The Shot
It is the start of the 4thquarter and my teammates and I are walking back onto the court up by 6 with 8 minutes left in regulation of the game. The feeling of tiredness as if I just ran 4 miles is in my body. My mind is telling me let’s keep this lead end this game so we can go home as Christmas tournament champions but yet I knew I had to push through it all because my team needed me. The ball in my hand throughout the first 2 minutes of the quarter. 1stshot I take flew over the rim like a bird flying over a pond of water and soaring down onto the grass. The 2ndshot bounced off the rim and came off as well. These shots made it seem like it was a closed cylinder on the rim. “Damn, I can’t get nothing to go in” I say to myself; “GET BACK ON DEFENSE!” says my coach even though he knows I’m not going to listen to him and get back as quickly as he thinks I am.
The other team gets 2 quick baskets and now the score is 44-41. “Stay on your man”, “Help defense, help defense”, “don’t let their best shooter get an easy shot” are all things I am constantly repeating to myself. I got the ball, racing down the court as if I was a car in a drag race. Here comes a defender, I hit him with a quick spin move into a 15-foot jump shot. “CLANG” as I miss my 3rdjump shot in a row. Then my teammate gets the rebound goes up and tries to score and gets fouled. He makes the 2 free throws and we are getting back on defense. As we get back I hear a whistle and the referee signals for a timeout which my coach called. Music starts to play as we are sitting in the huddle and I am looking at this man not hearing a word that he is saying. It was like I had headphones in and he was trying to talk to me while the music was blasting. All I can see is his lips moving as if he was pronouncing long words. I think it is because I am so tired that is why I cannot understand nor hear what coach is saying.
Finally, he finishes up whatever he was saying and then we leave the huddle to go back onto the court. As the playing is going on I am guarding this little scrawny white boy. He is maybe 2 inches shorter than me, no type of muscle and just small. As he drives to the basket the referee calls a foul on me. In frustration, I say “Come on ref!” because he had been calling bad calls on me as if he wanted me to foul out of the game to try and give the other team a better chance at winning the game. The other team misses the free throw but then gets the rebound and shoots a three-point shot to tie the game up which went through the net like a rock being thrown into the water.
My teammate is bringing up the ball at a jogging pace, not too fast and not too slow. He gets a screen and drives to the basket. We made eye contact as he sees me wide open on the left side. He then passes me the ball at this point in my head I’m thinking I have to make this. “Cash” is what I said as I went into shooting the ball and the ball goes through the net. The score is now 51-48 with 2 minutes and 37 seconds left on the game clock. As we continue to go through the game my teammate gets fouled and makes 1 out of the 2 free throws he had a chance of making and then the other team makes 2 out of 2 free throws which makes the game 52-50. We got the ball and it’s under a minute left so no dumb mistakes need to be made so we can win this game. I have the ball the defender comes out too close to guard me, a quick spin and then 3 dribbles toward the basket sets me free from him but as I go up I miss the layup because of defenders fouling me hard as if my mother was whooping me like I was 7 years old again.
The other team is racing down court with a full head of steam they make one pass and score. Now its tied up at 52. It’s so hot in the gym it has to be like 85 degrees in here. Sweat dripping all down my face, arms, and legs. My hands staying sweaty as well making it hard to control the ball when I do have it. Time going down faster and faster as if time was definitely not on our side. The other team just passing the ball from left to right trying their best to get the last shot so they can win. “Lock him up, lock him up!”, “STAY ON YOUR MAN!!!!!” is all I’m yelling out so that they will not get an easy chance at getting an easy shot to win. The whistle blows and the referee has signaled that the other team has called a timeout. The time that was left was 16.4 seconds in the last quarter of the game.
We are in the huddle and again I cannot hear a single word this man is saying. At this point I am drained out of energy. He points at me then points at the clock as I’m sitting here looking lost like a dear in front of headlights. I drink some of my Gatorade, the purple color, it takes like purple grapes. Then we walk back onto the floor and get ready to see how the other team is going to try and win this game. I am watching their player trying to predict his next move. Time going down fast again. 16….15….14….13….12….11….10…9…8….7… at the 7 second mark he calls for a screen. “SCREEN COMING RIGHT! SCREEN COMING RIGHT!” I yell out to notify my teammate. The gym is as loud as a construction site making me have to scream even louder. My teammate fights over the screen and is right back defending the player. 5….4….3…. 2.. with 2 seconds left in the game the other teams’ player takes a greatly contested off balanced shot that hits the top off the ceiling and ends regulation. “We have to win this in overtime” is what I’m telling my teammates.
We have the ball with 15 seconds into overtime and I pass the ball to my teammate that then scores and gets fouled. I give him a high five because he did a good job scoring through the fouling by the other team. He then misses the free throw and the other races down the court like a stampede of horses and scores an easy basket. “Man these dudes just not going to let us win at all” I said to myself. A couple of possessions go by from both teams both possessions full off missed baskets and turnovers and we have the ball. As I dribble towards the basket 3 defenders are coming towards me to try and stop me from scoring but as they are coming towards me my teammate is moving right behind them to get open. I see him and I pass the ball to him and he scores the basket putting us up by 2. Our crowd of fans erupts and goes crazy. The score being 58-56 with 30 seconds left in the game. My coach calls our last timeout and I’m coming back to the huddle and everybody is giving me hi-fives telling me good pass and good way to be smart with ball. Again, as we are in the huddle I cannot hear a thing. Just the thought of getting this game over with and getting home into my bed is what is racing through my mind.
As we leave the huddle all we need to do is hold them from scoring and we win the game. The other team has the ball we are in a full court press, “50! 50!” my coach is yelling to us. They inbound the ball passing it back and forth until they get past the half court line. 5 seconds run off the clock and a series of dribble and pass, dribble and pass, dribble and pass into the last pass as the other team’s best shooter goes up for a jump shot from the three to win the game. As he goes up for the shot my teammate fouls him and he misses the shot. “OH MY GOODNESS. WHY!” is what one of my teammates asked my teammate. I then said “It’s all good bro” because I made that same mistake last year when I was junior and I know how it feels. The other team’s player is at the free throw shooting three free throws. The first free throw he misses of the right side of the rim. “That’s a relief” is what I’m thinking because now they either can tie the game up or be down by one. Then the second and third free throws went in which ties the game up.
Their coach calls a timeout and both teams go to their huddle. As I am going to my huddle all I am thinking in my mind is “CASH” “CASH”. I know the ball is going to be in my hands for the last shot so I have to think positive about making it. As we are in the huddle I can fully hear my coach now and he says “Get the ball, everybody space the floor, and get a good shot off to win the game”. After that we break down and head back on to the court. The ball is placed at the half court line out of bounds. My teammate takes it out and I bring the ball up the court. Dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, between the legs, between the legs, between the legs, crossover, 5 seconds left on the clock and all I can hear is the people in the stands counting down from 5. Then I step back to the 3-point line and go up for the shot as I release I see it going straight into the rim. All of a sudden the ball says “SWISH” through the net making a sound of a person biting an apple and then the crowd erupts like a volcano. Everybody jumping up and down cheering because we just won our first ever Christmas tournament championship. I realized at that moment that I could push through that tiredness and continue to lead my team to a win and a championship.
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