Our Last Game

“Hey Kevin, Andy, Nick, do you want to play basketball?” I asked my friends.

“Sure thing Hans,” Nick said.

In my sophomore year of high school, my friends and I would always play basketball on Fridays. It was always fun getting to play a sport, which was a part of my childhood, with those close to me. Our group got bigger and bigger until all the guys just like us joined and we enjoyed playing it for fun until the basketball unit hit.

We first went over the basics and since all of us were fairly familiar, the exercises seemed easy to us. It seemed peaceful at first, until later when the guys who played basketball as their sport attacked us.

“Hey, nerds,” one called out. “You call that basketball? My eyes hurt just watching you play.” The rest of them laughed with that last comment.

I, being the hothead that I am, felt angry and clenched my fist. Andy and Kevin looked over and made sure I didn’t fight back and risk getting suspended.

After hearing what they had to say, Ben our valedictorian said “Let us play how we want to. We’re having fun, that’s the point of playing games.”

They turned quiet and seemed shocked, but I wasn’t convinced they would stop.

The same person was about to talk until Ben spoke and said “Don’t mock our basketball, you’ll regret it.”

They took that as a challenge. I kept calm knowing that we’ll get to play basketball against them eventually.

It was the next day and my friends and I tried to stay clear of them and make sure that no trouble happens. Our P.E. teacher says there will be a basketball tournament, each game will take 15 minutes on half courts until the finals where it will be full court. After explaining, we got into teams and saw the bracket. We were completely opposite from them and were glad.

Over the next few days, the tournament began and we kept improving and improving. Our team had a great balance of players. Kevin and Andy were great at everything and don’t specialize in one thing making great small forwards. Nick had great handling and driving skills which made him the best power forward. Harrison was the tallest of us and played under the basket making him the center. I was most comfortable staying outside and shooting threes making me the shooting guard. Finally Ben, who was our captain, was the point guard since he was the best at shot calling, throwing in the ball, and deciding who makes the play.

For our first game, we didn’t get to start with the ball but still seemed easy thanks to Harrison and Ben’s defense. Counter-attacking was simple because instead of having to run to clear the ball, Andy and I were always waiting outside the 3-point line ready to make shots or pass to Kevin.

In the next game, we switched up me for Nick since our new opponents had a great zone defense and we had to score from inside the 3-point line instead. Sitting out, I noticed that the enemy team didn’t pay much attention to Andy, and Ben saw this too. He used it to our advantage and passed to Andy to catch them off-guard. Once their attention shifts to Andy, everyone penetrated their defense. All Andy had to do was pass and we were able to score.

For our third game, we wanted to make plays around Kevin and Andy who were the least familiar with basketball.

“I don’t know about this,” Andy said in his usual lowkey pessimistic tone.

“Yeah, we can’t score as much as you guys,” Kevin added.

“Just trust yourself and the team,” Ben said to them. With just that, they seemed more calm and ready to play.

We got to start with the ball and instead of Ben throwing it in, we made Andy do it. Once it was checked in, they made a quick steal and layup to take a two point lead. This made him less confident and asked if someone wants to switch.

“You’re fine Andy,” I said smiling. “Just pass to me if you feel their pressure,”

The next play started with Andy checking it in again. I got into a comfortable position and stance ready to make a 3. This time he stepped back avoiding their pickpocketing and looked around for someone to pass to. The next second, the ball was sent flying into my hands and I went through my natural shooting motion. The ball flew high and landed in the basket touching nothing but the net. Both teams were impressed with what they had seen and we continued to play. All of us played on the court with smiles, having fun no matter what.

“This is what true victory is,” Nick said to us.

“Having fun, no matter if you win or lose.” Kevin finished.

We won the game with a 5 point lead. With that, we made it to the finals against “them”. The rest of the class sat on the sides and cheered knowing they will see a great game. The game was now full court, meaning we’ll have to adjust our plays. The game was supposed to start with a tip-off just like how they did in the NBA. Naturally, we made Harrison do it. We decided to start Nick, Kevin, Harrison, Ben, and me wanting to save our secret weapon for later. Their members lined up and we were ready to play. Harrison and their center stepped forward ready for the tip-off. Once the ball was in the air, Harrison jumped and passed it to Ben with ease but only because their center didn’t jump. Something was off but we couldn’t afford to think about it. Ben drove past two of their members and passed to me. I shot and we scored 3 points to start. Now it was their turn and their counter was slow and readable. Kevin easily blocked their shot, passed across the court to me, and we scored another 3.

It was a great start but now they seemed warmed up and ready to play. They called a timeout to talk about their game plan.

“We have a good lead, let’s keep it up,” Harrison said.

“Yes but I’m worried it’ll be hard to keep,” I added.

“Don’t worry about that. For now we need to focus on scoring on inside.” Ben said. “Andy be ready, we’ll sub you in the next chance we get.”

Once the timeout was over, we resumed with the ball in their possession. They were able to score their first 2 points but we kept the flow of the game. The ball went back and forth, first with us scoring and then them scoring. Ben passed to Kevin and told him to shoot. He shot but didn’t go in at first until Harrison took the ball on the rebound scored with a layup. Immediately Nick stole the ball after they threw it in and passed to Kevin again. He made another shot at the 3 point line and it went in right off the backboard.

Now they got serious, their members began running towards our basket and their point guard passed cross-court. Nick was able to keep up and tried to stop him from scoring but it went horribly wrong. The collision in the air threw him down and twisted his ankle as he tried to catch himself. We called a timeout and helped him to the bench.

“I’ll be fine,” Nick said in a broken tone. “Go win this for us.”

“Of course,” Andy said in the most serious tone I’ve ever heard.

We got back on the court ready to play. Demoralized by the fact we lost Nick, they took a 7 point lead. Normally we would be scared but we knew it was time to bring our new weapon out.

We positioned like how we did before and they think they’ve cornered us. Ben passed to what seemed like no one to them but instead Andy immediately caught the ball and passed it in. With the same plan, we made 6 points and now the game depended on this last basket.

They started with the ball and just tried to stall and wait until the game ends. That would’ve been it, until they forgot about Andy. He got behind and pickpocketed the ball to Ben who threw the last shot of the game.

That was the day they would never make fun of anyone ever again and what we thought would be the last game we would play in P.E.

A year later, we still look back and smile at all our fun memories of basketball. Now, nearing winter break, Andy gathered us and asked if we can go to my house.

“For what?” I asked.

“So we can play our last game.”