Chapter 182 Back in the Spotlight

Chapter 182 Back in the Spotlight
Marcus POV

The morning after Opening Night, the practice facility felt different. Players laughed a little more as they walked through the locker room.

Music drifted from someone's speaker, and conversations were louder than they had been all through training camp. A win would do that.

Marcus had just finished changing when the rookie forward walked over with a folded newspaper."Looks like you're making headlines again."

He tossed it onto Marcus's chair before heading toward the weight room. Marcus looked down at the front page of the sports section.

A photo of him throwing the pass that had sealed the game filled half the page. He skimmed the headline, folded the paper again, and slipped it into his locker.

The article could wait. Film couldn't. The team gathered in the screening room a few minutes later. The first clip showed one of Philadelphia's best offensive possessions from the night before.

Three quick passes. An open shot. Basket.
Coach let it play through without saying a word. Then the film rolled back several seconds.

"You see this?" He pointed at Marcus. "You're a step late getting into position."

Marcus leaned forward. Coach rewound another play. A missed rotation. Then another. A lazy closeout that hadn't hurt them because the opponent missed the shot.

"Winning hides mistakes," Coach said as he paused the screen. "Film doesn't."

Nobody argued. Every player wrote something down. The next hour had very little to do with celebrating a season-opening win.

It was about fixing everything that could cost them the next one. Practice stayed short after the meeting. Most of the work centered on recovery and shooting.

Marcus finished a drill when the team's media relations manager walked onto the court. "Marcus."

He looked up.

"Coach wants you in the interview room."

Marcus grabbed a towel and followed him down the hallway. Several cameras were already set up. Reporters filled the first two rows, notebooks open.

Most of them had covered him years earlier in Atlanta. A few nodded when he walked in. The questions started where he expected.

"What did Opening Night mean to you?"
"How does your body feel after playing regular-season minutes again?"
"Has Philadelphia been everything you hoped?"

Marcus answered each one without rushing. Then a reporter near the back raised his hand.

"A year ago, people wondered if your NBA career was finished."

The room grew quiet.

"Were you one of them?"

Marcus thought about it before answering.
"Some days."

Nobody interrupted.

"I spent a long time trying to figure out how to get back." He rested his hands on the table."Eventually, I stopped asking that question."

A reporter looked up from his notebook.
"What question?"

Marcus smiled."How do I get back?” He paused for a moment."I started asking, 'How do I become better than I was before?' Everything changed after that."

Pens started moving again. Another reporter leaned toward his microphone.
"Do you think you're the same player you were in Atlanta?"

Marcus shook his head. "No." The answer came easily. "I see the game differently now."

"What changed?"

"I learned there's more than one way to help your team win."

The room stayed quiet for a second before another question came. That was enough.
The interview wrapped up a few minutes later.

As Marcus stood to leave, one of the older reporters smiled. "It's good seeing you back."

Marcus returned the smile. "It's good to be here."

Across the city, Simone finished another busy morning at the hospital. She was updating a patient's chart when the television in the waiting area switched to sports highlights.

Marcus appeared on the screen. One of the older patients looked up."That's your boyfriend, isn't it?"

Simone smiled. "It is."

"He plays the right way."

She glanced at the television. "He always has."

The woman nodded. "That's why people cheer for him."

The comment stayed with Simone long after she returned to work. Marcus arrived home just after sunset. Dinner was already on the table.

Simone told him about the patient, and he laughed. "I never expected basketball highlights to make it into a rehab unit."

"They weren't talking about basketball." She poured them both a drink."They were talking about you."

Marcus looked at her."The game gave them something to watch," he said.

She smiled. "No. It gave them someone who kept going after everyone else thought he was finished."

Marcus didn't answer right away. Some compliments were harder to accept than others. They finished dinner talking about ordinary things instead.

Her patients. Tomorrow's practice.Whether they had enough groceries for the week.
Normal conversations. The kind they hadn't been able to enjoy when they lived in different cities.

Later that night, Marcus sat on the couch with his tablet. The scouting report for their next opponent had already been uploaded.
The first video clip showed the All-Star wing he would guard.

Strong. Patient. Always under control. Marcus watched three possessions before setting the tablet aside. His phone buzzed.
A message from Coach Reynolds.

Be ready. You'll spend a lot of time on him tomorrow.

Marcus read it once before locking the screen. Opening Night was over. Around the league, teams had already started preparing for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia was doing the same. Tomorrow would be another test. Marcus welcomed it.