Heart Of A Champion

In The Zone

                    We go back to the game encouraged by our coach. It's their ball possession. My man drives past me, trying to score. It was finally time for payback. As the ball floats, I was ready to block the shot. I blocked it, and it went out of bounds. Now I was the one who found the courage to talk trash. "Really? Get that weak stuff out of here!" I said. "Weak stuff? If there is weak stuff in here, it's your team." he replied. We went on to play until Mark gets the board and passes it to me. Pick and roll is set. I run to the basket and faked the behind the back pass to John but snatches it back in front and handed it to Mark. Who was, at that time, open. He goes on and makes the layup. "We got this. 21 more to go." I said, encouraging my team. The other team was scoreless for 4 minutes. I stole the ball from my man and ran to the other side of the court, pulling up for a three, taking advantage of the defense that is not yet set. It is in! "18 points to go, boys!" I said. Mark then snatches the ball from the shot fresh from the hands. I ran to the other side. I was alone in there. Mark throws it to me and I got it, making the free basket. 33 to 49 is what you can see in the scoreboard, with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. We managed to reach the end of the quarter, only trailing by 8, 43 to 51. 

                     The game starts to get intense in the fourth quarter. We start the quarter with a three from Christian. The other team got it back with another three. 46 to 54 is the score. We go it back with another three. I stole the ball from my man, and took a three in transition, and I made it! The lead goes down to 2, 52 to 54. My man tried to take a three of his own, but hit nothing but air. I tried to get in head a little bit, saying, "Hey man, feeling nervous, huh?" I said, with a little smirk on my face. He did not respond until the time I dribbled in front of him, with 3 minutes left in the game, us leading by 5 already, 59 to 54. I drove to the basket, but instead of getting the score, I got shoved back by my man. And that made things a little worse. He punched me in the face, I could not do nothing but fight him. He cursed a lot of times, until both our teammates separated us. The referee didn't like his actions, but what was shocking is, he called a technical foul on me too. "I didn't want that to happen." I explained. I was subbed out of the game after taking two free throws and one technical free throw just to keep my mind in focus.

                   I was subbed in the game with us trailing by one, 68 to 69, with only 57 seconds left. He comes back in with a bandage on his eye, I come back with pride and determination. I focused on the court, the defenders, my teammates, and the rim. When there was only 10 seconds left in the shot clock, they set a double screen for me. The other two was cutting in and out. What I did was, get through the first pick, cross to the right and passed it out to John, who then takes the jumper, that results in an airball. Luckily, I managed to tip it in with only a tenth of a second left in the shot clock, avoiding the 24 second violation call, and making it! 70 to 69 is the score with 33 seconds remaining. An opponent took a three, only to get blocked by Mark. He falls down to the ground, and when Mark tried to get the ball from him, he hoisted up what kind of looks like a three pointer attempt. And the referee sends him to the line for three shots with 29 seconds left. He makes the first one, misses the second, and makes the third and took the a one point lead. When the pass floated in the air for too long, the opponent took advantage and tapped the ball, only to go out of bounds. 23 seconds left, the shot clock is off, and we needed a timeout badly. We decided to go with a motion play, the one where the ball moves fast between the hands of teammates, and multiple screens all over the offensive end. We pass the ball to each other, set screens for each other, and the shooter turns out to be me. I'm going to do it yet again, another shot in crunch time. If there is a question right now, it would be if I will make the shot or will not. I hoisted it up for a jumper, and it's in! We did it! We won the tournament! We are champions!