The Final Shot

Chapter 14: All-Star Weekend (2): He Beat Him?!

At the start of the second day, as the Braves entered the Penguins' stadium, they quietly discussed amongst themselves about the All-Star Game.

"Yo bro, All Star Game today! We aint part of it though!"

"Who do you think gunna be cap?"

"Aint gonna matter, they all gonna be on one team, no difference."

"Yeah, yeah, Michael and Jake aint nervous at all no but this King's first All-Star game. Gonna show him the privileges?"

"Stop fooling around. Let's head to our seats."

With that, Michael effectively ended the conversation with ease. They passed by the Penguins on their way and gave them some pretty good death glares. They went to their seats and sat down to have some rest after walking the whole way from the hotel to the stadium, which was 2 kilometres away from the hotel. They had to walk since their school didn't have a lot of money to spare. They sat down, and felt relief. They paid attention to the Audience VS Player games as well, though there were only three, as it was one of the ways for regular people to impress teams without trying to go to the team's tryouts. It was rare, though, that someone good actually came out of these games. The first game was between some random audience member called Erik M'Bol. He played against M.D. Poltor of the Gators. The result was obvious: M.D. Poltor won by twenty points. 20-0. The next audience member was called Akira Sato. He would be playing against Martin King of the Mares. Martin King was fairly decent, unlike M.D. Poltor, and averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds last season. He is currently averaging 13 points and 12 rebounds. The second game started. When Akira Sato got the first ball, he did not waste his chance. He drove in fearlessly into Martin, and spun past him easily with a crossover-spin. Then he dribbled as fast as he could towards the basket and dunked it in. All the players in the stadium were discussing with their teammates about Akira. Even King was talking to Michael.

"Wow. I highly doubt whether or not I can even do that on Martin. Martin's supposed to be very good at defense, is he not?"

"Yeah. He finished third in DPOY voting, so he's one of the top defenders in the league. We should recruit him after the game is over."

King was shocked. Michael rarely accepted the skills of anyone, and not even himself.

"Really?"
"Yes. Now quiet down."

Michael's responses were always cold but cool.

<<Back to the game>>

Since it was a 1 on 1, it was now Martin's possession. All of the players in the stadium were again ignited with curiosity. The million dollar question for them was "How good is Akira's defense?". If he could only play offense but could not defend someone, he would be a double-edged sword. Martin did a post-up on Akira, trying to bully him as Martin was taller than him by a bit but way more strong. Akira successfully held his ground and repeatedly tried to steal the ball. Martin saw a chance and spun around Akira. Martin then went to the paint to finish his layup when he heard very loud incoming footsteps behind him. And then it happened.

"AKIRA SATO BLOCKED MARTIN KING?!?!?!!??!" was heard all around the stadium.

There was no time for Akira to waste, though, so he quickly dribbled to outside of the three-point line and all the way to the halfcourt point. And then he shot the ball. The ball went in. Everyone but him in the stadium went crazy.