Air Bud - Plot

Plot

The plot revolves around a 12-year-old boy, Josh Framm. After the death of his father, who has died in the crash of a test flight due to a fuel shortage on his plane, Josh moves with his family to Washington State and is too shy to try out for his middle school's basketball team and too shy to make any friends. He meets Buddy, a Golden Retriever who had escaped from his abusive owner, an alcoholic clown named Norman Snively. Snively had locked Buddy in a kennel after causing trouble at a birthday party and was taking him to the dog pound when the kennel fell off the truck. Josh soon learns that Buddy has the uncanny ability to play basketball. Josh's mom initially only agrees to let him keep the dog until Christmas and she plans to send him to the pound if the true owner isn't found. However, Josh's mother sees how much Josh loves Buddy and vice versa. When Josh wakes up on Christmas Day and Buddy is not in his room, he goes downstairs and sees Buddy with a bow on his head. She gives Buddy to Josh as a Christmas present.

Josh wants to join the basketball team but chickens out at the last minute and becomes the water boy. After two slots are opened up and learning of Buddy's talent, Josh tries out (despite basketball coach Joe Barker's reluctance) and makes the team. At his first game Buddy shows up and disrupts the game and causes mayhem, but the audience loves him, because he scored a point. After the game Buddy finds coach Barker abusing Tom, one of Josh's teammates and friend who gave him a lucky orange peel he got at a Seattle SuperSonics game, by trying to make him catch better by pelting him with basketballs.

Barker is fired and replaced by the school's engineer, Arthur Chaney, who Josh discovers is a former New York Knicks player. Buddy becomes the mascot of Josh's school's basketball team and begins appearing in their halftime shows. But just before the championship game, Buddy's former owner, Snively (after seeing Buddy on TV), tricks his mom and steals Buddy from Josh. Josh then infiltrates Snively's backyard where Buddy is chained up.

Snively initially can't see Josh due to a stack of beer cans on his windowsill until it falls and Josh is caught infiltrating his backyard. Josh gets the chains off Buddy and both escape, causing Snively to chase Josh and Buddy in his dilapidated clown truck. The chase rages on to a parking lot near a lake, during which the clown truck begins to fall apart, causing Snively and his truck to splash into the water, but he doesn't drown. A few minutes after the chase, Josh then decides to set Buddy free to find someone else. Initially, his team is losing at the championship until Buddy shows up. When it is discovered that there is no rule that a dog cannot play basketball, Buddy joins the roster to lead the team to a come from behind championship victory.

Snively sues the Framm family for custody of Buddy. Fortunately, at the suggestion of coach Chaney, who the judge was a fan of, it is decided that the dog will choose who will be his rightful owner. During the calling, Snively takes out his roll of newspaper, which he often used to hit Buddy, and snaps at him, causing Buddy to attack Snively, tearing up the weapon of abuse and run towards Josh. The judge grants custody of Buddy to Josh. Snively, who runs at Buddy and Josh in a last-ditch effort to get the dog back, is dragged away by the police and arrested, while Josh and the rest of the citizens rejoice for the new home of Buddy.