had a game at westhill gym (ghettoooo...) against the league's intercity team. plainly, it's the all star team that represents montreal in each year's labour day weekend intercity tournament. being one of the (if not actually are) top teams, needless to say, it was a game we really wanted to win.
our last two games turned out to be close losses... both in overtime. first one being double overtime, against last years champs even. i dont mind the overtime action, modesty aside, it makes us the most exciting team to watch, no contest. but down the stretch in this game we got our minds set on a fitting motto,
two straight losses even got us slumping and pointing fingers at each other. a win was really needed to stop the team' bleeding. another loss would likely have killed the team' will to play together.
not only were we facing personal difficulties amidst a must-win game, we were short on players. missing five, seven showed up. half the starters, a pair of players/coaches, and a green rookie. disadvantage, but a blessing in many ways. a line and two on the bench, definitely would put our cardio to the test. but unlike our previous games where we juggled lines with a stacked bench, all seven of us were able to get (a helluva lot of) time, therefore get warm and find our groove.
i definitely benefitted, able to settle my nerves and check my handle. protected the ball much better this time around. and felt good running the offense. felt young again. aww the glory days. notched a few assists, a block, two baskets, and sadly got teefed a couple times. cant help but lose my handle when it gets physical. and my shot was shaky and teased me like a virgin (or any girl for that matter, but i digress).
so naturally i eased into a more comfortable role, in distribution. had a couple of stints in the role of 'scorer' for a couple of years back in the day (rive-sud; post-leo era, and edwin' south shore team), and was money... but typically, i distribute and run the O. which i did. cause leo's on my team. hehehe
anyhow, with 7 players, up 4 after the half, the other team looked more drained than we did. everybody played big.
jose (player/coach) with a stuffy nose even, came thru with solid minutes. he really did all the grunt work. he was quiet as hell, but only cause he was pushing his limit. zo (rookie) was my main sub. he put in solid minutes too. glad he came out, kept his cool, made me proud. chiggs played his role straight on. he's like the biggest decoy. when he touches the ball, he gets swarmed. he put up a couple of baskets, some boards and pretty much did his job and took up space. leo, the franchise/co-cap'n did his job on defense and offense. solid numbers. gil, our teams' jordan, came up big. had a run where he alone put the team up by 10 with threes and jumpers. he's drama, but he did right this game. he stepped up when we struggled. i just checked the score sheet, and gil put up 30. fuck. thats disgustin...
BUT player of the game goes out to... PAULIE (player/coach). his shooting from the field was not amazing but he did hit a pair, one being a trey. paul finished with 10. but he came up major in the last minutes, keepin us in the lead, hitting all 4 free throws to seal the W. now thats a veteran.
so yea we won. finally. cooled the tension. really needed that one. puts us 2-2. got another game next week with the league's first place team, this years new england patriots, undefeated and runnin up scores. if anything, it'll be a fight to just keep up, let alone win. O-T would be lovely this time around.
p.s. before gametime, i was blessed with flattering news. i was asked to run in this years intercity team for the labour day tournament. i said i'd think about it. this year' tournament is in ottawa. if i do, i'd have to train come summertime. it's a lot of work. but the tourney is hella fun. playin cities like new york, chicago, toronto, virginia, detroit... shit is real business. we'll see, still long time from now.
p.s.s. nba fans should check out gil arenas blog. funny, insightful, and inspiring.
peace!
No comments:
Post a Comment