LOS ANGELES — JJ Redick knew precisely what he was doing. The Los Angeles Lakers coach stepped right into a refined second and broke the awkward silence with the matter-of-fact supply of a query. One designed to rile up the blokes. Add some juice to the second.
“Who’s the perfect participant on the crew?” Redick requested.
Palms flew up. 5 gamers nominated themselves with raised arms. One other did so with a assured smirk. Redick grinned on the chaos he provoked as a number of Palisades Constitution Excessive Faculty boys basketball crew members claimed the crown.
“Are we critical?” sophomore level guard Jack Levey requested, his proper hand raised above his head.
“Have a look at the stats,” senior wing Tommy Pickens stated with a smile from his seat, his index finger held excessive.
The Palisades Dolphins have been company of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, hosted by the Lakers on Thursday. They watched the Lakers beat the Warriors from a set. As a nightcap, they bought to hold in a personal lounge with Kerr and Redick after the sport.
“Each crew I used to be ever on, all of us knew who the perfect participant was,” Redick stated, one arm folded throughout his grey hoodie that learn Pali Sturdy in gentle blue letters. “I’m not saying it was me. I’m saying all of us knew who the perfect participant was. You guys, deep down … you understand who the perfect participant is.”
The perfect has taken on a brand new which means for the Dolphins. Their faculty was a part of the carnage of the Pacific Palisades fires final month. A few gamers misplaced their houses. All of them misplaced their sense of normalcy.
Steve Kerr and JJ Redick communicate to the crew after Thursday’s Warriors-Lakers sport. Final month, fires disrupted their lives and their season. (Courtesy of Golden State Warriors)
However their crew is a testomony to what was found within the ashes, for they discovered a deeper brotherhood. They discovered their resilience. They discovered the spirit of neighborhood.
“I discovered that they’re their household,” stated coach Jeff Bryant in his first season main Palisades. “And they’re relentless. They’re brothers. They usually’re going to struggle the struggle. There was a neighborhood as soon as earlier than. There will likely be a neighborhood once more.”
And on this evening, they discovered the empathy of a pair of NBA coaches.
Redick, in his first yr on the Lakers bench, made the Pacific Palisades his house. He drove previous the highschool to work daily. The home the Redicks rented burned within the fires, perpetually engraving them into their new neighborhood.
Kerr graduated from Palisades Excessive in 1983. He launched his mom, Ann, to the crew. They instructed them how at 90 years previous she misplaced the house the place she raised her youngsters. Greater than half a century of reminiscences incinerated.
“Her home is on Chautauqua (Boulevard),” stated Kerr, sporting a navy and white Palisades Dolphins trucker cap. “That’s the place I grew up. It’s been within the household since 1969.”
However each Kerr and Redick have stiff-armed sympathy. They’ve sources most victims of the fireplace don’t. So that they shared a few of them with the Palisadian hoopers.
If time with two well-liked NBA coaches wasn’t sufficient, the Dolphins gamers have been every gifted Kobe Bryant signature Nikes and Warriors gear. They bought some tv time and media protection. Their second of shine had their textual content messages blowing up.
“Everyone is aware of us now,” senior wing Mikal Sims stated with a assured smile plastered throughout his face. He’s 6-foot-2 with sq. shoulders and immaculate cornrows. The digital camera loves him.
“We have been the large folks on campus. Then, the campus burned down. Now we’re simply the large folks wherever we’re.”
“All of them encourage me with how they’re dealing with it,” Palisades coach Jeff Bryant says of his gamers, pictured right here speaking with Steve Kerr. (Courtesy of Golden State Warriors)
With two video games left within the common season, the Dolphins are, by some means, nonetheless on a path to the playoffs. They have been 9-5 when flames engulfed their metropolis on Jan. 7. Within the 12 video games since their season resumed, the Dolphins are 8-4.
They even pushed Westchester, leaders of the Western League. Taking part in a house sport at close by Santa Monica Excessive, the Dolphins put collectively a 19-0 first-half run to take management of the sport. They ultimately misplaced by 10 — their two convention losses are to Westchester, led by Tajh Ariza, son of NBA champion Trevor Ariza — however Palisades bought a glimpse of its newfound edge.
“We performed an excellent first half,” Levey, the purpose guard, stated. “An amazing first half. That’s after I knew that, after the fireplace, we have been nonetheless able to go.”
And that solely begins for instance their impressiveness. As a result of undergirding all of it is their upended worlds. The fires not dominate the information, however nonetheless their lives.
They’re again to high school on-line, which the COVID-19 pandemic revealed could be detrimental to college students. Now, in the event that they wish to hang around as teammates, they journey about 15 miles from campus to Westfield Culver Metropolis to seize meals collectively at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.
Most of the staples and comforts of their teenage lives have been burned away. A lot of what they know as house, as life, is roofed in soot.
“It’s adversity,” their coach stated. “We stare it within the eye. We face it. All of them encourage me with how they’re dealing with it. They’re coping with this daily. In the event that they didn’t lose their house, they misplaced their neighborhood. The eating places they go eat at after faculty. The grocery shops they go to. The gasoline station.”
But, they’ve discovered their groove whereas throughout them smolders.
They don’t have a gymnasium, so their observe schedule is unsettled. They discover hardwood the place they will, at scarcely handy occasions. It’s not unusual for them to observe at 8 p.m. in a neighboring faculty’s gymnasium.
“It’s loopy. However everyone seems to be displaying up on time,” Levey stated.
Wreckage from the Palisades hearth sits subsequent to the highschool. The power was badly broken within the blaze that hit the L.A. space. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Instances by way of Getty Photos)
Levey is just a sophomore however a transparent chief. He’s one of many crew’s hardest staff. He runs the offense, feeds the expertise round him and scores when obligatory.
However his flooring basic duties are also used to prepare his crew off the court docket. He doesn’t even drive but, however he helps be sure that his teammates get what they want. He’s always speaking, ensuring he spends time with everybody.
It’s made bonding a lot completely different. Their trivial conversations have been accompanied by actual ones. They’ve been compelled to develop into extra than simply teammates by their want for each other.
Matin Farhangnia, a senior level guard, misplaced his house. Pickens moved to California from Michigan, leaving his mother and sister to maneuver along with his dad. This senior season was presupposed to get him publicity on the court docket. It wound up exposing him to a brand new household off it.
The Dolphins’ response: To change into much more of a crew. To carry expensive to their pleasure. To be liberal with their smiles. To cling to appreciation. Sure, hearth destroys. Nevertheless it additionally refines.
“We got here collectively extra,” Sims stated. “The fires actually introduced detriment to a couple of our gamers. So we actually felt for them. We actually needed to come collectively. You realize, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I actually consider that. And we’ve been overwhelmed down fairly unhealthy. However proper now, I really feel like we’re stronger collectively.”
GO DEEPER
For Palisades Excessive gamers, baseball presents normalcy amid a charred L.A. panorama
(Prime picture of Steve Kerr and J.J. Redick with the Palisades Constitution Excessive Faculty basketball crew: Courtesy of Golden State Warriors)