One bright and sunny Sunday afternoon, four tough and strong individuals gathered at the world renowned Bethesda Bukit Arang Church Basketball Court in Singapore. These four were all highly skilled basketball players, coming from the 4 countries in the world most well known for basketball : Countries Ba, Ket, Sal and Bl.
These four individuals were Alan McGrady, Gabriel Bryant, Aaron Iverson and Clara James.
When they first arrived, they stared at each other murderously in the eyes. They were fierce, competitive players, and all of them were not used to losing basketball matches due to their tremendous skill. One would have thought they were there for a Boxing Match, given the intensity in their faces.
Then came Joshua Parker, the umpire of the day. He was the organiser that pulled together these 4 players for this basketball match.
Due to the expected competitiveness of this match, there was Live TV Coverage, broadcasted to the billions of people in the world who have TV and are watching at the moment. The cameraman set up his camera on the tripod, adjusting it to capture the entire halfcourt where the 2 on 2 match would be played.
Since all were skilful players, the most fair way to decide teams would be to shoot Free Throws, known as 'jing gen jing' in Singapore. (Directly translated as score and score, which means those who scores will be on the same team)
Gabriel Bryant was first up to shoot.. and he missed! What a terrible miss too! The ball merely bounced on the left of the rim and flew clear out. Didn't even touch the rim twice.
Alan McGrady stepped up for his shot.. and he went swoosh through the net. He confidently stepped away and took a sip of his favourite energy drink, EnergizeJuice.
Aaron Iverson tried his luck - but his shot just bounced off the back of the rim. He shrugs his shoulders and stepped away.
Clara James walked to the free throw line, put both hands on the ball, and tossed it cleanly up.. and it went right through the hoop without touching the rim at all!
So the teams were set - it was Alan McGrady and Clara James VS Gabriel Bryant and Aaron Iverson.
Alan shot a dubious glance at Clara. After all, she was the only female player on the court. She saw his glance and as if reading his mind, said, "Don't worry! I can qie past that flabby Gabriel easily! Aaron doesn't seem serious he is always smiling! I will shoot over them like chicken feed!"
Alan nodded in acknowledgement. Was this confidence or cockiness? Alan shrugged his shoulders. It didn't matter to him, he knew he had a game plan - which was to play his best and score what he could and assist what he could.
If you have absolutely no interest in basketball, skip this blue section and proceed to the next black section. The game started with Gabriel's team's possession, it was a race to 7 points.
The play was fast and furious, all players moved around like lightning and their ball control was superb. Alan's team managed to force a turnover, and he held the ball at the corner. He fired a quick pass to Clara and ran in for a pass. Instead of passing, Clara took a shot from the 3-point line.
Alan slapped his forehead. What stupidity was this? Shooting when a clear pass to someone closer to the ring would be the better option? Shooting a 3pointer no less? He quickly ran to the ring to catch the rebound.
To his surprise, the ball went swoosh through the net. Clara walked nonchalantly to the starting point to receive the ball to start again. Alan was stunned for a second, but nodded contemplatively. 'This girl is good' he thought.
After several minutes, the score was 3-0 in Alan's team's favour, but they fumbled and the possession was with Gabriel's team. Gabriel's team made some good passes and pickandrolls, and the ball ended up with Gabriel underneath the ring... and he shot.. AND MISSED.
Aaron closed his eyes and his almostforevertheresmile disappeared for a second. 'What a noob' he thought.
Alan's team turned over the ball again, and Gabriel managed to qie past the other team with skill, and was again left with the open rim. He leapt up high with great agility, rolled the ball upwards -- and MISSED again! Aaron sighed loudly to voice his resentment.
Alan and Clara then exchanged some quality passes which confused the opposition, and on one possession, Clara took the ball and dashed down the side past Gabriel. With her quick speed, she leant forward and rolled the ball upwards. Gabriel jumped , full-stretched ... but his fingers just missed the ball. The ball rolled off the board and went in! "What a basket!" Alan exclaimed, running over to hi-five Clara.
4-0
At this point, Aaron was frustrated, and announced loudly : "Ok i'm going to step up my D! " (Translation : i'm going to defend Alan tighter!)
With that, he stuck both hands out wide and marked Alan very very tightly. Feeling the challenge, Alan made a quick cut to the side and dashed down with Aaron still on him. He made a leaning fadeaway shot suddenly from 3 metres and the shot went in.
The ball restarted with Alan, and again he dashed down the side with Aaron tightly on him. From the baseline, Alan leapt up and tossed the ball into the air after receiving a small bodycheck my Aaron when Alan tried to qie past him. To his surprise, the ball hit the board and went in!
6-0.
Alan checked the ball to Aaron to start the game, and then quickly fired a 3pointer shot over Aaron. SWOOSH.
7-0
The game was all over.
Alan and Clara jumped up with exclamations of joy and ran around the court in celebration. A live band at the side played some joyous music as Alan and Clara celebrated. A throng of people had gathered to watch the match and they applauded loudly as Gabriel and Aaron tried to hide their faces.
After the game, Alanz's Times reporter caught up with all 4 players for their comments about the game.
Reporter: So alan and clara, what do you think led to your demolition of the other team?
Clara: "Hmm, i don't know? Perhaps it was our good teamplay and defence. Alan scored most of the points, so he deserves the credit!"
Reporter thinks 'wa she so humble ah'
Alan: "Haha nah, it was Clara's quickness and defence that contributed to our victory. If she hadn't pulled Gabriel away, i would have to get past 2 players to score instead of just one."
Reporter thinks 'wa she so humble ah'
Alan: "Haha nah, it was Clara's quickness and defence that contributed to our victory. If she hadn't pulled Gabriel away, i would have to get past 2 players to score instead of just one."
As seen from the picture, both players were extremely happy, and they were full of praise for each other. The reporter was surprised - usually extremely good players were slightly cocky or arrogant. These two were the exception.
The reporter then looked for the losing team. It was quite hard to locate them, apparently, they were hiding from the paparazzi and the angry supporters who supported them. The reporter finds Aaron in a secluded area with a bench.
Reporter: "So Aaron, how does it feel to lose such a big match in front of a world-wide and live audience, AND lose it by such a big margin?!"
Aaron: "I'm okay with it. It was a good and competitive game, and i gave my best! It's a good learning experience, maybe i can brush up more on my jumpshot!"
As you can see, his almostforevertheresmile is still there, even after losing by such a big margin..
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After much hunting, the Reporter finally found Gabriel Bryant - he was in a deserted room.
Reporter : You must be dejected after losing by such a big margin! To a team with a girl no-less! How do you feel?
Gabriel: -ignores the Reporter and doesn't look at the camera-
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Reporter: Come on Gabriel! Don't be so sad! Just one picture with you looking at the camera please!
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Gabriel: Ok ok. -_-
Frightened from Gabriel's fierce glare, the Reporter runs off to HQ to post all his pictures and write his report.
THE END
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Not all parts of this story was true. The picture captions are fictional la ok =) gabs is a nice guyyy. haha. But some of the dialogue in the story was real. like aaron's 'i'm gonna step up my D' =)
And, me and clara DID thrash gabriel and aaron 7-0 in one game. =) The basketball part (blue part) was actual fact, as in, how i scored and how clara scored etc. And how gabriel missed the open layups. =)
So shack. haven't played bball in so long and we played so many matches and 2v2 somemore so MUST run one.
OH yeah, raylia was super cute today! haha. She wore some scarve thing on her head for church then when she came for bball later on she tied into a ponytail. i grabbed her for a picture
Dont look at me i look damn weird in this picture. i blurred out my teeth and photoshopped abit otherwise it'll look weirder. but raylia super cute! ^_^ ha
alright.. this post super long. good bye hope i entertained you for 10-15 minutes =D
Reporter : You must be dejected after losing by such a big margin! To a team with a girl no-less! How do you feel?
Gabriel: -ignores the Reporter and doesn't look at the camera-.
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Reporter: Come on Gabriel! Don't be so sad! Just one picture with you looking at the camera please!
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Gabriel: Ok ok. -_-Frightened from Gabriel's fierce glare, the Reporter runs off to HQ to post all his pictures and write his report.
THE END
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Not all parts of this story was true. The picture captions are fictional la ok =) gabs is a nice guyyy. haha. But some of the dialogue in the story was real. like aaron's 'i'm gonna step up my D' =)
And, me and clara DID thrash gabriel and aaron 7-0 in one game. =) The basketball part (blue part) was actual fact, as in, how i scored and how clara scored etc. And how gabriel missed the open layups. =)
So shack. haven't played bball in so long and we played so many matches and 2v2 somemore so MUST run one.
OH yeah, raylia was super cute today! haha. She wore some scarve thing on her head for church then when she came for bball later on she tied into a ponytail. i grabbed her for a picture
Dont look at me i look damn weird in this picture. i blurred out my teeth and photoshopped abit otherwise it'll look weirder. but raylia super cute! ^_^ haalright.. this post super long. good bye hope i entertained you for 10-15 minutes =D
