Yes I can, Yes I can....

I can't think. I can't do it. What's going on?. F@#&! Arghhhhh! This is the worst basketball game i've ever played. Please don't pass me the ball. Just let me hide in the corner. Let me guard their worst player so i can at least look average. Don't let my friends see me! This is really embarrassing........
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Sometimes its just not your day.
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Jamie gets another rebound again. And again. Someone screams "grab the rebounds. Two hands!" Their WORST player starts taking me on. I can't do anything right. Please Lord just let ONE shot go in.
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After two tiring games with no success, the fellas ponder whether they should bother guarding "number 32", that Asian guy who seems to be getting worse by the minute.
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Playing basketball is a state of mind. Jamie's and Drazen's voices keep ringing in my head: "It's all a state of mind. You gotta believe that those shots are gonna go in". New game. Let's start afresh again. Gotta psyche myself up.
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I cut hard towards the basket. They chuck me the ball and I instinctively shoot the turnaround J. Money. Will screams: "Don't let him get position".
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I can do this. That was easy.
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They get me the ball again on the opposite side. Hookshot. Second shot goes in.
I feel like a possessed man, doing best impersonation of Rodman and grab the next two rebounds and put them back in. Another turnaround jumpshot. Seemingly i am everywhere. Someone screams "who's guarding 32!?!". Yousef, a confident player with excellent dribbling skills walks up to me.

Yousef: "How tall are you man?"
We stand back to back. He sizes me up.
Yousef: "We're the same height. So why are they throwing the ball to you like your Shaq?"

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I'm just feeling it. I''m on fire baby. I've hit like 6 shots IN A ROW including my first three pointer of the game. If there ever was a time i was in the zone, it is now.
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Next possession. Yousef walks up to me "Let me guard this guy. One possession".
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I immediately call for the ball. Fake right, spin left. Pump fake. He doesn't bite. But i release anyway. Ball rolls around the rim, spins out. I've missed, but my confidence is back.
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They changed the matchups, putting a burlier, more physical defender Bruno on me. He's able to deny me posession a few times and he's very active bumping me. I still hit a couple of shots but not so many are going in. DJ Ho's Play of the day: Bruno recieves a pass on the left baseline and goes hard to the basket. He attempts a fingerroll from just below the backboard.
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Where's Bruno? Oh no there he is!
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Like an eagle I swoop in. Bruno doesn't see me coming. I reach out, with my right hand at full extension and knock the ball out of his hands. Ben Wallace eat your heart out! The message has been sent. # 32 is a force to be reckoned with. (Well at least temporarily).
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Was this a dream? Did this really happen? Did i have too many drinks the night b4? Was I in the zone ala Michael Jordan 1988 against the Boston Celtics style?
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Perhaps the biggest respect that i got was from my fellow players and opponents. after the game. Drazen says to me "you were playing really well. First half not so good. Second half you shooting really well".
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Next challenge: KGV this Sunday. Can I do it? Who will I be?