Teammates

“This is basketball!” 

I overheard a fan say to his son watching the game in the stands. There was only three seconds left on the clock and we were down by two. Jerry’s thumb was bothering him and he was our best three point shooter. I’d imagined this day over and over again in my head because some athletes make game winning shots look so easy. I went over to coach to see what play he’d drawn up and even he was out of ideas. 

“Tonight gentlemen, we’re going to have to gamble to get out of here with a win. If we win, we go to the next round, but for some reason we’ve been placed in the position to do it at the last seconds. That’s what we call fate, willing our team to a victory. As a team we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but at this moment we’re going to have to gamble because they’ve figured out our entire game-plan. We have to let the person that they least expect to shoot the three shoot,” Coach Neil explained to my teammates and I.

Before we all stepped out on the floor, coach had figured out the perfect play. It was called: “Teammates.” We would all draw the defense away from Mad Max, the worst shooter on the team and leave him by himself with a hard pick on his defender by the center. While the seconds ticked away the play worked to perfection, Mad Max was left alone for the shot and he took it. The place was quiet for about 2 seconds. The ball bounced straight up in the air, off of the rim, and dropped into the basket. Mad Max was the least expected to make history, but he did. As a team, we allowed him to take the shot. It was a gamble, like coach said, but we won. We survived and made it to the next round. The place went bananas, and we celebrated our magic moment, then went home, rested up, and came ready for the next round. Mad Max was a part of the team, and we were his teammates. Next game Johnny Guns put up 81 and after that Tony Smooth scored a triple double as they crowned us champions. We did it all together.

Teammates