We made it to the Grand finals. In my opinion this was a big accomplishment, as it was only my second season on this new team and making it though a gruelling 3 round battle after a shocking regular season were we just barely scraped in.
I've got to say since changing my training methods and quitting pick up basketball with my mates on the weekend and just focusing on self training or training with my team mates, I've seen a dramatic improvement in my abilities which has brought me to a whole new level.
Now you may think training and not playing any pick up games could get boring etc. etc., but to me, it really fits my personality. I consider myself a pretty competitive person when it come to certain things, basketball being one of them, and just being a amateur does not cut in my books. I'm not exactly a tall player, I actually around the same height as shortest player that has played the professional game of basketball. With this height, the only way to compete is to be a skilful player or plan and simple, better than the competition.
This is my main source of energy, with my competitive spirit, motivation to improve and get better and better and a heart of no fear, I'm able to accomplish what a lot of people can only think of.
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This bring me to the Grand final game that was played. I won't go though the whole game as it would be pointless as the best place to see this game play out was in person, but I will recap my thoughts that I had throughout the game.
We were really the underdog coming into this match. There team has played a lot more seasons together than us and there height comparison is like day and night. However I was not scared as in my mind I've done enough training to help this team play a good game of basketball. All I could do while we were warming up was encourage the team with positive thoughts and that were goner give them a tough fight in tonight game.
The game started and for about 10minutes of the first half we struggle to find our offence to make any more than 5point while the opposing team score was 22, it wasn't looking good and I've already taken a few shots without success during that time. Since the lead was slowly increasing, my team was looking for answers and since I was the star and floor leader of the team I could not let our last game creep away like this. I had to start playing more aggressively and show that we ain't going without a fight!. This gave me a chance to take a couple of free throws which help as the final jitters that I was feeling at the beginning has finally disappeared and as I made my buckets this encourage the team to play harder. We were finally playing our game of basketball and the last 10min of the first half we were able to come back into the game only a few points down. 22-26.
Second half started and it was our turn to turn the tables. We did exactly that, we held the opposing team to low scoring first half in the second while we kept a lead of around 3pts. Thing were looking good but misses and hiccup and with 3minute left it was tied at 40. Of course we were looking to score and so was the opposing team. It was a tough battle and with every foul and out of bounds the time stops. I could probably say the last 3mins was a 10min struggle of possession of the ball.
During that time the main events that occurred was the opposing team scored 2ptin which I was able to retaliate with a clutch 3pt, bring us up 1pt. However this team wasn't an easy team to stop. As the time winded down pass the 1min mark they made a basket. Down one we need to score on this possibly final possession. A crucial mistake happened and we lost the ball!. Down 1 point with less than 30sec to go, time was ticking away and this team was not goner take another shot. I immediately called the team to foul them and put them to the free throw as it was the only way to get the ball back. (In basketball if you foul the team more than 7 times in a half, every foul after that, the team will shoot free throws). We had to make 3 fouls to get them to the line and it was whoever can get to them the quickest. This strategy was the right thing to do however one of my team mate made the mistake of fouling out (5 fouls in a game and your out), so now we were playing with only 4 players.
The opposing team headed for the free throw line and attempted to make the shots, by some act of fate, both shots missed and the ball bounced towards me, as I grab the ball and attempted to dash down the court with only 7 sec left I got tripped and fouled by there poor defence. The team was also in foul trouble with over 7 fouls made and I was head to the line to make 2 free throws that I can say were the most clutch and hardest free throws in my basketball life.
Down 1, I knew I needed to make as least 1 to make it a tie and safe, however I had better plans, I knew I was goner make both of them as I've practice them enough to make them. It was just 2 free throws, it wasn't a lot since I always do 20-30 free throw at every training session while focusing on making 5 in a row at least every time, this should be a walk in the park.
So I was up for the first shot. I got the ball and prepared my regular ritual to shot the shoot. “Walk up to the line, line my feet, two quick bounces, check my hand position on the ball, look up and shoot”. The first shot was slightly off to the left and I knew that my was really nervous but to some miracle I had the perfect spin on the ball and the ball bounced around at the ring and went in. I could hear the cheers from my team mates but I had to keep my composer as I still had one more to go. So with the nerves still there and with the ball in hand I attempted my second shot. The things going though my mind was all the training I've done to get here, the team mates supporting me and the people hwaiting for me. All that flashed though my mind in an instance and I was watching my ball bounce around the ring again, it was not a smooth shot but it must have been the training as the ball still ended up rolling in in the end after bouncing around for a 1-2 sec.
So we were up 1, with 3sec left. The opposing team still had to inbound the ball and we just had slow stop them getting a decent shot. This is were the biggest mistake happen and what turned this into a disappointing lost. As I was the person taking shots at the free throw line, It was usually be another player that would look after the back court in case of any ninjas at the back trying to make easy shots. However that team mate was fouled out earlier and as I made my second shot. My team mate at the side line was yelling to my other team mate to get back to the ninja but under the concentration of watching my shot my other team did not hear. The play happen so quick and it was over in an instant. The opposing team threw the ball across the court and made the easy bucket.
0.9 sec left and we had one shot at a miracle. We called a time-out to discuss what to do. It was obvious that I was the person to take the final shot, but the other team also knows that and we tried a strategy that could get me free for a quick shot and possibly a miracle, but being a team with only 4 men left against the 5 on the floor, I was double up which made it almost impossible to get open and it took too long for me to weave in and out to get space so the ball was thrown to our biggest player that had to throw up the quick shot which didn't land inside the basket and so our final game ended in a disappointing lose.
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Now how the game ended was indeed sad and disappointing but overall we tried and played to our fullest abilities. We made mistakes but through mistakes we will become a better team. My team played exponentially well in the finals and really step up which really help me and the team. No one was to blame in how we lost the final 3 seconds as it a team experience or rookie mistake that now will never happen again. If I had to blame someone I would blame myself, because as the leader or general on the court I should have looked out for my team and place the pieces on the court correctly but under the nerves of my clutch shots I never thought about it.
This team will only get better as our chemistry increases and I'll be looking forward to another season with Kings Kings.
\Benny Wu
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