51 pages • 1 hour read
Carl DeukerNight Hoops
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of bullying.
Nick Abbott lives in Bothell, Washington. He plays a basketball pickup game during the summer. Trent Dawson runs into him, and Nick calls a foul, but Trent thinks otherwise. As Trent acts like a bully, Nick lets it go. Trent’s older brother, Zack, appears. Zack is more bellicose than his younger brother, and he allegedly stole a gun from one of their mother’s boyfriends. Zack and Trent leave, though the game isn’t over.
The Dawsons live in the rental house across from Nick. Nick’s father, Matthew Abbott—Dad—thinks they’re “freeloaders” because they receive government assistance. Nick’s mother, Caroline Abbott—Mom—has a less negative view of the family. Nevertheless, while the other homes on the block are neat and quiet, the Dawson home is unclean and loud.
Once, Trent invited Paul to play pool, and Paul noticed cigarette butts, beer bottles, and empty pizza boxes everywhere. When he left, a police officer was in the kitchen because Zack stole beer from the grocery store chain Albertsons.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Dad and Mom fight, and their conflict often revolves around Nick’s older brother, Scott, who’s a talented basketball player. Scott also plays the trumpet, and much to Dad’s displeasure, Scott would rather focus on jazz music. Dad was a formidable high school basketball player with a chance at playing college basketball. After he started playing selflessly, concentrating on assists and rebounds, the scholarship offers disappeared.
Nick and Scott play basketball at Canyon Park Junior High basketball courts, where the Dawson brothers hang out. Dad doesn’t want his sons around the Dawson brothers, and Dad wants to replace Mom’s rose garden with a basketball court. Mom wants to keep her garden.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Ericka Dawson is Trent and Dawson’s mother, and her latest boyfriend, Steve Clay, comes over to put in the court. Mom still doesn’t want it, but Dad is going to do it anyway. Steve has a lined face and a skull-and-crossbones tattoo. Nick thinks he looks like he smokes and drinks too much. Mom and Dad fight before Dad drives off. Nick stays and helps Steve, who’s a “perfectionist.” When Nick is off by inches, Steve redoes it.
Over dinner, Dad suggests Mom start a garden by the camellia. He offers to buy her new roses. Mom doesn’t want new roses. Soon, the backyard basketball court is done, and Dad proclaims it the “best basketball court in Bothell” (27).
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Though Nick is passionate about basketball, Dad doesn’t treat him with the same consideration as Scott. Nick was the top scorer on the Canyon Park Junior High team, but when Nick and Scott played on the same day, Dad went to Nick’s game briefly before heading to Scott’s game.
On the backyard court, Dad mainly wants to play Scott one-on-one, and he makes him practice his shooting, dribbling, and passing. Scott is talented and on Bothell High’s varsity team, but he might quit so he can focus on jazz. However, Dad’s hectoring compels him to “commit” to basketball. Nick observes the contentious dynamic and thinks about the games at Canyon Park Junior High. He was a part of those.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
While Nick and Scott play a shooting game on the basketball court, three varsity players arrive—Carlos Fabroa, Matt Markey, and Darren Carver. Darren is the star, and he’s class president, popular, and receives attention from girls. Scott dismisses Nick so they can play a two-on-two game.
Nick watches from the window and notices that Dad’s coaching has a positive impact on Scott. As the play continues, Scott, Carlos, and Matt grow tired and sluggish, but Darren keeps hustling. Nick realizes that Darren “wants it,” so he plays every second like it’s the most crucial moment.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Scott and Nick play one-on-one, and Scott continually beats him, though Nick makes some of the matches close. Nick starts driving to the basket, and their games become closer. Feeling like he can beat him, Nick pushes Scott to play one more game. Scott jumps out to a 6-0 lead, but his points come from outside shots. Nick thinks he’s playing “lazy.” Playing hard, Nick comes back and wins.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Canyon Park Junior High goes until ninth grade, so as September arrives, Nick starts his first day at Bothell High as a sophomore. In middle school, Nick was popular, “running” the school, but now he’s at the bottom of the hierarchy. Worse, he has lunch, gym, geometry, and English with Trent, who is disruptive.
At home, Nick wants to play basketball with Scott, but Scott is with his girlfriend, Katya Ushakov. Katya and her family came to the United States from Russia. Katya is “beautiful,” with blue eyes and red-blond hair. Her younger brother, Michael, has a learning condition. Micheal sings Russian songs and feeds ducks by a bike path. Nick’s mother worries about him, and the Dawson brothers often make fun of him.
Scott and Katya are in jazz band together, and Scott practices the trumpet while Katya practices the clarinet. Nick plays basketball by himself. When Dad comes home, Dad asks if Scott has practiced. When Nick shakes his head, Dad’s eyes “darken.”
At work, Dad injures his fingers, so he takes a few days off. Nevertheless, Dad and Scott play one-on-one, and Dad wins. Scott wants to practice with Katya, who’s watching, but Nick pushes Scott to play a one-on-one game with him, and Nick wins the close matchup. Scott leaves the court, and Dad calls him a quitter. Scott says that he won’t be the basketball star that Dad wanted to become. Mom appears, and she’s furious at Dad, who turns his attention to Nick.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
After midnight, Scott and Nick listen to their parents fight. Mom doesn’t think Scott should have to play basketball. Dad thinks Scott is more interested in Katya than music. Mom claims Scott looks at Dad with hate, and Dad is “poisoning” the home. Dad threatens to “walk out,” and he follows through on his vow. Over breakfast, Mom dispassionately tells her sons that she’s divorcing Dad.
Part 1 Analysis
The narrative establishes the coming-of-age and mystery genres with the opening scene. During a casual pickup on the middle school basketball court, Trent commits a hard foul against Nick. When Nick calls the foul, Trent squeezes his face. Nick thinks, “[T]he one thing worse than having Trent Dawson squeeze your face would be to have him pound it to a bloody pulp” (7). The image characterizes Trent as a volatile character who’s capable of causing harm through the violence he inflicts. Nick explains that Trent comes from a precarious home environment but believes the unstable situation doesn’t excuse Trent’s aggression. Trent must learn to control his antagonistic behavior and not mimic his older brother. Nick will learn to get along with Trent, handle setbacks, and manage his heavy-handed father as the narrative progresses.
The characters develop through juxtaposition. In other words, Carl Deuker creates characters who contrast with each other, highlighting their differences and similarities. Nick and Trent seem like opposites, as Trent comes from a boisterous home, while Nick’s home is ostensibly nice. Yet Nick experiences familial conflict. Dad pressures Scott to play basketball when he wants to focus on jazz, and by the end of Part 1, his parents are getting a divorce. Scott and Nick contrast. Nick is passionate about basketball, yet Scott gets the attention from Dad that Nick craves, with Nick stating, “[Dad] never took me seriously, never came at me the way he went after Scott” (29). Dad and Mom juxtapose one another since Mom doesn’t want to force Scott to choose basketball over jazz. Unlike Dad, Mom is welcoming and accepting of his son’s desires.
In Part 1, Deuker introduces the theme of The Off-The-Court Impact of Basketball, which manifests in multiple ways. Dad’s pressure on Scott has a negative influence on their father-son relationship. Mom summates their toxicity when she tells Dad, “[Scott] doesn’t look at me with hatred in his eyes” (61). Dad furthers the hostile consequences of basketball by demolishing Mom’s rose garden to build a basketball court. Later, the basketball court symbolizes a holistic space. In Part 1, however, the court is oppressive. It’s where Dad hectors Scott about his lack of commitment, and it reminds Mom of the rose garden she once had.
Dad and Trent’s actions and characterization establish the theme of The Contagiousness of Bad Behavior. Dad partly builds the court in the backyard so Nick and Scott won’t have to practice basketball at the middle school, where the Dawsons hang out. Dad’s thinking indicates that bad conduct rubs off on people. Mom applies the formula to Dad, telling him, “You’re poisoning this house” (61). The diction—the word “poison”—turns Dad into a malignant germ, capable of infecting those around him, including his family members. His presence obstructs any chance of a healthy, positive atmosphere, as Mom underscores here.
In addition to the literary device of juxtaposition, Deuker uses dialogue to illuminate the motivations of the characters. Instead of putting most of the pressure on the first-person narrator—Nick—to explain things, Deuker has the characters converse to illuminate what’s occurring. Scott reveals Dad’s reasons for pushing him to focus on basketball when he says to Dad, “You want me to be the big basketball star you never were. Is that it? Well, I’m not going to be. Got that? I’m not going to be. Maybe Nick will be, but I won’t. So spend your time with him, and leave me alone” (58). The quote alludes to Dad’s disappointing basketball past. It cements Scott’s rejection of Dad’s plans for him, and it compels Dad to turn his attention to Nick, as Nick is the son who cares about excelling at basketball.
Related Titles
By Carl Deuker
