked, “winning basketball games or talking with kids that might have only six months to live?”
“That’s a tough one to answer, Andy. We all know there are more important things than basketball, but that’s not the point.” I hesitated for a moment, not knowing where I was going with this. Matthew came to my rescue.
“I made a decision yesterday that staying with those kids was more important than practicing with the team. I believe it was the right decision, but that doesn’t change the fact that I let you down. I’m proud to be a member of this team and I deserved to be punished. I won’t let it happen again.”
“Okay, Kevin, you’ll be in the starting line-up, but don’t try to do everything yourself. That goes for you too, Rodney. Just play your game. It’s going to take a total team effort to win tomorrow.”
Friday’s game was about to begin and Matthew sat next to me in street clothes. The newspapers had gotten hold of the story and the Wauwatosa players knew beforehand that Matthew wasn’t going to play. Tosa’s warm-ups were spirited in comparison to ours. I still wasn’t sure how our boys would react.
Tosa got the tip and immediately hit a jump shot from the baseline and hit their next five shots to take a 12-0 lead, two of their baskets coming off steals. They had surprised us with a full court press. The entire team looked shell-shocked and I decided to take a big risk. “Second team, let’s turn this around. Let’s take it to them, full court press. Come on Andy, be a leader.”
The rest of the first quarter wasn’t pretty, but it was high energy high school basketball at its best. There were turnovers on both sides and every shot was contested. The substitutes played the rest of the quarter as the starters watched from the bench. The quarter ended with Erin putting in an offensive rebound to close the lead to eight points, 20-12. We had cut into their lead and more importantly, changed the momentum. Our fans gave the team a standing ovation as they came off the floor.
“Great job, boys, take a well-deserved rest. Starters, report back in and keep it going.” I looked at them and saw a more confident look in their eyes.
“Guys, let’s give 100% and show them how we can play,” Rodney implored assuming a leadership role.
Kevin hit a jump shot for the opening basket and Rodney made a steal and lay-up off the inbounds pass cutting the lead to four points. Two minutes later Osteen put in a short hook shot off an offensive rebound to give us a two-point lead. But Wauwatosa East was hot and wouldn’t go away. The lead seesawed back and forth and we were down by two points when Sammy stole the ball with ten seconds remaining on the clock. He drove in from the right side for an attempted lay-up, but at the last second a defender come out of nowhere to deflect the ball off the backboard. It was a great defensive effort and a possible momentum buster. It was then that I heard a scream and saw Osteen leap high from just inside the free throw line, catch the ball with two hands and ram the ball through the basket.
“Arrrrrrrrrrrgh,” he screamed as he grabbed the basket to regain his balance and gently drop to the floor before the surprised refs could find their whistles and call a technical for hanging on the rim.
“Tommmm,”
I screamed as I leapt off the bench along with the rest of our team and the eight hundred Shorewood fans that made the trip. We were still screaming when Kevin stole the inbounds pass from the shocked Tosa team and laid the ball in at the buzzer for a two-point halftime lead.
I tried to calm the players down at halftime and remind them there was still another half to play. It didn’t work and it didn’t matter, the game was over when Tom made that thunderous dunk. We were up by 12 at the end of the third quarter and won by 22. I substituted players freely throughout and every combination seemed to work. My post game speech was short and sweet. “Boys, Tom made the big play, but every one of you deserves a game ball for your effort. It was a great team win.”
Nobody was more proud than Matthew.
There was only one time that I ever questioned Matthew’s judgment, and it was an odd set of circumstances the caused the problem. It was so unlike Matthew.
We had an away game at Greendale High School Saturday evening. Greendale was in second place with a 10-4 record and had soundly trashed us by 30 points earlier in the year. That was, of course, BM-time; before Matthew. Looking back I think it started Wednesday when an article appeared in the morning newspaper quoting the Greendale coach as saying that they were not planning anything special to stop Matthew. “Why should I set up a defense to stop someone that is averaging 15 points a game? I haven’t seen him play yet, but he can’t be that good. Sometimes kids get over-hyped around here.”
The boys got a kick out of the article and ribbed Matthew unmercifully at practice. “Let him shoot,” Andy yelled, “he’s only averaging 15 a game.” They jeered when Matthew missed a wide open 18 footer that he normally buried. I let the ribbing go because Matthew was smiling and seemed to be taking it in stride, and I wasn’t sure that he didn’t miss the shot intentionally.
The Greendale players added more fuel to the fire. A follow-up article quoted the team captain as saying they would hold Matthew to under 10 points and they would beat us by 30 again. A reporter showed up at practice Thursday and asked Matthew to comment on the stories. Matthew deflected his questions and referred the reporter to me.
“How many points will you score?” the reporter hounded him.
Matthew finally turned and responded. “Basketball is a team game. I just want to score whatever is needed to win the game.”
The next morning the following quote appeared; “Wilson assures victory!” It went on to imply that Matthew claimed that he would score as much as he wanted. It was bad reporting, but not the first time an athlete was misquoted. Again, Matthew just laughed it off and said it was his fault for saying anything to the reporter. “I should have just walked away,” he said wisely. It seemed to bother the rest of the team and they started conspiring among themselves to get the ball to Matthew.
The Greendale gymnasium was packed and hundreds of our fans were turned away as tickets were gone two hours before game time. Greendale had pre-sold tickets in advance and there were only 50 or so tickets available to our students. Four people that did get in were LA Lakers’ players Kobe Bryant, Shaq O’Neal and two teammates. They were in town for a Sunday game with the Milwaukee Bucks and decided to see their old one-on-one opponent. It was a surprise for Matthew and could not have come at a worse time for the Greendale team.
The final straw came during warm-ups. The home crowd was jeering and hooting every time Matthew took a shot and roared in delight when he missed. The culminating scene when a Greendale player retrieved a loose ball that rolled behind Matthew and accidentally tripped him when Matthew stepped back just as the boy reached down to pick up the ball. Matthew stumbled and fell back awkwardly over the boy and landed flat on his back. I saw it happen and feared that Matthew might have cracked the back of his head on the hard floor or twisted an ankle. The crowd roared in delight as Matthew lay on the floor before rolling on his side and slowly getting to his feet. It was then that Matthew first noticed Kobe and Shaq seated behind our bench. Matthew nodded as the crowd continued jeering and hooting. “He will be lucky to score 10 points,” someone yelled over the bedlam.
“Just play your game,” I instructed the kids when we huddled before the tipoff. “Don’t let the crowd get to you.” I could tell my words fell on deaf ears.
I knew Greendale was in trouble when Matthew said, “Get me the ball.” His teammates nodded in unison.
Tom Osteen won the tip and got the ball to Rodney who fed Matthew for a thundering reverse dunk that rattled the rim. Matthew didn’t normally dunk the ball, preferring to lay it gently over the rim the rim so as not to embarrass his opponents. Tonight he played by a different set of rules.
Matthew continued with two, 30 foot three-pointers, a lefty hook shot and another dunk off a clean steal. Greendale had yet to get the ball across half court as our defense was tenacious. It was 18-0 before Greendale was fouled in the act of shooting and went to the free throw line. Matthew had one of our two inside positions and watched as the first shot came up short. The second free throw looked good as it came off the shooter’s hand, but it never made it to the basket. Matthew went over the rim and angrily swatted the ball into the seats. The message was clear. You can’t score on us.
Goal tending was called on Matthew and the score was 18-1, but that would be Greendale’s only point of the quarter. The eight minute quarter ended with the score 36-1. Matthew had 32 points.
I tried to substitute, but Matthew didn’t want to come out. “One more quarter, Coach.” I switched the other four players but without any appreciable effect. Greendale started to get a few baskets, but Matthew’s barrage continued. Long NBA range three-point jumps shots poured through the basket. Tremendous dunks threatened to tear down the backboard. Matthew was just as tenacious on defense and had at least 10 steals. The crowd was in a stunned silence when the halftime buzzer sounded. The scoreboard read 71-12. Matthew had 64 points. The conference scoring record was 63, for an entire game.
I was embarrassed as I walked to the locker room, knowing that I should have done something. I should have pulled Matthew after the first quarter although I know it would have destroyed the team. Matthew had been supporting them the entire year without asking anything for himself. He had finally asked that they “get him the ball” and nothing or nobody, including their coach was going to stop them from supporting him.
The kids were sitting silently when I walked into the locker room. Principal Hawkins had stopped me and asked that I do something to stop this embarrassing slaughter. “I’ll try,” I said.
I didn’t have to try. Matthew had already decided that enough was enough. “Coach, I’m sorry, but I had to get that out of my system. I lost my temper.”
“They deserved it, Matthew,” several boys chimed in. “Let’s go for 100,” Erin said.
“No, I’m going to put an end to this right now. Coach, let me suggest something.” We huddled in the corner while he told me his idea. I approved.
Matthew and I approached the Greendale coach and players and I presented Matthew’s plan. They agreed and the Greendale coach announced the idea to the crowd. “Many of us have acted poorly over the last few days and we would like to put that behind us and get off to a fresh start. Matthew Wilson has suggested that we wipe out the score from the first half and pretend it never happened. The score will be reset to zero-zero. The winner of the second half wins the game.” He then proceeded to shake my hand and Matthews. Players from both sides shook hands and exchanged pats on the back. The crowd reacted slowly while trying to understand the import of their coach’s words. When they did the crowd came to their feet and gave the coaches and players a standing ovation.
We won the second half, 41-26 after leading by nine at the end of the third quarter. Matthew was held to seven points, but received a two-minute standing ovation from the crowd and opposing players when I took him out with a three minutes remaining. Matthew had dominated the second half just like he did the first half; he just didn’t score as much.
“L
ooking pretty good out there,” Kobe said after the game. “I liked a couple of those reverse dunks.”
“You better come with a little more than that sissy shit if you want to dunk on me,” Shaq said with a straight face. Matthew never could beat Shaq one-on-one.
We finished the season with 9-7 and entered the year-end State Boys Basketball Championship with confidence and an eight game winning streak.
Chapter 14 - The Magician
