Genius Rivals (Ongoing)

19 - LUCKY SHOT

With the thick energy sorrounding the arena still in effect, my observation of the game remains intact. The game is now in 5 minutes of the 4th quarter and the scores are tied at 84 in the scoreboard. The Bulls are much harder opponents than what they seem to be, seeing how much effort the Knights has given yet they still somehow holding in the game.

Tristan breathes heavily while in the bench. Their coach draws them the play while in a timeout. The whole team is sweaty but still fired up enough to win the game.

"This a closer game than I thought..." France says the exact words to me. Still heard it clearly despite of the loud cheers. I look at him for a second and never bothered to reply.

Jagged breathing while drinking Gatorade from the jug, the whole team is tired and all. The signs of fatigue are showing.

A whistle was blown when the timeout is over.

The first to stand is Tristan. Number 1 in the back of his jersey looking at me. He stood up almost instantaneously. Instantaneous even for his teammates. Everyone looked up to him, wearing a serious expression.

"LEEEETTT'S GOOOOOO!"

With fire in his eyes, Tristan let out a competitive shout. So loud that even I heard it amongst the cheers. His teammates look at him with surprise, yet that look quickly turned to determination. I sat there looking at him motionless. Quite inspirational but a kind of lame.

"This is when our shots needs to go in!" he lead. "We follow the gameplan and we can win this game."

Tristan's leadership is kind of underrated aspect of him, but he's still a jackass and a pretty big one at it.

PRRRRTTTT!

The ball were in the hands of the Bulls. Their power forward inbounding it from the other side of the court. Point guard takes it then. The Knights defense readies as the ball were brought to the half court. Everyone looking at the point guard, but the pressure is on the primary defender. The number 6 player at around 178 centimeter with thin frame guards the handler. Number 6 focuses hard, not letting any distraction come to him.

The opponent guard drives to his right and 6 reacts instantly to it. The opponent knowing he can't pass right through this guy once again drives to the right, but he has a trick up his sleeve. Just when the opponent was driving right to the rim, he dribbled the ball to his left hand. Causing 6 to stumble and fall. A crossover as they call it.

"OOOOHH! SNATCHED HIS ANKLES!"

I can hear the crowd get surprised as much as disappointed.

"That was nasty," France' reaction to the crossover.

"I'd stop playing basketball after that..." I voiced monotonely.

But my words betrayed me. My words never aged well. Number 6, even if he got dropped to the ground and humiliated, stood up as quick as he can. Able to anticipate the pass from the opponent and steal the ball mid-air. From the moment he put his hands on it, I noticed the name from the back of his dark blue jersey; "Wiseman," as it is printed in rubber.

"HE REDEEMED HIMSELF FROM THAT NASTY ANKLE BREAKER!!"

The Dark Knights rushes to the other side of the court with Tristan running at the speed of light. Being the first one to arrive at the baseline, Tristan jumps so high and explosive and his athleticism is on full display. At the same time, Wiseman shoots the ball. Kind of awkward why Tristan would jump that high for nothing...

But no, it wasn't a jumpshot. It's a pass. The pace is too quick for my eyes and didn't realize it. From the moment the ball gets near the rim, Tristan jams it furiously.