Salman cpped his hands together way too loudly, like he was trying to wake everyone up from a coma, and yelled, “Alright, squad, listen up!” You could tell he was trying so hard to pump up his team, but honestly, it felt a little desperate.

  “Okay, so, uh,” he continued, stumbling over his words for a sec, “we gotta… we gotta go on offense, like, now! Seriously, we can’t just stand here and watch him keep draining threes like it’s some kind of TikTok challenge! We need to get in the paint, get some buckets close to the rim, you know? Easy peasy points.

  We gotta show these Banani dudes that we actually came here to, like, py basketball too, right? Right?!” He was practically begging for some kind of affirmation, any kind of sign that his team wasn't completely checked out.

  Lut, their resident sarcastic king and shooting guard, couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Salman's pep talk. But even his usual level of "this is all dumb" cynicism seemed toned down, like even he was starting to feel the pressure.

  “Easy points?” Lut scoffed, but it cked its usual bite. “Against him?” He just kind of gestured vaguely with his head towards James, who was standing super chill by the three-point line. The dude was just radiating this crazy calm confidence that was honestly kind of unsettling.

  Saim, their center – bless his heart, he was always kinda timid – just shuffled his feet nervously. He looked even more lost and unsure of himself than usual, like he was wondering if he'd accidentally wandered onto the set of a horror movie.

  Anderson, the small forward who usually acted like he was the coolest dude in the room, was trying to keep up the confident front, but you could hear this tiny little tremor in his voice. “Yeah, yeah, Salman’s got a point,” Anderson mumbled, his voice cracking slightly. “We definitely gotta switch things up. Can’t just stand around and watch him… uh… do his… thing.” It was pretty clear no one actually knew what James was doing, or how to stop it.

  Nikhil, the power forward who was basically permanently stuck in grumpy mode, just let out a deep grunt. His usual scowl? Yeah, that was somehow even more intense now, like he was personally offended by the concept of losing. Nikhil wasn’t one for motivational speeches or pep talks; he was all about getting stuff done.

  And right now, getting stuff done was exactly what Motijheel needed, like, yesterday. So, okay, new pn: offense. Motijheel was going on the attack.

  Salman, suddenly looking like he actually had a pn again, started dribbling with this super focused determination. He was their speed demon, their best dribbler, the guy you counted on to make things happen with the ball.

  His thought process was simple: blow past the defense on the outside, barrel into the paint, draw a foul, maybe get a yup. Anything to shake things up, anything to stop Banani from just steamrolling them and stealing their souls on the court. They needed to break Banani's flow, like, stat.

  Salman started his drive, weaving through the Banani defense like he was dodging rogue shopping carts in a crowded supermarket. He pulled off this slick crossover move, leaving Ahsan looking like he was stuck in slow motion, and then just bsted towards the basket.