• Play Ball

    Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be the captain of a basketball team, and now it was my time.
    “Okay boys, lets show Celtics how to play basketball!” Kobe yelled confidently. Kobe Bryant or the Black Mamba as we called him. He was captain of our squad, the L.A. Lakers and even though his temper got in the way sometimes, his heart was filled with pure basketball. Just then the announcers voice boomed over the whole stadium-
    “REPRESENTING LOS ANGELES, THE L.A LAKERS!!!” The crowd went insane. The stadium shook like an earthquake as we ran out into our positions. Even though Kobe had confessed to being intimidated by LeBron James, he looked like he could take on the whole And1 Streetball crew.

    The game started. Tip off was easy for LeBron, but getting passes through to his players wasn't. It felt like every pass was intercepted by Gasol and thrown up the court to Kobe who made three pointers like layups. Throughout the whole game I felt left out. I got into space so many times and never got passed to so I gave up. I didn't come back on for the game. Frankly, even if I was asked to I would have sat on the bench and blanked anybody.

    At the end of the game the score was 93-124 to us. So much for needing me. I needed to get better. I needed respect. So I asked Mr Kupchak, our manager, if I could get about 3 months off. He said yes. No hesitation, no Pleading, nothing. That showed how much I meant to the team. I knew what I had to do to earn some respect. It was one of the only ways and I was over the moon to be going back there. I was going to the streets to play ball with And1.

    I met up with my old friend hot sauce and we played a little 1 on 1. Since he had way more Streetball experience than me I got owned. The score was 9-21. He could tell I was rusty and he basically took me under his wing as a streetballer. Streetball is harder than NBA basketball even though there are more players in NBA basketball. It took me an month to learn the basic stuff but from then on I went through like a breeze.

    I had to start doing matches so I went round the country going up against baller after baller, taking them down one by one. I was so close to beating the best players in the Streetball league. There was only 1 left and it was back where I trained in The Bronx, New York. I new this wasn't going to go well so before I left I did some training to perfect my skills- Tornado, Whirlwind, Backache, all the skills I would need to beat my next contender.

    As I came round the corner of the court, I saw him. The one, the only, Allen Iverson. He was standing there on the court making three pointers like there was no tomorrow. I had to face Allen Iverson. The crossover legend. I would never, ever, in my whole entire basketball career beat Allen Iverson. But then I thought, Or would I?

    We shot to start. Naturally, Iverson started and we did a check where he passed the ball to me and I passed it back. As soon as he received the check he went into his signature crossover and left me in the dust. As soon as I realised I dashed madly to where he was - at the basket. He did a double mini windmill to rub it in my face. It's on, I thought to myself. Normally, a Streetball 1 on 1 would be filled with a little bit of smack talk, but this game was practically smack talk itself. So back to the game, I checked him and he tried to drive to the basket which failed terribly and ended in me stealing the ball from him. As the rules said, I took it out of the 3 point area. Iverson was on top of me in a second, defending me like a shield. I pulled a backache on him, putting the ball on his back and tapping it over his head. He turned and I took the chance to shoot a 3 point which got me in front of Iverson by 1 point. The score was 1-2 to me and even though we had only been going about 5 minutes, it seemed like an hour. Another check and I was stolen straight away followed by me and iverson thundering down the court. He went up for a dunk and I saw my chance for a block. I jumped like a flea and felt my hand slam into the ball. Next thing I knew, everybody was yelling and shouting.
    “Blocked! Iverson got blocked!” I was over the moon, but there was not time for that now. I grabbed the ball and dribbled out then back in and did a 360 dunk. You could see the anger on his face now – the downfall of all ball players. I could manipulate this to my advantage. He checked me
    but when I went into a crossover and dribbled the ball didn't come back.
    “keep up next time newbie!” Iverson mocked before shooting an easy free throw. I checked him and he went into a whirlwind stance. I reacted as fast as a light and ducked while putting my arms upwards. Even though I knew I had the ball, I knew I wasn't going to get it without pulling my weight. I braced myself, ready for anything and then there was a sudden harsh jerk. I felt like I was flying because regardless of Iverson's moderately skinny body structure, he was like a tow truck on a rampage. Somehow, I stayed strong, gained my footing and yanked like a bungee cord. All the previous pressure on the ball left and I exploded in the direction of the basket but halfway through a windmill dunk I felt a force discharge on the ball and I was thrown backwards. I saw Iverson coming in my direction and acting on impulse, I launched myself into the air and smacked the ball out of his hands. I dribbled out and shot a 3 pointer. Swish. Then came 3 point swishes again and again until game point. The score was 2-20 to me. one more shot would win it. I dribble inside the 3 point line then stopped. I bent down and put the ball between my legs then I stood up and faked a backwards shot. Iverson turned around! He actually fell for my special trick! I didn't have time to gloat so I finished the game. Full on 720 dunk.

    From that day on, I got the respect I deserved and I became captain. Every player who was smart enough to know how good they were didn't disrespect me. However, the ones who did got a big Streetball surprise. I was the best. The only. Rain-Man because I could make it rain 3 pointers from deep.