The Final Shot
My basketball team was
down by 20 points, and we were not doing very well. You could feel the tension
in the air and cut it with a knife. Our coach called a timeout and started
telling us what we were doing wrong. "We need to get a tighter defense and
hold our follow through, whenever we take our shot," he said. The timeout
was over and we had possession. I passed the ball to the guard and he brought
the ball up the court. I set a screen for him and he rolled off of the pick.
Right when he rolled off the pick, I did a pick and pop. That's when you set a
screen, go to the open space, and take the shot. So, that's exactly what
I did! I took the shot, and I made it; we were now down by 18.
It was the best feeling
ever. My adrenaline was pumping and I felt like we were back in the game. The
other team brought the ball down the court and we were playing in a 2-3 zone. A
2-3 zone is when there are two guards at the top of the key. The two forwards
are down on the sides and the center in the middle. The guard on the other team
brought the ball down the court and looked eager to score. His eyes were huge,
his face was red, and he was hyper-focused. You could tell he was looking to
score. He passed to the left side, but I stole it and I took off. I went for
the left hand layup and I made it. Now, we were down by 16.
The guard on the other
team looked like he really wanted to score, so I needed to get tighter defense
on him. He passed to the right side to make sure that I didn't steal the ball
again. The pass was good and they score. I brought the ball in and was ready to
blow the lid off the place. I dribbled down the court as fast as I could,
weaving in and out of all the players. The pressure was building to get to the
other end of the court; it felt like hours until I was finally under the basket
and took the layup. SCORE!
Next, the other team got
the ball. They began passing from player to player. Left, right, right, left.
It was exhausting. I finally stole the ball again, but as I was dribbling down
the court, another kid fouled me and I got a free throw. YES!!! A lot of
pressure was on me because if I made this, my team would only be down by 11. I
took the shot, I made it, and now we were down by 11.
After the free throw,
the other team brought the ball down the court. I was worried that we wouldn’t
be able to stop them, but I kept the faith. My coach called, "Man-to-Man.”
A man to man is when you pick up a man and you stay with him until your coach
calls a different play. But, since we don't know the other team members’ names,
we just screamed out their numbers on their jerseys. The point guard passed to
my man and I blocked it! I knocked it out of bounds with a good smack. Since I
slapped it out of bounds it was the other team’s ball, but still,it was a good
play. Once I knocked it out of bounds, the crowd started going crazy.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeep! It was the end of the third quarter.
After a quick drink and
some instructions from our coach, it was the start of the fourth quarter.
Someone passed the ball to me and I brought it up the court. I took
my time moving up the court with the ball. Everybody on my team was echoing
each other screaming, "Here, here! I'm open, I'm open!" I screamed to
them, "Go to the basket!" Finally, a kid on my team was open so I
passed to him, he went in, and scored.
At this point we were
all screaming at each other because now we were only down by 9. Our coach
screamed out, "Put on the defense.” This play is when the other team passes
in the ball and I try to steal it. So, that's exactly what I did. He passed it
in, I tipped it, then got control of the ball. Once you tip the ball it flies
into the air and it is a fight to recover. Fortunately, I did recover and I
scored. Now we were down by seven. Our coach kept on saying “Put on defense,”
so that's what we kept on doing. The other team passed it in. I tipped it
again, my team got my tip and put it in. We were down by five points. All I was
thinking to myself was, “I can't give up now.”
The other team had possession
and dribbled right by five of our players. I stole it and passed it up the
court where my teammate got it and put it up. Now, we were down by only three.
We continued to put up our defense, but they got by us again. I felt like I was
in a fight for my life. I couldn’t lose now! I cut in and out, circled
everyone, and followed the ball as if it was a piece of candy. I scored! We
were down by one! I felt like an
all-star, like no one could stop me. They got by us and were running down the
court. I stole it back and thought to myself, “That was a close one!” I was running down the court with 10
seconds left. As the audience counted down, “Three, two, one…” I threw the ball
from almost half of the court….score!!! The game was over and we had won!
The crowd went wild. I
felt as if I was Kobe Bryant and made the last basket of the championship game!
This was my game! I did this; I led my team to the win! All these thoughts
ran through my head as I left with my dad. He patted me on the back and said,
‘You were amazing!”
"This was the best day ever," I responded,
smiling up at him.
