professional basketball

Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) have desired to be professional basketball stars since they were children. However, Monica has to work hard to establish herself, while Quincy was born with natural star potential. As the three struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their emotions for each other.
The film spans roughly thirteen years of friendship between childhood sweethearts Monica Wright and Quincy McCall. Monica and her relatives moved to Los Angeles in 1981 from Atlanta, Georgia, and quickly became acquainted with their new neighbors the McCalls, a rich relatives due to the success of Quincy's brother Zeke, the star shooting guard for the San Diego Clippers. Quincy and Monica are drawn to each other instantly, sharing a love of the game basketball. Quincy is shocked that a girl could ever love basketball as much as they did, and they is even more shocked when Monica plays so well. Although their first interaction leads to Quincy angrily knocking her down in the work of game point and accidentally scarring her face, they share their first kiss on the first day of school and finish the "first quarter" of the story fighting in the grass.
The second quarter of the story begins in 1988, when both Monica and Quincy are the respective leaders of their high school teams. Scouts have taken clear notice of Quincy, who plenty of see as one of the top prospects in the country. His popularity was not evident on the court as they is very popular with the other students and could have any girl in school that they wanted, but they is still nice friends and neighbors with Monica.
Monica, on the other hand struggles along with her fiery emotions on the court, which frequently resulted in technical fouls at critical moments of games, getting benched, and finally pushing away plenty of potential scouting opportunities due to her lack of control. Aside from her emotions on the court, he also struggles with the emotions he secretly still harbors for Quincy and struggles to express them as they is always surrounded by other girls. Through soul searching throughout the season, Monica learns to control her emotions and leads her team to the state championship game, but could not lead them to a victory.
He begins to recover from the loss with the help of her older brother Lena, who gives her a makeover and even finds a college mate to take her to her spring dance. With nothing over a new hair style and a dress, Monica shows up to the spring dance looking as beautiful as ever. Despite having a date of his own, Quincy notices her and immediately walks over to her to compliment her new appearance but doesn't hesitate to comment on her date. They both show jealousy towards each others' dates and part ways. Later that night, they both speak outside her window and reveal to each other how their dates didn't meet their needs. He also lets him know that he's a letter from USC and insists on him to open it. After the letter reveals that he's been accepted, they finally vocalized that USC was also his choice. As they move in to congratulate each other with a hug, Monica mistakes the gesture as a kiss and that leads to them finally acting on their feelings for one another by having sex to each other.
The third quarter of the story follows Quincy and Monica to their freshman year at USC, where they are managing themselves as athletes, students, and a couple. Again, the same issues appear to present themselves, this time on a bigger stage. While Quincy finds instant success on the court, as well as increasingly female admirers, Monica struggles for playing time. Her relationship with Quincy becomes increasingly strained as Quincy struggles to deal with the media attention surrounding his brother and a paternity suit against him from a former lover. Quincy feels betrayed by his brother for lying to him and threatens to leave school for the NBA early. When Monica finally earns the beginning point guard spot at the finish of the season, Quincy cannot be happy for her because they blames her for not being there for him when they was having issues along with his brother. Monica is hurt deeply by Quincy, and the three go their separate ways.
The fourth quarter of the story follows the characters through the early 1990s, a few years before the establishment of the WNBA, Monica's prospects for professional basketball lie exclusively in the IWBA, the International Women's Basketball Association, while Quincy steps in to the professionals at home. Monica settles in to her new life in Barcelona, where he struggles to cope with the everyday grind of playing abroad away from relatives and friends. He misses home, but cannot imagine a life that didn't include basketball. He tries to modify to her surroundings as a local sports celebrity and the focus of the team's offense. He leads her team to a dominant victory in the championship game at the finish of the season. Despite all her personal success, he starts to recognize her love for basketball is not the same as it was before.
The story then flashes forward a few years. Having left USC after his freshman season, Quincy is now in his fifth year in the professionals, trying to discover a role along with his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers. The moment they finally finds some playing time, they injures himself landing awkwardly after a slam-dunk, and tearing his ACL. His relatives rushes to the hospital to be with him, but his now divorced parents become embroiled in an argument when they see each other. Monica hears about Quincy's injury, and flies home to see him.
Monica goes to the hospital to visit Quincy, and is stunned to listen to of Quincy's engagement and to meet his fiancée (Tyra Banks). After her meeting with Quincy, Monica soon realizes that her feelings for him still exist. Over the next few months, Quincy undergoes rehabilitation while the day of his wedding draws closer. By this time, Monica has decided to give up basketball, when questioned by Quincy he states that it was no longer fun for her, Quincy does not understand, stating they never knew anyone who loved basketball as much as he did. They and Monica meet up one time again, this time as friends, and reminisce over their shared past. At this point, Quincy has recovered from his injury, and Monica finally steps up with an ultimatum. He challenges him to one final game on the court- but this time the stakes are higher: if they loses, they calls off the marriage and chooses Monica; if not, they marries his fiancée. Her reasoning is that the if they loses it would be because they let her win which would mean that deep down they doesn't require to get married because they still loves her. Quincy agrees and beats her in the game, but can no longer be apart from Monica and chooses her. The phrase "double or nothing" brings a whole new intending to the game.
The film fast-forwards 2–3 years later in 1998. Monica has finally gone pro in the WNBA, which was created by the NBA in 1996. The film ends with Quincy helping their kid daughter cheer on Monica in the work of her game where the back of her jersey is seen with the name "Wright-McCall", showing that Monica and Quincy got married.