34) In The Heat Of The Moment

Earlier today, I just finished playing basketball. Every Saturday morning, it is an open gym, drop-in. (Show up and play 5-on-5 basketball.)

​As my third pickup game was being played, my defender kept constantly taunting at me (for no reason). Out of my whole squad, he was the only one picking on me. (I wonder for what reason.)

(It could be me being the shortest guy on the court as usual. It could be who he is as a person. I hardly know the guy. Unless you know him, who knows?)

Suddenly, I could not control my composure so I went on talking back to him. (Bad news: I am rusty from basketball as well, for the reason that, I have not played it for about 2 months.) I demanded the ball twice to go one-on-one against him.

​On my first try, I went by him to my left then I missed the layup. On my second try, I posted him up near the basket then I missed the shot. (Yes, he is a few inches taller than me but I am bigger than him in size.) From there, I did not want the ball anymore. I slowly started talking back to him. (My mind was mentally drained. He got in my head.)

Instead, I looked to pass. (I am a first-pass player.) I dished a few assists (dimes). My opponent did beat me in points when I was guarding him. (I believe he only scored 3 points on me. FYI, every made basket was only one point.)

Surprisingly, my opponent told me, "He plays varsity high school basketball." That means he should be easily dominating in this pickup basketball game. (Truly, he was not.)

​He over-dribbled but he went nowhere with it. (With his over-dribbling, he still stayed at the top of the 3-point line.) Every time he dribbled, he made cocky sound-effects, like he faked me out by breaking my ankles. He is not a pure shooter, therefore I dared him to take the shot by guarding him loose. (He has a hitch to his jumpshot.) He was all talk. (Enough with my criticism.)

When our game was close to ending, he calmly told me something like, "It is part of the game." (I bet he was surprised that I never backed down. Possibly, nobody talks back to him. Who knows?) Surprisingly, he came at peace with me.

Importantly, my team won. During the heat of the moment, he told me something like, "I am scoring more than you!" Then, I told him, "Yes, you are.") Obviously, basketball is a team sport.