When there are nine crazies at our Senior Center basketball outings, we have one team with five players, rotating them in order to play four-on-four. This is interesting, but irrelevant. Equally unimportant is that when we have a substitute because of the above situation, we play to 11 baskets instead of 8.

What is crucial to understanding that which I am about to describe is that we play loser’s out, as in regular basketball but also dissimilar from much of New Jersey playground ball.

Ok, to finally arrive at the particulars –

The fact that we had the single best player on our team at the moment seemed meaningless, even though he was on the bench watching when the opponents took a commanding 10-5 lead.

No way we could overcome such a deficit. It would mean at least six “stops” matched by an equal number of hoops scored by our side.  But the credo in such circumstances, no matter how dire looking, is “one stop.” And then the exhortation is repeated and repeated.

Steve, Lionel, Frank D., Tom D. (sub), and myself dug in our heels against Mark, Tom M., Frank C., and Danny.  We swarmed, we fought through picks, we had hands in every shooter’s face, we grabbed rebounds from erstwhile winning shots which fortunately fell off the rim.

And it magically became 10-10.

As Steve’s teammate, you know that he wants to take the last shot (and most of the others as well); of course, this is no secret to the other team either and they proceed to surround him.

I wander to the left corner, midway between the baseline and the foul line extended, hands ready for a pass.  With no breathing room at all, Steve double bounces a pass to me, and I loft the ball quickly as Frank C. is running at me like a man possessed.

Nothing but freakin’ net!!!

We win 11-10, culminating the greatest defensive performance seen at this court in many years.

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