Trevor Ariza sat at his locker before the game. He thought about all the fans out there who wanted to see the Rockets win, not just this game but the whole series against the Clippers. But he knew it would be hard, and he tried to get himself in the zone.
James Harden walked up to him. “You know, Trevor, that if we lose this game we don’t get to play any more basketball this season, right?”
Nodding seriously, Trevor responded, “Yeah. So we have to give it our all out there.” He held out his fist for James to bump.
James recognized the gesture and completed the fist bump with a curt nod. “You know it.”
With the support of his teammates, the difficult task in front of Trevor didn’t seem so impossible anymore. They just had to play hard and play their game like they did against Dallas.
Coach McHale now spoke to them all. “If I know you guys, I know you’ll give 100% out there. As long as you do that, we should stand a chance in this one. And if we lose, I just want to know how proud I am of all of you.”
Trevor nodded some more at his coach’s words. He looked around at his teammates and saw them with similar looks of determination. They had come along way and achieved a lot, but it would not end now if they had anything to say about it.