Almost every character gets involved with basketball in one way or another. Throughout the novel, Danny learns about the value of players, teamwork, and how to coach because of the competition between teams. More than anything, basketball is a way for Danny to escape the world, focusing on improving his skills. At one point, Tess comments that “[t]his is your own little basketball world back here, and nobody can screw things up” (240). Several times throughout the novel, Danny goes to practice alone in his driveway to think through problems. In fact, in the beginning of the novel, when Danny receives the news that he didn’t make the travel team, he goes out and practices until dark in the square of the driveway where he feels like he can escape the world. Later, the night before the game against the Vikings, Danny goes out there after talking to his dad as a way of coping with the nerves that accompany the eve of a big game. 

Many of the kids’ plans are initially hatched online. It is a nod the way that technology also often provides a way of communicating. Furthermore, it is through instant messaging that readers really get to know Tess and Danny’s dynamic.