Still Got Game

It was supposed to be a no-bearing game 2 Saturdays ago as all playoff positions have been decided already.  My team was 4th and we were to play the 1st ranked team on a winner-take-all semifinal game the week after.

But then again, this is a basketball game between alumni and it doesn't get any competitive than this.  Well, save for the La Salle - Ateneo games but that is another story.

The game started out slowly as each team were feeling each other out.  At the back of our minds, we don't want to exert too much effort on this game coz the playoff games were just a week ahead.  However, we don't wanna lose too and this is a game that we want to win — bearing or no bearing.

It was a no-defense type of a game (ala Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks) from the 1st quarter upto the last 2 minutes of the game.  Shots attempted went unmolested.  Fastbreaks were given a free ride.  Ticky-tacky fouls resulted on and-1 plays.  There were the occasional wayward elbows (ala Macmac Cardona), "unintentional" hard fouls (ala Ryan Arana) and trash talking (You play like an Atenean!).  Hey, boys will be boys and this is a game between alumni where back in school we were taught to settle irreconcileable differences, petty or otherwise, by telling our adversaries to go to the "back of the Gym!" rather than shouting "One big fight!". 

Problem with "One big fight!" is, even little girls can say it.  Go figure why the other school doesn't walk the talk.

Fast forward to the last 2 minutes.  You can see from the players on the court that they were already serious.  Game faces were on.  No more laughing at missed shots (Badjie del Rosario shoots better than you!) or awkward looking layups (Hey even Japeth Aguilar can block that shot of yours!).  The other team were leading by 4 when my team mate attempted a 3 and missed.  Fastbreak.  The other team's layup missed too.  Time down to 1 minute 30 secs.  My team mate again attempted a 3 and it found the mark this time.  Lead was cut down to 1 with about 1 minute left.  We stole the ball on the next offensive play of the other team and we had a layup.  We had a 1 point lead time down to 40 secs.  On the next offensive play we fouled accidentally, of all people, the would-be MVP of the tournament.  Luckily, he only sank the back-end of his freethrows.

Game was tied at 114 with 20 secs to go.  Our ball.  Coach called a time out.

The other team had 3 fouls to give before they get into penalty so we figured that they will give up their remaining  fouls to prevent us from attempting a shot. 

That was what exactly happened.  After giving up 2 non act of shooting fouls, time was down to 3.2 secs.  Still our ball.  We had to do something.  Fast.

I got the inbound pass from the foul line extended.  Thinking that I'd be fouled again (they had 1 more foul to give),  I quickly dribbled twice to break away from my guard and to get a better percentage shot  (I'm bad at 3s).  Then I shot the ball…

Buzzer sounds.

Final score: 116-114.