At the free-throw line, Red trapped the ball under his left foot soccer-style and took a couple breaths. Then he picked up the ball, squared his shoulders, and looked at the front rim.
Along the sideline, Clifton United stood in a row, elbows locked. Coach Acevedo was at one end, Ms. Yvonne at the other.
With my basketball eyes, I checked the Fury bench. Double Zero, Face Mask, and a couple others were watching. Dancing Man and Fur—a kid with the letter y missing from the word Fury on his uniform—were examining the game ball.
Red dribbled three times—low and hard—and stood back up. He spun the ball until his fingers found the right seams and looked at the rim again. He extended his arms and took the shot.
Underhanded.
And just like every other time …
Swish!
* * *
“Clifton United sure looks loose out there,” I play-by-played. I rubbed A-Wu’s hair. “Check out what’s going on at center court.” Speedy rubbed my hair and Diego’s at the same time. “Quite a different scene from this morning’s contests, that’s for sure.”
We were goofing around before the opening tip, and as the Fury players took the court, they had no idea what to make of us.
Cool.
With my basketball eyes, I found my dad across the gym, kneeling down, chin in hand.
His eyes were glued to me.
I was the only kid on Clifton United with a parent here.
Cool.
Our starting five was our small-ball unit: Diego, Maya, Speedy, A-Wu, and me. A-Wu was jumping center, but we knew she wasn’t outjumping Face Mask.
We had a plan.
“Here we go!” I announced. “The knockout round of the Jack Twyman Spring Showdown is under way.”
Face Mask leaped for the ball, but A-Wu didn’t. Instead, she backed into the circle toward where Face Mask was aiming. He tipped it too hard. The ball deflected off Fur’s fingertips and out of bounds.
Plan. Executed. Perfectly.
Tweet! Tweet!
“Blue ball on the side.” The referee pointed.
“Thor!” I sprinted to the spot. “Thor!”
This was the play Maya had suggested. Maya was getting the ball.
We charged into position. The Fury wasn’t ready to defend a rapid-fire set play. Not even close.
I smacked the ball, and our offense went to work. A moment later, Diego was wide open up top, and Maya was wide open in the corner. I passed to her. She caught the ball, squared up, and took the shot.
Swish!
“Ballin’!” I pumped my fists at Maya as we sprinted back on defense.
“Ballin’!” Red stood on a chair and waved his hoodie.
Eighty-Eight, the Fury’s point guard, brought the ball up, but no one was open. Our defense was on lockdown. Maya forced Eighty-Eight into taking an off-balance shot from the foul line. It banged off the side of the backboard.
Diego boxed out Fur, grabbed the rebound, and hit me with the outlet.
“Here comes Irving,” I announced. “He’s got a head of steam down the left side. He crosses the three-point line … cuts toward lane … It’s good! Oh, what a shot by Irving!”
“Yo!” Diego gave me a hard double pound. “Cheat code!”
I sprinted back on defense and tracked my man.
“No letdown on defense!” I shouted to my teammates. “Pick up your men!”
“Person!” Maya shouted back. “Pick up your person!”
I knew the Fury weren’t fazed. Not at all. This was a stacked team that wasn’t going away quietly. They patiently executed their half-court offense and scored on a bank shot from the elbow.
“Press! Press!” the Fury’s coach shouted.
We broke their full-court press. At half-court, I dribbled past Dancing Man and made like I was heading for the lane. But just before I reached the foul line, I dumped the ball off to Diego. He faked out Fur and drove to the hoop for the basket.
“En fuego!” Diego pinched out his jersey as he raced back.
Everyone on our bench waved their hoodies.
“Diego Vasquez is unstoppable!” Red shouted. “U-N-S-T-O-P-P-A-B-L-E. Diego Vasquez is unstoppable!”
The Fury came back down the floor and worked the ball into Face Mask, who drew a foul in the act of shooting and sank one of two from the line.
The Fury didn’t press after the free throws. We ran our half-court offense, but for the first time we missed a shot. The Fury grabbed the rebound and scored again.
No, they weren’t going away.
* * *
“That was beautiful basketball out there.” Coach Acevedo beamed during the first time-out. “Absolutely beautiful.”
“Absolutely beautiful, Clifton United,” Red said, hopping.
Everyone laughed.
“We’re loose and having fun,” Coach Acevedo said. “This is real Clifton United basketball.”
“Above and beyond Clifton United basketball.” I smacked a chair.
Coach Acevedo pointed with his iPad down the sideline. “Right now, they’re making adjustments,” he said. “We need to be ready.”
“We’re ready!” Diego pounded the floor with both fists. “Yo, we can do this!”
“We’re bringing it on every possession,” Coach Acevedo said. “We come committed to excellence.”
Red reached over and ruffled my hair. “The Showdown is sick, Mason Irving.”
“The sickest ever,” I said.
* * *
The first half was twenty minutes of beautiful back-and-forth basketball. Our early four-point lead turned out to be the biggest lead for either team. A couple times, the Fury looked ready to go on a run, but each time, Maya wouldn’t allow it. She made big shot after big shot and scored our last six points of the half.
Maya opened the scoring in the second half, and for the first time all game we built a five-point lead. But then Eighty-Eight took over the game. He hit two three-pointers and then made a ridiculous underhanded layup (and got fouled on the play). With four minutes left, he hit a shot from in close that gave the Fury their first lead of the half. Then a few possessions later, he and Face Mask ran a picture-perfect give-and-go.
The Fury led by four, their largest lead of the game.
Just 1:54 remained. We needed a basket. We were getting a basket.
We got a basket. We ran a set play, swung the ball to Super-Size near the foul line, and he hit Maya underneath for a layup.
“U-ni-ted!” our bench cheered as we raced back on defense. “U-ni-ted!”
The Fury ran their half-court offense and worked the ball into Face Mask. But Super-Size kept a hand in his face the whole time, so Face Mask had to swing it back out to Eighty-Eight, who put up a three-pointer.
Swish!
I brought the ball up. Dancing Man was still guarding me, but he was playing back.
Bad idea.
From behind the three-point line at the top of the key, I put up a shot …
“Boo-yah!” I hammer-fisted the air.
“Bam!” Red leaped off his chair. “Bam! Bam! Bam!”
“Dee-fense!” Mehdi chanted from the bench.
“Dee-fense.” Everyone joined in. “Dee-fense!”
No way was the Fury scoring. No way.
Double Zero passed to Face Mask in the low post. Super-Size and I swarmed and forced him to take a bad shot.
With 41.7 seconds left, we had the ball. I walked the ball upcourt and waited for my offense. Super-Size set a screen for Maya, and as she made her cut I saw that she was going to beat her defender to the corner. My pass was waiting for her.
She took the shot.
Swish!
Tie game!
The Fury called their final time-out. They were going to work the clock and play for the last shot. Face Mask was going to be their first option. Dancing Man was going to be their second.
I was sure of it.
I was ready. We all were ready. We were getting the stop.
No.
Somehow, Eighty-Eight managed to thread the needle between A-Wu and Diego and get the ball to Face Mask. He put up a shot that rattled home.
“Time-out!” Coach Acevedo shouted, jabbing his fingers into his palm and forming a T. “Time-out!”
Tweet! Tweet!
“Time-out, blue,” the referee said, and signaled.
Only 3.8 seconds remained.
