Putting the No 7 out to dry

Its 2 30 in the morning. My throats as sore as sore can be and my feet kill. Its been an emotionally draining night.

Been through one of the best basketball matches that Ive ever played.
Ive been playing the game for over 10 years now and Ive been in quite a few cliffhangers but none compares to this.

Its a rush everytime you step on court especially in a tournament on home turf with the crowd raging right behind you.

Here's some of the best cliffhangers Ive been in and sad to this but most of the time Ive been on the wrong end.

I guess this was back in 2004 when I was playing for Ambedkars Basketball Club Bangalore under 16.

We were up against it against a fired up Jaynagar Sports Club. And pretty much the whole match went dilly dallying one side to another. I vaguely remember making a steal and trying to make a fancy pass when all i shoulda done was ran straight and lay up.

Our coach Sachin Sir got stuck into me during the timout. I was taken off. Fuck that moment when the coach takes you off is indescribable. You know you've fucked up bigtime. And to make matters worse I kicked the water bottle towards the bench. People were like wtf u doing u dickhead??

Luckily coach dint see that else I woulda got pasted. Either way with about a minute to go we were down by 3. With 30 seconds to go somebody fouled and one of my teammates went to the line and scored both. The last 15 seconds were crazy. Both the benches were screaming thier heads off. We had one chance to score and if we did we were through to the finals.

I had the ball and passed to zero. I wasnt really short sighted then so I think the pass was okay but the prick couldnt hold on to it. Game over we lost by one. Post game there was so much pandemonium. People were having a pop at each other. Fortunately, I dint get into that, just picked up my bag and walked home.

Another crazy game was when my last year in school 2007. Centaur vs Phoenix house. We were the better team on paper. We had a coupla good perimeter shooters and an awesome centre in Appachu. 3 quarters in the game was nicely balanced. We were up by 5. I remember making an awesome steal, and the crowd went ooh and aah and score!!!. Fuck me. I was but all alone with no body around. Easiest layup. Done in 100 times in practice. And right then all that flashed in my mind was the fancy pass I tried agaist JSC. The minute I released the ball I knew it wasnt going in. I coulda stayed back rebounded and converted. But no. I ran straight into the wall and hit my head against it. The dude who was sitting on the wall tells me "Dude hit it harder!!!!".

That was the turning point. They ran all over us from there. We tried playing fast when all we shoulda done was keep the ball. Bang Bang. We lost the game by 4. I benched sankalp one of our best shooters for most of the game. Its one of the few things I regret till today.

That was school and club. Then I came to BITS Goa. Here I thought things will be different no more cliff hangers, its either win easy or lose big. Maybe since I thought college basketball is to a different level.









SPREE 2009. It was out first match of the tournament. We were up against St Xaviers. Halftime and we were up by 16. BITS Goa has a history of fucking up in the second half. And man did we fuck up or what. With 30 seconds to go we were up by only 1 and swish they scored. with 10 seconds to go we were down by one and Abhi got fouled. Chance to win it. 2 throws.









The look on Abhis face was incredible. The poor guy then a freshman was scared to death. It was written all over his face that he was gonna miss. First shot. Missed. Im like "dude atleast tie the game up". Missed again. I had my hands over my head. I thought game over. Out of nowhere came Anshu. Brilliant rebound. Shot. Scored!!!!!!!.

7 Seconds to and we were up by 1. And we hung on. Anshuman had bailed us out. He's the best player Ive played alongside. Skillwise and as a person. Top guy.









That win followed by another put us in the semis. Waiting for us were RSCOE from Pune. They had Shekar, a national centre. And trust me when I say this I havent seen someone play post as well as him in years.
So the game went on. Halfway through we were up by 6 odd. And as usual second half we started screwing up. Arun, another brilliant player of our team got off injured. And the downslide started. With about a minute to go we were down by 2, panic, chaos, havoc. Shekar, got a few in. Game over. Lost by 4.









The worst part is a few hours or even days after the game. Every moment of such a close game you lose runs on and on in your head like a horror movie, except that you are in it. The WHAT IF??? flashes again and again. What if I had converted that shot??. What if I had stopped the attack right away.It never goes away.









Which brings us to todays game. Its just a few hours past it and the feeling hasnt sunk in yet. The horror flick is playing in my head. The what if's are right in front of me.

SPREE 2010. We had a pretty easy run into the quarters. We were up against JSS Noida, a rather unpredictable team but nowhere better than us.

Deja Vu. Halftime we were up by 2. I started on the bench and the first half looked easy enough. I said to Ralino"Game's ours man". He nodded in agreement. They came out flying second half. Before we knew it we were down by 10. And most of our big players Anshu, Lakhmeet and Arun were on a lot of fouls.

The atmosphere was electric. Never seen anything like it in my 3 years here are BITS. The home crowd was right behind us. Pegging us and even abusing the oppenents. :D .

We're not the best fitness wise. We knew that before the tourney itself. Generally, 4th quarter we're pretty much burned out. But not today. Don't really know where that drive comes from. When ur up against it and the crowd is with you.

40 seconds left and down by 5. Bang Bang. Anshu hit them. and with 3 seconds left, the ball was out of bounds. Those 3 seconds were like eternity. We were down by 2 and 3 seconds to go. Thier Center was fouled out. The strat was simple. Ball to Lakhmeet our centre. He shot. Missed. Damn it. Shit. Game over I thought. Not again. But that wasnt to be. Lucky got the rebound and converted. Game over. Normal time was up. Score were tied. We had pulled off the comeback. Later Lucky told me that he had no clue that there were only 3 seconds left so he dint know that it was do or die. Ignorance is bliss. Tell me about it.

Extra time then. This game was going one way and another. Scores were tied. with 30 seconds to go in extra time. Gopal hit one. YES!!!. Up by 2. And then SWAT!!!. Anshu fouled. Damn it. He was out for the game. And they scored both thier shots.

Extra time up. Scores level. Second extra time. Same old story. Game goes this way and that. gopal was brilliant. But fouls hurt us and I could say cost us the match. With 5 seconds to go. They had a chance to win it from the line. Bang Bang. Surely this was it. They won the game. 77-75. We were lost for words. That very moment was when all these close games came to mind. It was pretty much like all those horror movies in a relay.

But the minute the final whistle went, every member in the crowd, even from other teams and colleges stood up to applaud what was an incredible match. We were drained. It was too much to take at that moment.

As I put my No 7 jersey to dry a few minutes back , I realised that I probably wont play another competitive tournament again. Its hung to dry forever I think. But Im happy to be part of a wonderful team that gave each and everyone at SPREE 2010 a game to remember.