02x04 - Game Hunters

[bunniefuu]

Last Saturday,

Huskies went down

in heartbreak fashion to Riverside,

and, frankly, I never saw

Coach John Mosley react the way he did.

Frustration, disappointment,

all rolled into one and then some.

A four-and-seven Golden West College

Rustler squad in search of an upset.

East LA falling in the coaches' poll.

East LA falling another five slots

from their number 11 spot to number 16,

and here they are, struggling against GWC.

You would expect East LA would be

way ahead on this one.

Halftime.

East Los Angeles in a tight one.

33 to 32 lead for East Los Angeles.

It's a lot closer

than what we would think.

f*ck out of here.

- It's f*cking stupid.

- Taken out for a turnover.

Put me back in this game.

Always giving me,

like, bullshit calls.

Oh God, you don't get the bullshit.

- I have four good players here.

- f*ck it.

How the f*ck

do you miss that layup?

I'm playing hard,

and I can't get a rebound?

He finna come in here

on that bullshit.

You know how he's gonna come in.

It's okay!

It's not okay.

What you mean? How is it okay?

Y'all take that sh*t to heart.

Everyone shut the f*ck up.

Everyone shut up, bro. Shut up.

- Everyone be quiet, man.

- Oh, relax.

All that rah-rah sh*t

at halftime, but not in the game.

Don't do that sh*t in the game.

- Can we wait till he gets here?

- Quiet. Everyone, be quiet.

Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet. Quiet.

Thank you.

There's nothing to say.

Ain't nothing to say.

The hell is it to say?

Ain't nothing to say.

We're not clicking as a basketball team.

The identity of East LA College,

my identity, isn't showing up.

So we're sputtering along here.

Still haven't figured out

the right lineups or anything.

Some guys aren't what

I thought they were as players.

Bring it in.

Just play better.

- "Finish" on three. One, two, three!

- Finish!

GWC, the Rustlers,

come into this unranked.

Two-hand jam on the right side.

Turnover.

We had it!

Coach Mosley takes a seat

in disappointment.

Rustlers looking for the upset.

f*ck!

Bro, I don't

I'm done with this sh*t, bro.

I'm an awful coach.

I'm an awful coach, dawg.

I'm awful, bro.

I'm an awful coach. If I can't

If you don't have an urgency right now,

I'm awful, bro.

I'm doing an awful job.

I'm bad. I'm so bad.

I gotta figure out what our group is,

quick,

and that means some guys

that I expected to do well,

they may not get an opportunity.

I'm torn with it,

but that's just how it's going to be.

I mean, I feel for every guy,

and I want everybody to be successful,

but it's just not possible. Not possible.

I'm tired of fake.

I could care less

what it's supposed to look like.

What your lineup is supposed to look like.

It's time to stop being fake.

Sometimes you try to put together

a team that looks great on paper,

and you just got to put together

a team that's in my heart.

A lot of talk going on.

A lot of fake going on.

I just need to find a real

find some dogs.

And if we can't make a basket,

we can't run a play,

I at least want dogs out there

who's gonna compete and be desperate.

That's what we gotta find.

Damani.

Get Justin.

Corey. Corey.

DC.

Sub.

Josh.

Joshua Phillips checks in

for East LA.

The task for Coach John Mosley is

to keep this team motivated.

One way is rewarding and demoting players,

so he'll make the adjustments as they go.

Go, right now.

Good defense by the Huskies.

Good job, Corey!

Second options. Second option!

Calip spins.

Drives off-balance!

Gets it!

That's it, boy!

Yeah, DC!

Briseno drives, kicks out.

Josh! Josh!

Poor pass now by GWC

into the hands of Phillips.

Whitlock brings it up left to right.

Attacking left side.

Hands off to Phillips who slams it down,

the two-hand jam.

Josh, up!

- Yeah, Josh!

- Good block, Josh!

Go, Josh!

Josh!

Low post to Phillips.

Phillips backing down his defender.

Goes up! And one!

Yeah, Josh! I love it!

I love it!

Coming-out game, Josh.

- Look up! Go!

- Look at DC! Look up!

He's running!

Baseline.

Backdoor, open.

Oh my God, Damani! What a pass!

Good job, DC. Good job.

We'll figure it out.

We'll figure it out.

I still got sleepless nights,

pondering how long we go

before we just say,

"Let's put the dogs out."

It's time to get desperate.

There's a method to the madness ♪

Yeah, DC!

A steal at midcourt.

That's Calip.

- Run!

- Yeah, DC! Yeah, DC!

There's a method to the madness ♪

It's the truth ♪

And this one is a final.

East Los Angeles comes up with

victory number ten of the season.

They go to 10 and 4

as they beat Golden West,

and hopefully East Los Angeles could

remain undefeated the rest of the way.

Man, that sh*t ugly. Oh my goodness.

We'll take it. Taking all wins.

There's a method to the madness ♪

I keep tryin' to tell you ♪

It's the truth

It's the truth ♪

Whoa, undisputed ♪

- There's a method to the madness ♪

- There's a method to the madness ♪

It's the truth

It's the truth ♪

There's a method to the madness ♪

He definitely gonna text us at midnight

one night talking about practice now.

- Hell no.

- I'll quit.

What if he's like, "We're going

to get an extra one in tonight"?

- Get an extra one in tonight.

- That might be my white flag, bro.

I'm holding my sh*t up like this.

"Hey!"

- I can't.

- Are you making me better?

You're not making me

Are you making me better,

Mr. Mosley?

I still that day we had to do

that practice after the game, bro,

I thought he was lying.

I was really finna quit that day.

Like, this n*gga didn't put me in,

and we on the track

after a game I just didn't play in?

- I'll be damned.

- Hell no, n*gga! What the f*ck?!

- I was like

- Hey, every Bro, I was

Y'all remember that sh*t, n*gga?

I was out that b*tch for real.

Everyone was making me mad.

I was like everybody, n*gga.

We thought he was lying.

We were like, "ha-ha."

- He was like, "ha-ha."

- "Track."

Like, "I'm for real." Remember that?

- I didn't think it was serious, bro.

- This n*gga's wicked.

That sh*t was wicked for real.

"Are you real?"

When he hit me with that one,

I said, "All right, bro."

"All right, bro."

- Are you real?

- "I see what's going on."

You got it on fake?

"I'm so tired right now,

I'll be whatever you need me to be."

"If that means we get to go home,

I'll be whatever you need me to be."

'Cause that n*gga be ODing.

Okay. Which child development teacher

is that?

- Sorian

- What's the name?

Okay, "Guthrie, Gleason."

What about this teacher?

Gleason. Did she reach back out?

- None of them did besides, like

- Okay.

- Email her and say

- I emailed all of them.

Email her and say, "I'm trying to graduate

in the spring. I need 101 for the 102."

No, I wanna I wanna

That's why I need

to get to the league, Coach.

- They're giving Kelly Oubre 14 mil a year.

- Okay, okay.

There's so much money,

they're just throwing around.

Okay, let's just get through ELAC first.

You talking about league, man.

Come on, bro.

Okay, so, if I can kind of like

If I can squint my eyes,

like, if I can squint,

and even kinda, kinda see you in the NBA.

Like, squinting, kind of see you.

Then it's it's

it's a backup point guard.

Don't even go Ja Morant stuff right now.

Just be quiet, all right?

Squint my eyes,

and I see DC a little bit in the NBA.

It's a backup point guard position

who can go 3-and-D.

All the other stuff,

your little crazy stuff you do,

that's who you are.

I'm telling you you talking about league,

if I can squint and see you in the league,

that's what role

I see you in the league in.

All right? Let's not take it no further

than that. That's all I'm giving you.

- I can only take it further.

- Dude, shut up.

- You gotta dream big.

- Shut up. I'm done, dawg.

- I can't dream low.

- I'm done. I can't listen to this dude.

- Never mind, DC, I'll see you tomorrow.

- I'll see you, Coach.

I need a better pass, Dez.

That looks like a turnover to me.

I want a pass

that does not look like a turnover.

Guard up top. You can pass it either way.

You can pass it right away

or pass to the corner.

Good.

Pass it right away or to the corner.

All right, now let's switch sides.

Let's go. Backdoor. Here we go.

See, what I wanted to do

was I wanted to win Riverside and Citrus,

and then I can be a jerk.

- I could be like, "Nope, you out."

- 'Cause you know how to win.

Yeah. 'Cause you know how to win.

We don't know how to win yet.

- But I can sub those dudes and be like

- All right.

"You didn't rebound? You out.

You didn't do this? You out."

- You gotta win every game now.

- Every single game well.

We gotta figure out a way

to keep these size on the court.

- I agree.

- That's a part of our identity.

- We got to use it. It's just us.

- Yeah.

We gotta get better at being big.

I mean, that's our advantage.

So this year more than any, like,

we've had to adjust and move.

Shemar was one of the first guys

off the bench in the first games,

and now he doesn't even play.

We have guys

who didn't make it to November 1st.

We had guys

who didn't make it to Thanksgiving.

There's only 5 guys and 40 minutes,

and the dudes that are playing,

they're doing what they're supposed to do.

Run back! Come on! No!

On the line, on the line!

That should not happen.

Boy, you should have

wiped that on the glass!

- f*ck!

- C'mon, man.

Go down and Husky, dude.

You be tired quick, dawg.

Way too tired. You don't want to run.

Don't get mad 'cause we running.

You out of shape.

How you gonna play 40 minutes?

I'm not looking for

the best roster on paper,

not for the team that looks good

walking through the airport.

I'm looking for the guys

that's gonna look like ELAC.

That's unacceptable. Am I wrong?

That play should've been stopped.

Am I wrong?

We in transition D.

That should've been stopped.

You know what?

Let me go back to my roots.

Let me go back to what made me successful.

- Here we go. Ready.

- Why Corey go twice?

- Because Shemar was trippin'.

- He get his reps.

That's why he start.

One of the best offensive rebounders.

That's why he start.

All right, here we go.

There's a ELAC force

that has helped us

be successful over the years.

That's how we built

our success here at ELAC.

Not with a great player, not with

the number-one player in the state.

I remember that.

We didn't have start out with

high-level, Division I players,

but we won, and we built the success

of this program off this force

of competitiveness.

Ready?

You had your face turned all twisted

when I was saying why Corey was starting.

- I said he's starting for this reason.

- You was like "Whatever."

That's why you don't start.

You should've been right there.

Ready. All in.

I gotta always go back to the culture

that turned this program around.

This force that just hates.

You don't want to play against us.

You it hurts to play against us.

And that's that's what I'm looking for.

Watch out! Hell Watch out!

Hell yeah, Josh! Hell yeah!

This is all Josh right here.

I just see all underdog.

m*therf*cker! Come on, bro!

All fight, all grit, all grime.

- Hell no!

- f*ck that, n*gga!

Corey, good job getting back.

Corey.

Mani.

Josh.

I don't know if we gonna make a bucket,

but that's more of me, and I can coach me.

Don't let him

throw you off-balance, Bryan.

Yes!

Don't let him

throw you off-balance. That's good.

Don't let him throw you off-balance.

Out of all my years,

this may have been the team

that it took me the longest to learn.

And some of the guys

are starting to buy in.

All you think about's scoring now.

We put the right guys out there

as the example.

They're learning each other.

They're liking each other.

They know what each other can do.

You made him feel it. Good job.

Josh is the biggest difference maker

we have right now at the forward position.

I can't be

f*cking with this n*gga.

- Who?

- This n*gga.

I can't be f*cking with this n*gga.

I'm about to get you out this drill

before you hurt somebody.

He's like a accidental

force of nature.

He's gonna seal hard. He's gonna bump you

with his body and his butt,

and you might feel it a little bit.

Josh decided that nobody's going

to drive anymore on him,

or you're going to feel

an immense amount of pain.

The guards are backing up

because they literally scared of him.

Oh sh*t! Oh sh*t!

Just going at him every day,

and him going at me every day,

has kinda been our way

of making sure we stay sharp

for what we're really supposed to be.

Dude's athletic.

He can finish. He can defend.

Get there, Josh! Get there!

It's like everyone's

on their toes now,

which is how

it should've been from the jump.

Not bad. We got back.

Come on, we got back.

When Josh arrived,

I looked at him playing,

and he's athletic, he's big.

- Get this sh*t out of here.

- It's right here.

Why would he not be successful

at a Division I school,

at the level he was at?

But as you begin to coach him,

there were some reactions to adversity,

some reactions to coaching

that I'd had no idea,

and I was completely shocked.

And I was like

"Where is this coming from?"

Get low, pound it, pound it.

No, that's not it. That's not it.

Do it light, so you don't turn it over.

You need to get it. He on one.

- He on one.

- Don't give me then.

You know

Hey! It don't make sense

to have attitude

when we trying to get you better,

trying to make you better

so you don't make the same mistakes.

It just don't make sense.

You acting like a boy.

Hey, anybody got something to say to me,

say it with your mouth, not your body.

I don't want to see

nobody's bad body language.

You wanna say something,

say it to my face. Say my name about it.

I should have quit.

You talking about my look on my face?

I'm stretching, doing everything

we're supposed to do.

There you go.

There you go.

Right there.

What in the world is going on?

Couldn't figure it out.

I was like, "What's wrong with this kid?"

That's something I'd never experienced,

and I remember chatting

with a recruiter that said,

"Hey, I recruited Josh before."

"How is he doing?"

I said, "Oh, he's doing well."

"He has his days."

He said, "How's his autism?"

And I pretended as if I knew.

I didn't know.

If I tell,

they'll look at me differently.

I've only told

a few close people around me,

and they support me

to be more open about it,

but I think it is something if I

will get looked at differently.

'Cause in my life, I've never been

looked at positively for having autism.

It's always been a bad

or a hindrance, or an extra obstacle.

That's something I see on the court

as well, having to slow myself down.

That's why games are

a lot easier than practices.

- Get off!

- f*ck it!

Especially with Mosley, because he be

stopping every five minutes

to talk about something

or have a conversation.

Which I just I just want to play.

You said Josh is here?

- That's what he told me.

- Does he know we in the

Ah, brah.

You know. Hey, I think this right here

is too much for his senses.

This whole thing is a little much.

There's been a couple times

where he couldn't come in here.

There's been a couple times

that's happened.

The sensory overload.

Talking or yelling or doing this,

and really being around people.

I kind of shut down

and couldn't listen or think.

I just didn't know how to

go into a large social place

and really function well.

There's a lot of kids that are different.

There's a lot of kids with issues.

And I almost was

upset with him and angry and

didn't like him because

of his reactions and his responses.

And I'm embarrassed to say that

I didn't know.

I was treating him a certain way

and didn't realize.

This is why it's important, man,

to know to know the story.

Sometimes we judge these kids, man.

We say this and that about them,

when we don't know, man.

You gotta live out these burdens.

All of a sudden, it was clear as day.

It made all the sense in the world.

I started coaching him different.

Take your time, Josh. Take your time.

Wall up, JT. No foul.

You gotta be here.

What's crazy is,

when you get to the next level,

you're gonna be able to go like this.

- It's like, but it's so

- Yeah.

Dudes are so little at this level

that you're gonna have to get here.

Exactly what y'all told me.

You went here and he got in. He was going.

- With the one.

- Boom.

Don't sweat it. You got a lot.

Once he finds something and he enjoys it,

then he's great at it.

If he doesn't enjoy it,

then there's anxiety.

His frustrations that

go up and down at a high level,

but once he enjoys it

and he's having success,

then he's better at it than anybody else.

In basketball, I don't

have to communicate with people much.

I'm on the court,

being good at basketball.

Just doing things everyone thought

I would never be able to.

I just gotta kinda clear my head,

not worry about

how I got to talk to this person,

how I got to act

'cause I'm just on the court, hooping.

Are we still playing tomorrow,

Coach Rob?

- What up, homie?

- Are we still playing tomorrow?

Oh sh**t. I don't

I ain't I don't know fully that.

That I don't know. Mo will tell y'all

today at practice what's going on.

- Oh. Our game got postponed.

- Our game is postponed.

Yeah, I just saw that, actually.

Does that mean we're still testing?

Yeah, for sure. We're about to go

here in the next 5 to 10 minutes.

- Left side.

- I'm shaking, man.

There you go, you're all set.

You're free to go.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Good, bruh.

- That sh*t be making my eyes water.

DC, gotta put your mask on.

Tyrelle.

Tyrelle, mask up, my brother.

Mask up, my brother.

Jon, where your mask at, dawg?

I be scared

my nose finna start bleeding.

Go get BP getting his.

- That's how far they be going.

- You all right?

- I hate that.

- I know it be hella snot.

n*gg*s be weird.

I know they got so much boogers, bro.

This is a frustrating time.

For us to even be thought of

of being shut down again is frustrating.

You don't know who you're gonna play,

if the team you're playing against

is gonna cancel,

so you prepare a certain way

based on normalcy,

and then it changes,

and it's very frustrating.

You're trying to hold it all together

for these guys,

to act like you have it all under control,

and you don't.

You don't.

Down reaction.

Pace has gotta be better.

It's just basketball.

It could be canceled tomorrow.

It could be canceled tomorrow.

We keep forgetting.

It can be canceled tomorrow.

Who's up? Who's up? Who's up? Who's up?

We taking it for granted.

It can be canceled tomorrow.

With increased spread

of the highly contagious Omicron variant,

hospitalization rates have

hit record highs.

The numbers are soaring.

LA County Public Health reported

23,000 new cases Saturday alone.

While that's higher than anything we saw

It's a lot

getting shut down right now.

And I feel for everybody, man.

A lot of these guys invested so much

since 8, 9, 10 years old in basketball,

and this is

the most important time for them.

This is their opportunity.

This is their vehicle.

This is their This is their stock.

This is what their gamble was.

They gambled on this.

This COVID thing is really

making everything last minute.

We don't know when we're gonna have

a game or where it's gonna be,

but I knew COVID wasn't over.

- Not gonna be for a while.

- Thought it was gonna be better.

I ain't think we was gonna get shut down

and stuff like that.

That's, like, our opportunity

to get exposure. Like, we at a JUCO.

You know what I mean? So it's like

- Don't say it twice.

- Games is kind of the most

The game is kinda

the most important thing.

So when we don't have one,

it's kind of like, "Damn."

"That's just one less opportunity

I got now."

This is a way to help people.

Basketball is the carrot to bring them in,

to teach them the life lessons

with the carrot of basketball,

and if that carrot isn't there,

then we'll lose 'em.

There's no way I can hold them together

if they don't have basketball.

Scoot down.

Start back here.

Greens on the line. Five in a minute.

Everybody's gotta make it.

Stand up, baby.

I know you're not tired.

If you tired, then we in trouble.

If you tired, then that scares me.

Huddle up.

Listen, the thing is, yeah, man,

that make me nervous

if dudes is huffing and puffing.

We went an hour and a half,

and dudes is like

That make me straight nervous.

Everybody here should be able

to have a moment.

In a game, somebody's gonna

have to play 35 minutes,

because they playing well,

and they the right matchup.

And you can't be gassed, Shemar,

after four possessions.

You run down I can tell when you gassed,

'cause your arms start shriveling

into your body.

You start turning like this,

and I can tell when you gassed, dawg.

You gotta be ready to go.

Get out of here!

Y'all all grown up in here.

And the guy that's

you know, every time, he dipping out,

getting water, when there's a hard drill,

when it's that I'm hoping, that guy,

we don't have to rely on

when it's nut-crunching time.

It's one minute left in the game.

I hope I'm not relying on that junk!

You ain't came in with

the intentions to take over.

Like, "Bro, I'm competing today."

And staking your claim. "I'm who I am.

I'm John Mosley. I'm right here."

I'm talking about,

when they leave the gym, they fear you.

They freaking fear you.

They look,

and they fear you when they leave the gym.

They don't want to see you.

I think they fear Josh.

They be like, "That big light-skinned mug

look like he a nice dude,

but that dude be

knocking dudes in the pads."

They need to fear you.

I think they fear Corey and Damani.

I know they fear.

When they step off the court,

and you gotta make 'em know,

"Bro, when I'm on the court,

you're gonna feel me,

and I'mma be in your soul,

and I'mma rip your soul out."

"Your soul is coming out."

"I'm gonna make you

turn into a"

They not in here.

- You built that, Damani?

- Mm-hmm.

That's where they were, but I didn't like

how cold it was over the wintertime,

so I ended up bringing them inside.

- Want to see the reptiles?

- Why not?

- She's getting bigger.

- Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I grabbed her literally

when she was about from,

like, here to about here.

She wasn't that big,

basically a hatchling.

And I just been raising her ever since.

I guess you could say

she's one of my stress relievers.

I mean, I come in here, it's just

I don't know what it is.

When I'm holding her, laying in the bed,

and just letting her do what she does.

I mean

Takes a lot off my head,

lets me relax, do what I gotta do

before I need to either attack the day

or just go to sleep.

I like, you know, landscaping

and all that, kinda like

doing all that type of stuff.

The building.

I mean, my degree is gonna be

in civil engineering,

so I like to build stuff.

The best thing about Damani is

he doesn't have a bad day.

Damani doesn't He's like a grown-up.

You know? Like, I can't have a bad day.

I can have

a horrible day walking into this place,

but I can't have a bad day once I walk in,

because it affects the kids, the team.

Damani's special

'cause he's figured that out already.

I didn't have that figured out

when I was 21, 22. Heck no.

I want to win,

so when I get in modes like that,

all I'm thinking about is winning.

You step on the court, time to win.

He's coming from

a Division II program,

and things didn't work out,

but Damani has always been

the one to set the standard,

and I knew I had that.

I was nervous, man. He came up breathing

kind of weird our first day in practice.

I didn't think Damani would play,

and I thought we would lose

that piece that we had.

I had no clue whether that was gonna be

my last time playing or not,

so once I got the clear

to be able to get back on the court,

I just haven't looked back.

I don't really care at this point.

I just I want to play.

We put him in the game, and then

there was this feel that just happened.

It felt like what I'm looking for.

He could be

the most important person,

and he is at the bottom of the stats

in everything.

He'll have a possession

where he's defending,

and you're like, "Oh my God."

Like, it's crazy.

Like, I'm scared for the dude

who has the ball in his hands.

Well, I think it's because I can't be

that beast like that in person,

so I just go do it on the court

where I can just let it out.

Frustrations, emotions, life.

You're gonna see my face guarding you

on the perimeter,

and you're gonna see

my face taking a charge under the basket.

Like, you're just never gonna get

my face out your picture.

Now with no tooth,

that's easier to keep in your mind.

Tell me the story

of how Damani lost his tooth.

Jeez. We're at a game this summer

and I'm sitting with Division I coaches.

Damani is out there,

and Damani's playing hard.

He's blocking dunks. He's taking charges.

He's all over the court.

Then this coach next to me, and he goes,

"Well, I don't know about your big guys,

but this dude right here is changing

everything that's going on out there."

And I'm kidding you not,

within seconds of us talking

about him like that,

this dude comes through and hits Damani

with the most wicked elbow in his mouth.

Like, you can hear it,

and you heard something crack.

Like, you heard it.

And it like, "Crack, crack, crack."

And so, Damani hits the ground,

the ball goes the other way,

and Damani gets up,

like he's looking around,

and we're like, "What's he doing?"

And he goes over,

and he picks up his tooth.

His tooth was knocked out.

He puts it in his pocket,

in his shorts,

and right when he does that,

the ball's coming back down,

and he sits down and starts defending

like crazy, just like that.

And I was like,

"Man, that kid's tough, yo."

Tha

Damani's different, man.

That's a tough kid.

What'd you do on

your last two assignments? 13 and 10?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you gotta get

We need 70% in that on these two

to get to 70% for the class.

So we need 7 out of 10,

and then we need 14 out of 10.

What about the satellite

that takes pictures of the world?

Is that fake?

Yes. It's computer-generated.

These n*gg*s really think

the world is flat, bro.

I cannot believe that sh*t.

- World is flat.

- It's hollow.

Oh my God, bro. What is up with n*gg*s?

- Am I really trippin'?

- You wanna look up the research, bro?

- Bro

- I'm telling you, it's hollow.

The sun and the moon, it's in a dome!

It's in it.

- Oh my God.

- So everything's inside the dome?

Why do you think

Listen! Listen, listen.

Hey, n*gga's are trippin', bro.

I'm sorry. Y'all are trippin', bro.

You wanna know

why they made Trump look so crazy?

- Why?

- This is what Trump talked about.

Trump talked about giving $100 trillion

to the Black community.

- Thought it was 100 mil.

- Past eight years.

Then he said he was gonna give us

100 mil over the past year

to build our communities back up.

Reparations!

Soon as he did that,

"No, you gotta go!"

Impeach!

Everybody hated Trump,

and they voted the dumbass Biden in.

- You see what he doing.

- He ain't give us nothing.

He gave us one stimulus package.

sh*t! A two thousand

A twenty-five hundred stimulus.

- That's 'cause of inflation?

- Listen.

- No. Now the economy is

- That's inflation, right?

No, I'm saying

- Inflation happened when he got in office.

- The Black Trump?

- The inflation's been happening.

- He talking about Black Trump?

Black Trump?

All I'm saying

A couple nights a week,

especially when I ask for a grade check,

they'll come by,

but it's hard to get anything done,

because they come in, like, so amped up,

maybe 'cause there's food there.

And because basketball's on as well, but

As you can see, this is

a lively group with some characters.

The things they talk about

and the way they talk about 'em,

my ears hurt.

Like I just said, I felt like

I've just lost two years off my life

just listening to, like,

two of 'em argue conspiracy theories.

I had COVID! I had that sh*t!

I left the crib at 8:00 this morning.

I probably got here around 9:00,

took me about 30 minutes to get in.

And, uh I guess it's about 7:00.

My boy just told me it's an hour and 5

or an hour and 15 minutes to go home, so

My wife been hooking me up. Whenever

I get home, there's been food every night.

And that's Yeah, you can't beat that.

Ain't nothing worse than coming home,

and everybody's asleep,

or everybody's upstairs,

and nobody cares about you,

and there's nothing to eat.

So then I'm eating peanuts

and Pringles and a dark beer,

and that's dinner.

So, um, it's a 10-to-12-hour day.

When I met Rob, it was a perfect fit.

We're like-minded.

He's got the same spirit.

"Get out there and be a man,

and do what you need to do."

"Let's get it done."

It'll be a little hectic,

be a little loud.

I'm always gonna be in a different place.

Could be in my car, most mornings.

I'm a teacher and counselor

at Method Charter Schools in LA.

Where you stay at, Mason?

It's online, so I have a job

where I can drive to East LA every day,

and I can go to my basketball office,

and I can work from there.

I set up the gym.

Music and lights.

I put up the jerseys.

I did my Zoom meetings.

Any of you guys, any questions?

That's it.

Practice

those couple hours.

Open up.

Weights.

Then checking on the kids' grades.

It's not fair.

Rob is way too good to be here.

It's not fair for him to be here.

I mean, he's sacrificing so much.

I will feel selfish

if he came back another year.

You know. And I think

he'll have some opportunities.

I'm grateful to be here at ELAC.

It's an incredible opportunity.

I'm having the time of my life.

And, realistically, I'm not gonna be here

very much longer.

The way I can give back is

to help him put something on the wall

that he'll remember forever,

so that motivates me as well.

All right, they cancel us?

- A lot going on right now.

- Good or bad?

Well, it matters what your perspective is.

- Okay.

- You know what I'm saying?

Thursday, we caught wind

that Southwest might not be able to play.

The thought of these dudes losing games

doesn't sit well with me at all.

You only get so many games in your life,

and it's a tragedy

if they cancel games on you,

and you don't ever get those back, so

I'mma grind to get these kids

every single game they can get.

We like the what do you call it?

What's the channel, Coach?

We need the Weather Channel.

We the storm hunter. We the game hunters.

- Heck yeah, we were looking for it.

- We out here hunting games, man.

- Yeah. A good one.

- Now I'm stressed.

Our quality of wins aren't good.

- We have one

- About to get some more, though.

So, we just hunting.

- We game hunters.

- Mm-hmm.

Let's call them up, and let's drive.

- And go get games.

- Get it going.

So, if we compare ourselves

when we go to seeding,

uh, we have a playoff criteria.

And they gonna say,

"You guys don't have any quality wins."

"Yeah, your record is great,

but you don't have any quality wins."

"You lost to San Bern, you lost to Citrus,

you lost to Riverside."

"Those are good quality wins,

and you lost to San Francisco."

If you play a team that's below .500,

it doesn't help you.

- Yeah.

- It just kinda keeps you there.

I think we We gonna be aight.

Every single game

from here on out is a must-win,

because if you manage to pick up

a loss from here on out,

East Los Angeles might not

get into the playoffs.

I spent two hours calling

everybody in the state of California,

trying to find a game.

And, uh, I started at the top,

so I went to the rankings,

and I just started calling top-10 teams.

One of my friends who coaches up north

said West Valley was looking for a game,

so I called West Valley,

and they jumped at the chance, thankfully.

I was talking with somebody

at the front that you had some rooms,

but was trying to see if we can

get something worked out here.

We're planning on coming up tonight.

Mm-hmm.

We're talking about grown men.

This is a basketball team.

Does it help that I'm a Hilton member

or something like that? I hope so.

West Valley from Northern California,

their whole conference kind of shut down.

They were looking for a game.

We called them and they said, "Yeah."

We're scrambling to figure it out.

Coach Yosh up there found a place

right in the middle we can meet.

So we'll meet right in Fresno.

We can get up there at late tonight.

We're gonna try to figure it out.

'Cause it's a three-and-a-half-hour drive.

They're really good.

I mean, they beat San Francisco, so,

uh, we got our hands full.

Who knows? I don't know

if that was the game I was looking for,

but, well, we don't have a choice.

We have to play teams with a good record.

We're not gonna get a crack

at San Francisco City.

I mean, maybe at the end,

but this is the next best thing.

- He called me up. He had nuts, dawg.

- Really?

He was like,

"Hell yeah, I'll f*cking play."

- He cussing at me. I'm like, "All right."

- He don't care, dawg.

There was other options

we might've had,

but I really pushed this one to Coach,

and made it to where it was gonna be

our only option to play this game,

because a little bit

of the redemption factor,

and it'll help us get

our little swag back.

Wait, were we supposed

to go to Fresno soon?

Like, or is this just random?

It was random. I don't think

we were supposed to go to Fresno.

- 'Cause I ain't seen nothing.

- Don't seem right.

That don't seem like

it's in our conference.

- Fresno? That can't be our conference.

- It's D2. I'm happy about it.

- sh*t. A trip is a trip, but damn.

- Nah.

- Not prepared to be in Fresno tomorrow.

- No, that sh*t's

Hey, bring it in, man.

Everybody come in here real quick.

All right, here's what's going on.

Coach, he was on the phone yesterday,

calling all these schools,

in case they canceled today.

Then it's a possibility next week,

cancellations.

Fortunately,

we're good to go for this week.

That's why I was like,

"Let's grab something this week."

Who knows what's gonna happen next week?

So we said, "Let's find a team,

number one, who's not scared to play."

And so we found West Valley,

and they turnt up.

They probably the best team in the state.

All right? They beat San Francisco.

Uh, they probably got

the best player in the state. 6'9".

We got an opportunity.

We gonna play 'em tomorrow.

We meeting halfway.

They from north, we from south.

We meet halfway, and it's in Fresno.

Fresno Pacific. No spectators allowed.

It's a chance to redeem yourself.

I mean, y'all are gonna

have to have hell and want to win.

I still think we're a ways away

from being playoff-ready.

Um, they're playoff-ready right now.

They're playoff-ready.

Every player that you playin' against

is good.

They're Division I, D2-level players,

which means they're good.

Hey, man, we got

we need to get our name back, fellas.

Hell yeah, Coach.

Hey, hey. We need to get our name back.

This is an opportunity, man.

This is an incredible opportunity.

Incredible opportunity.

A lot of y'all got some ghosts,

including us and the whole program.

- Yeah.

- It's a great opportunity.

We took a lot for that. For going up there

and getting our butts whooped.

Took a lot for that.

Yeah, you guys are gonna be

here and gone and all that,

it's no big deal, but I mean,

that's gonna live forever.

That, you know, "I thought they said

the south had all the talent."

"Oh, south had all the talent,

but they came up here and got smacked."

I know the sentiment is like

"Yeah,

we about to smack them too."

That's what they saying right now.

They looking at all y'all on film.

"We about to smack them too."

We called,

and the coach even was extra'd out.

"I'mma set it up. I'mma make sure."

He was like, "I got it.

I got the school. I got this. I got that."

"We coming to smack y'all."

That's what they freakin' saying.

They ready for it.

This will tell me who you are.

This will tell me who we are right here.

They say they're

the best team for a reason.

They play the best, they got good players,

and we gotta match that.

If you want to be special,

if you want your name etched in stone,

then it's special days like this

that it's gotta happen.

It's gotta happen.

Everybody who's done something here

for us, for ELAC,

has done it on a night like this.

They done it tonight.

Like, when we win this game,

it's because somebody, a couple of you,

decided we gonna do something special.

We accepted the challenge.

So what, they beat San Francisco?

You know what they thinking about you?

You know what they thinking about you!

We got dumped by 30!

We got dumped by 30!

You know what they think about you.

You know why they want the challenge.

This is when it changes, right here.

This is when it all flips.

No, we ain't got it all together.

But guess what? We got us together.

We ain't got it all together

on the basketball court, but we got us.

If you want it,

it's for the taking, right here.

If you waiting for that time,

that special moment,

here's the time to leave it all out.

'Cause guess what?

This might be the best game we get.

This might be your only game

you get for the rest of the year. Come on!

Here we go.

Lord, we thank you for

this time and safe travel.

You gave us an opportunity to play,

and we pray that,

in all we do, Lord, we glorify you.

We pray we can come out

without any injury and fair officiating.

- In your son, Jesus' name. Amen.

- Amen.

I ran out of breath.

"Family" on three! One, two, three!

Family!

Welcome

to Fresno Pacific University.

A surprise matchup here on Saturday,

here at a neutral site.

Huskies taking on the West Valley Vikings.

Coach Mosley threw

a curveball at everybody.

He went with reserves as starters.

The freshman, number 11, Corey Cofield.

Joshua Phillips, the 35 jersey.

And who was the other guy?

Damani Whitlock, number 5.

- Hey. We have done what we can do.

- Right.

It's all kids from here, man.

The first jumper

by Damani Whitlock is good.

Defense! Defense!

Yes, sir!

Turnover by the Vikings.

It'll be Husky basketball.

There's Cofield. He'll launch one.

That one is pure.

West Valley

Attacking the other way are the Vikings.

That one stamped on

the backboard by Phillips.

Good defense by the Huskies there.

How we not helping him?

Josh out here playing. We ain't helping.

Get Dez, man.

DC.

Let's go, D.

- C'mon, DC.

- Get Corey.

Do what you do.

DC. Do what you do, DC. Do what you do.

Calip for three. Drains it.

Yes, sir, DC!

- JT, gotta go to work! Top foot!

- Defense!

Yang loses the dribble.

Recovers it. Well-defended by Calip.

Back outside to Afifi.

- Now, help! Top foot!

- Stance!

- Take a charge!

- Take a charge, man.

Bryan, sub.

- Fool should've hit the ground.

- Get Brandon.

Block or charge,

that should have been contact.

- How you not take a charge on that?

- I just went to

I don't care. That's a collision.

He's right there!

- Don't bail him out!

- Bryan, no foul.

- Bryan.

- Move your feet, not your arms.

Don't do it, Bryan.

Handoff, Justin. Handoff. Handoff.

Denker lobs it up,

low post to Afifi,

defended by Penn-Johnson.

Give me that dumb-a*s sh*t.

West Valley

still holding on to the lead.

Same set dunk.

Set dunk.

- Swing! Swing!

- Calip.

Left elbow, that's Langston.

A rainbow pass inside to Penn-Johnson.

He'll go to work.

Hook shot.

Too strong.

Hey!

Stops at the free-throw area.

Now Calip second three-pointer is good!

The lefty Calip pushes it

to the other lefty, Gladney.

Down low to the third lefty, Penn-Johnson

no good.

- Y'all both a*s. Y'all both suck.

- No, no, no.

Y'all both suck.

I'm straight. Y'all both suck.

Back on top to Calip.

Calip attacks the lane

off-hand layup off the glass.

Yang attacks the lane runner, no good.

Penn-Johnson, rebound,

up ahead to Gladney.

Calip from the wing to the lane

scoop layup, no good.

Putback attempt, no.

Another putback attempt off the mark.

Gimme a

Josh, sub.

Lobs it up to Penn-Johnson.

Hook shot no good.

Loose ball, Bettinelli, rebound.

Time-out.

Let's go, DC, let's go!

- You gotta make layups.

- I gotta finish! I know!

- Let's get it.

- I know!

Hey.

- f*ck!

- Keep your head.

Keep it in. Hey, all of them good.

Good job, boys. Good job, son.

Hell yeah. It's on.

It's good. It's a good half.

He just missed the shots.

- I gotta make f*cking layups.

- You good. It's good.

Use that backboard, B.

- I'm feeling the effort.

- It's a good half. It's great.

- Great half.

- Great effort. Good half.

You just missed shots. That don't

define everything. You was good.

- Defense! Defense!

- Close!

- He's up! Good!

- Close!

From the corner to Yang.

Yang's three is good.

Cuts the deficit to three.

Demetrius. Hey, get Demetrius.

Get Demetrius in this game right here.

- DC! Sub.

- DC, get in.

Get in right here. Damani.

- Let's go, Mani!

- Help!

Go get that sh**ter.

Huskies with another

opportunity as three seconds

remains in this first half.

Let's see what the Huskies draw up.

But can they get across

in time to take a good shot?

sh**t it!

Three-pointer, good,

to end the half!

Yes, sir!

Straight to the locker room!

Yes, sir!

I loved the energy!

Yo! Hey! Quiet, quiet, quiet.

Quiet, quiet, quiet.

- Hey, 20 more minutes!

- Hold on! Quiet, quiet!

- I like the energy!

- Hold on! Hold on, bro.

- Hey, relax.

- Hey, yo!

That's great f*cking energy, bro.

- We have 20 more minutes, bro.

- Hey!

We have more energy than them.

Here we go.

Um

Like, that's what I expected.

And that's what I always expect,

so I'm not all extra'd out about it.

I'm just about finishing. About finishing.

It's playing hard and effort,

and good things happen when you play hard.

They can't keep up with our force.

And they got to feel that force.

It hurts.

It hurts to freaking try to drive on us.

It hurts to try to rebound on us.

It hurts to try to guard us

when we get to the paint,

and we finish,

and we rebound through contact.

It freaking hurts to play against us,

and they gotta feel it.

It's gotta

hurt to play against us!

I don't want to play these fools no more!

I don't want to see 'em in the playoff!

I don't want to play 'em no more!

You continue to play with force.

That's the ELAC way.

Let's go. Come on.

"Finish" on three. One, two, three!

Finish!

Uh-huh, huh ♪

You thought I didn't see you now

Didn't ya ♪

Uh-huh, huh ♪

You tried to sneak by me now

Didn't ya? ♪

Uh-huh, huh ♪

Now give me what you promised me

Give it here ♪

- Start of the second half.

- Go, Corey!

Cofield comes up with it.

Whitlock attacks.

Down low to Washington

kisses it off the glass.

You promised me the day

That you quit your boyfriend ♪

I'd be the next one to ease on in ♪

Hold on!

Gets tangled up with Phillips

Husky basketball.

Get it!

And I'd be the only man

Kissin' on you, yeah ♪

Now kiss me! ♪

Hold it a long time

Hold it! ♪

Don't turn it a-loose

Now, hold it! ♪

A little bit longer

Now, hold it ♪

Hey man,

it's looking really easy!

Okay, Josh!

- Yeah, Relly!

- Good job, Tyrelle!

You made me a promise

And you're gonna stick to it ♪

Over to Washington.

Washington, runner off the glass.

We started out as the number-one team,

and we figured it out. We figured it out.

We started out as number one,

and we figured it out. Nothing different.

Go, Josh!

Yes, sir, Josh! Yes, sir!

- Afifi trapped.

- Yes, sir!

Throws the ball away

straight into the hands of Washington,

who will tomahawk down a slam,

and gives East LA the biggest lead

for the Huskies here this evening.

What's wrong with you, bro?

What's wrong with you, bro?

You know I said

Everybody ready. Whoever gets

the call, everybody ready right now.

Just let it come natural, that's all.

Don't force it.

When you don't force it don't force it.

Oh, I gotcha ♪

Give it on up

I gotcha ♪

Give it on here

I gotcha ♪

You tried to sneak by me now

Didn't ya? ♪

I gotcha

I gotcha ♪

You thought you got away from me

Didn't ya? ♪

Oh, I gotcha ♪

Oh, I gotcha ♪

Give it on up

I gotcha ♪

Huskies move on to 13 and 4,

and now on a five-game win streak,

as they beat the team that beat

the number-one team in the state.

West Valley goes down to East LA.

This trip took 24 hours.

Get it done, go f*cking home, let's go.

That's our motto

the rest of the f*cking year.

"Get it done. Go the f*ck home."

Way to come out

and way to leave!

- Yes, sir!

- Way to come out, way to leave!

Hey, number one who?

Who? Who the f*ck is that?

- Number one what?

- Yeah!

B, you played good. You just missed shots,

but you played good.

Hell yeah, he did. He's close now.

- Played good. He just missed shots.

- Yeah.

He's genuine at this point.

He wanted to play well.

- That's what you was looking for

- He played

- Yeah.

- He had the right this was right.

- Yeah, his intention.

- All I need's their intention to be right.

- Now good week.

- Now two games.

Two games from now, it's gonna click.

- His intentions

- Long as his intentions are right.

- It wasn't fake today.

- Yeah.

We needed that game.

I think that proved

to the kids and Coach Mo

that we have the team that's capable

of winning anywhere, at any time.

It's a different chapter now.

All of this that they go through,

competing physically, emotionally,

and to put it all together

and have success,

it's the best feeling in the world.

And my only hope at the end of the day is

for all those guys to have that feeling.

Because some of them haven't felt it,

and they're fighting against feeling it.

Yes, sir. BP played like sh*t,

but it's all good.

All good.

All good 'cause my n*gg*s came through.

I say my dogs is ready,

and my dogs was ready.

They're like, "Why are we doing this?"

"Why are we practicing this way?"

"Why are we lifting weights?

Why are we conditioning this way?"

"Why are we doing it this way?"

I'm just glad y'all responded.

Hell yeah.

I'm just glad y'all responded, that's all.

I get joy out of seeing everybody

feel great about coming together,

working hard,

and then seeing the reward of that,

of the time

and the effort and all that they put in.

That's that's the beauty.

To see it work.

It was beautiful

to see the guys let it work,

to see the guys come together,

year after year.

That's the beauty.