The Final Game

Parker groaned and looked at the clock, which read 8:05 AM. From 4:00-10:00 PM on Friday night, he had been making up schoolwork that he missed during his vacation to the Bahamas the week before, and went to bed early due to exhaustion. Now, though, he perked up considerably: it was finally Saturday morning! Suddenly wide-awake, the 5’9” 9th-grader got out of bed with a pep in his step, excited for what was promised to come later in the day, at 3:30 to be exact: a basketball game. His team, the Lakers, was made up of young teenagers that had quickly become his friends – Danny, Caleb, Matt, Xander, Tyler, Dylan, and Shiv – and they loved playing together. This particular Saturday, however, was a bit bittersweet. It was the last game that all eight kids would be on the same team.

They had breezed through the season, losing just one game that they probably should have won anyway. The team chemistry was great; the kids simply loved playing with each other, feeding off each other’s strengths, much like those in the best of relationships do. With the final game of the season upon him, Parker took a few extra minutes to reminisce over his favorite moments.

----

Danny and Xander awoke in much the same manner as Parker, though they didn’t arise until a few hours later – they had had a sleepover at Danny’s house the night before, and had played Fortnite with Matt, Caleb, Tyler, Shiv, and Dylan until 4 AM. Danny’s mom never let her son sleep past 10:00 AM – that wastes the day away!, Danny could hear her say – and it had become a force of habit for him to be up and moving by midmorning. Luckily, his 14-year-old body allowed him to recover from late nights quickly, and waking up at the designated time of 10 AM proved to be a non-issue. Xander, on the other hand, was exhausted – he needed at least eight hours of sleep to function properly. Any less than that, and Xander both looked and acted like a zombie until the afternoon. But he knew Danny’s house rules just as much as Danny did, and groaned as he arose from the sleeping bag, rubbing his eyes and silently cursing himself for allowing the night to get as late as it did. We needed to get that dub, he rationalized. It’s just tragic that Caleb and Shiv can’t get a kill to save their lives, Dylan is too aggressive, Matt and Tyler are beginners, and Danny gets killed every other second. Sometimes, I hate being a god at Fortnite.

“You hungry?” Danny looked at Xander, jarring the exhausted boy who had 30 squad wins and just one solo, from his thoughts.

Xander sighed, rubbing his eyes one more time for good measure. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

----

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Doug Pederson said to Nick Foles. Caleb had watched the Philly Special countless times, but it never failed to give him goosebumps. It had become his custom to watch the play on his laptop – at full volume, of course – the morning of every game to wake, and pump, himself up. His family hated it.

“Caleb, turn that off!” Ty, his younger brother, yelled. Caleb smiled.

----

Between noon and 1:00, Tyler, Matt, and Dylan all awoke in their own beds. While they hadn’t been invited to Danny and Xander’s impromptu sleepover, they might as well have been there, considering the Fortnite marathon. All three were still a bit tired after their long night, but woke up ready to play their last basketball game as a complete unit.

Maybe our Fortnite chemistry will translate to the court, Tyler wondered.

I don’t even like Fortnite, Matt thought angrily. Why the heck did I let myself stay up until 4 AM playing that useless game?

God, I hope we play better today than we did last night, Dylan thought. And Xander better show more on the basketball court than he did on the Fortnite map cause he was frickin’ trash last night.

----

At 2:30 PM, Shiv was the last of the crew to awake, mostly because he had stayed on and played Fortnite after they all went to sleep. I’m the oldest kid on the team, he had thought when 4 AM had rolled around. I can’t go to sleep at the same time as these kids.

By the time 4:15 AM had rolled around, the 15-year-old Shiv was seriously regretting his need to prove his seniority, but still toughed it out until 5 AM. He barely had time to shower and eat before leaving for the game, and was the last to arrive, making it just before tip-off.

----

The court – their home court – wasn’t Dylan’s favorite. While the court was regulation size, it was the gymnasium of an elementary school, and there were basketball nets on the sides, as well as the full-court hoops. Dylan believed that the side nets screwed with his mindset, throwing off his form ever so slightly. Still, he was pumped. This is our home court, he thought. We have to defend it like I defended the squad last night. He smiled at the thought of his utter brilliance at the game of Fortnite.

“What the hell are you smiling at?” Danny said, as he practiced his three-point shot. It didn’t come particularly close to going in.

“Hey! Language!” He could hear his coach, Amy, say in the background. He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, nothing,” Dylan replied, still smiling. “We’re winning today.”

“Fu…” Danny saw Amy raise her eyebrows in the background. “Heck yeah we are.”

----

At 3:20, ten minutes before the game was set to begin, Amy called the team together to talk strategy. She studied the kids as they took their final warm-up shots and walked over. First to arrive in the huddle was Xander, the 6-foot tall, slender-bodied, wavy-haired tallest kid on the team. Then came Danny, the shorter, remarkably quick point guard with jet-black hair. Next were Parker and Tyler, two of the fastest kids on the team, both around the same height, but Parker being almost two years Tyler’s senior at nearly 15 years old. Amy yelled again for the remaining kids – Dylan, Matt, and Caleb – to hurry up and join the huddle. She didn’t know where Shiv was, but his absence worried her because he was her most aggressive defensive player. Finally, Dylan and Matt entered the huddle. Dylan was her most reliable three-point shooter and, at 5’8”, one of her tallest players. Matt, her son, was the biggest-bodied kid on the team, and one of her best rebounders and post players, who also had sneaky good dribbling and passing skills, as well as a soft shooting touch. Amy suddenly found herself overcome with emotion. She was really going to miss the kids after the game ended. She hoped to still see them in the future, but knew things would never be the same again. The other team better show up, she thought. I want one more game with these kids.

“This other team better show up,” Caleb, the 5’6”, slender, spunky, trash-talking 14-year-old said to no one in particular as he waltzed into the huddle.

“But a forfeit counts as a win for us, right?” Xander asked.

“Yeah, but I want to play,” Tyler responded. “I want to win for real.”

“Does anyone know where Shiv is?” Amy asked the group.

“He was on Fortnite last night,” Matt said, matter-of-factly. “Didn’t say anything about missing the game.”

Amy sighed. “Okay, well if he doesn’t show up, Danny is starting in his place, alongside Tyler, Parker, Matt, and Xander. I want to see some good ball movement – just like we worked on in practice. And, please, rebound the basketball. We’re a small team, but we’re quick. If we can rebound the ball, we can get easy fast-break opportunities.”

“What if the other team doesn’t show up?” Dylan asked, nearly interrupting his coach in the process.

“They’ll show up,” she responded. “They have to.”

----

By the time 3:25 rolled around, everyone – the players, spectators (which was mostly parents), and referees – was starting to get worried.

“They’re not going to show,” Parker said, with more than a hint of disappointment. “It’s going to be all over before it even began.”

Then, the door to the gym opened. It was just as dramatic of an entrance as would occur in a movie. In walked the other team in their bright red jerseys – all of them, together, with no stragglers, and no parents.

Dylan gasped. “They’re frickin’ giants.”

“What did they take, a damn bus?” Xander muttered, barely audibly.

“The tall one has a beard! Like, a full-grown beard!” Danny noted, much louder than he intended. The tall kid must have heard him, because he smiled.

“I don’t even know who ‘the tall one’ is,” Tyler replied, dumbfounded. “They’re all tall.”

They were all tall. Amy, who hadn’t spoken a word since they opened the gym door, was still speechless. She looked at the refs, who looked just as shocked as she was. These aren’t kids, she thought. God, these aren’t even college students. They’re adults. Where the hell are their parents? How’d they even get here?

No parents followed them. Hell, no adults in general followed. No coach, no nothing. It was just… just them.

I must be dreaming. Caleb, the ever-confident child, thought. They’re taller than my dad. That one looks like he can bench 300 pounds right now. We’re gonna lose by 70.

The opposing team’s bench was across the gym, in the back corner, meaning that they had to cross the entire court. The second the six of them – five starters, and one substitute – walked in, the gym went absolutely silent. The player leading the way had to be their point guard; he was their shortest player. The problem was that he was pushing 6’, and looked like he didn’t weigh a tick under 180 pounds, which would easily rank him the heaviest player on Amy’s team. He was stone-faced, and sported long, wavy, red hair, a few freckles, stubble on his face, to go along with his bright red jersey that read “The Giants” on the front, and was absolutely ripped. He looked like a red-headed Samson. After him, the players – who, curiously, all sported long, wavy red hair, a few freckles, some sort of red facial hair, and ripped upper arms – got taller and taller, culminating in the player bringing up the rear, who was easily the tallest person Dylan had ever seen up close. He was at least 7-feet tall, and could have been taller. He looked like he could have been playing for the Sixers later that night, and seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.

Just arriving, directly behind The Giants, came the 5’6,” 110-pound Shiv. The sight was enough to make even the most cold-hearted of people laugh.

----

“Wait, are we playing The Giants? They look older than my parents!” Shiv asked, as he saw his teammates’ gaping mouths.

Amy finally regained her ability to talk. “I guess so,” she said, still dumbfounded. She shook her head, as if to clear the disbelief from her brain. “Okay,” she continued. “Here’s the plan.”

“Plan?” Danny interrupted. “What the heck kind of plan do we have to beat The Giants? I don’t think I could touch the top of that last dude’s head if I jumped.”

“Why do they all look exactly the same?” Tyler wondered, half-laughing at the absurdity of the situation he had found himself in. “What’s going on?”

Amy’s mind had stopped thinking again. She had to bring herself back. There has to be a plan, she thought. I have to think of something. Aha!

“Okay, here’s the plan. Listen. We’re driving and kicking all day. We’re going to have to rely on the three-pointer, but it’s going to fall today – I have a good feeling about it. Then, when they start closing out on our shooters, we’re making an extra pass, and trying to get a nice little midrange jumper at the free throw line. I doubt we’ll get much going towards the basket, but we may be able to sneak in a layup or two.”

The kids looked at her, and seemed to be on board with the gameplan.

Caleb took another look at The Giants. “But what are we going to do on defense?”

Amy laughed. “I have no idea what the hell we’re going to do on defense.”

“Language,” Danny said, absentmindedly.

----

“Okay, let’s have a clean game, guys. Let’s all remember that it’s just a game, and play hard, but not out of control,” the ref said, as he made his way to the center circle to administer the jump ball. At least four players rolled their eyes.

“Lakers: you guys will be yellow. Giants: you will be red. Here we go,” the ref said, as he threw the ball in the air. Xander didn’t even have time to jump before the 7-footer tapped it to his point guard.

Off the tip, the point guard passed ahead to the second-tallest player on The Giants, who Amy thought was somewhere around 6’9”. He then threw what she initially thought was a shot attempt at the basket, but the 7-footer skied out of nowhere, and finished off the alley-oop with a thunderous slam. The kids stopped, mouths wide-open, and a flabbergasted hush fell over the once-talkative gym. They had never seen someone even attempt a dunk in their league, let alone someone finish an alley-oop. The ref had to blow the whistle to get them going again. The score was quickly 2-0, Giants.

After the shock of the play had worn off, Xander grabbed the ball from the ref, passing it to Shiv. Dribbling the ball up the court, Shiv took note of the situation. I have no idea how I’m going to get a pass off, he thought. They’re going to steal the first pass I throw.

In an effort to avoid that costly steal, which would no doubt end in another epic dunk, Shiv slowly surveyed the court, and acted as if he was going to dribble right. When his defender bit on the fake, Shiv changed directions as quickly as he ever had before, drove to the free throw line, waited for The Giants to converge on him, and then kicked it out to Xander, who was left alone in the corner in all the commotion. Calmly, Xander received the pass, and put up a shot. Swish. The crowd, which was still devoid of any fans for The Giants, went wild. Xander had given the Lakers the lead with his first three-pointer of the year.

----

At halftime, The Giants led 40-21. All of their points had been on dunks, each seeming to be more impressive than the last. The Lakers, meanwhile, had hit seven threes, not even attempting a two-point shot in the entire half. Xander had two threes, Dylan had two, and Tyler, Matt, and Caleb had one each. Shiv had five assists; Danny had two.

“At least we’re not getting crushed!” Shiv said excitedly, as the half came to an end, and the Lakers huddled up.

“How are we not getting crushed?” Danny questioned. “They’re The Giants.”

Amy had been quiet for much of the half, watching things unfold, and offering little bits of advice when she saw fit. However, she had noticed something at the tail end of the half that could change everything.

“Listen,” Amy said, in a hushed tone. “Listen to me.” The boys gathered around, and Amy took a deep breath, ready to offer up what she had seen. “They can’t shoot.”

Matt laughed. “Of course they can shoot! Look at the scor-“

“No, listen to me,” Amy interrupted. “Outside of dunks, they haven’t attempted a shot all day. Think about it.” She gave the boys some time to think it over, studying their faces as they came to the same realization. “Did any of you pay attention to the last play before halftime? Their point guard had a chance to take that buzzer beater from the top of the key, but tried to dunk it instead. He knew he couldn’t get the dunk off in time, but he tried anyway. I don’t think they can shoot.”

Caleb, who had been quiet for an uncharacteristically prolonged period of time, opened his mouth to speak. “She’s right. Remember when they had that wide-open corner three in the first quarter, but the dude didn’t even look at the basket, and passed it back to the top of the key?”

“Yeah, that was some Ben Simmons-level shi… stuff.” Danny agreed. “I remember that.”

Amy nodded. “So, here’s what we’re going to do.” The kids leaned in closer. “We’re going to foul them every time they touch the ball. Once we get to seven team fouls in the half, they’ll have to shoot free throws every time we foul them. But we have to be careful – we don’t want anyone to foul out. We’re lucky that we didn’t commit a single team foul in the first half cause all they did was dunk, but we don’t want anyone to reach six fouls and have to leave this game. I don’t want anyone fouling out, so alternate who commits the fouls. Got it?”

The kids all nodded excitedly.

“If they really can’t shoot, we have a chance to come back in this thing,” Matt said in a hushed tone, as if he didn’t want to speak it aloud for fear of someone laughing at him. No one laughed.

----

On the first play of the second half, the Lakers did as they had done for the entirety of the first half – had the point guard (which was now Danny) bring the ball up, drive to the free throw line, and kick it to an open shooter. This time, that shooter was Caleb, and he knocked down the corner three, bringing the score to 40-24 in favor of The Giants. None of the Lakers stopped to wonder why The Giants were unable to adapt to the obvious gameplan, always converging on Danny, despite the same play being run every single play. Frankly, they didn’t care why The Giants were playing defense like they’d never played the sport before – they were just happy to have the open opportunities. Fired up, the Lakers ran back on defense, and prepared to foul The Giants as soon as they crossed half court. Danny did just that to The Giants point guard, who looked completely and utterly confused at the development. Then, after The Giants threw the ball in, it was Matt’s turn to foul them. This went on until the Lakers reached seven team fouls, sending The Giants to the free throw line. When the ref had to explain to The Giants how to line up for free throws attempts, including where the shooter had to stand, Amy knew that she had found The Giants’ Achilles heel. The first shot didn’t even hit the backboard, and the Lakers couldn’t contain their smiles.

----

By the midway point of the fourth quarter, the Lakers had accrued 33 team fouls – four for each of their players, besides Xander, who had five – The Giants still couldn’t even hit the backboard on a free throw, and had yet to score a point in the half. The score had inched closer and closer as the half progressed; it was 40-36 in favor of The Giants with four minutes remaining in the decisive quarter, but the Lakers had missed their last six three-point attempts. They were getting tired. Amy called a timeout.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing, guys. The threes will fall. All we have to do is hit two more in the next four minutes. We can do it.”

The crowd was going crazy, unable to believe what was transpiring. “They can win this game! They can WIN this game!” the parents kept saying to each other.

----

With just 30 seconds remaining, the Lakers trailed it 40-39. They had made just one three-pointer – by Parker, one play before he fouled out – in their last 26 attempts. Along with Parker, Shiv, Matt, and Tyler had been forced to foul out of the game. Everyone else had five fouls, one away from also being forced to sit. Amy called her final timeout.

“You guys are pressing,” she said in the huddle. “Stop acting like this is life-or-death and just shoot the ball like you do in practice! We need to hold the ball for the final shot because we can’t afford to have anyone else foul out – we’re not allowed to play with less than four players on the court, so we’d have to forfeit the game, and we’re not doing that. We can only take one shot.”

Caleb, Danny, Dylan, and Xander, the only kids who had yet to foul out, all nodded.

Parker looked at his teammates. “You guys can do it. I know you can.”

----

Danny dribbled the ball up the court as slowly as he could, trying to waste as much time as possible. He crossed half court with 23 seconds left on the clock. 20 seconds… 15… 10…

With five seconds remaining, he started his cut to the free throw line. Unsurprisingly, The Giants acted as if they’d never seen the play before, even though it was literally the only play that the Lakers had run all game. With the crowd holding their breath, Danny waited until The Giants began to converge on him, and then threw the pass to the corner, barely even looking at who was stationed down there. Even playing down a man at 5-on-4, Xander was wide-open at the spot. He caught the ball, gathered himself for a split second, and fired up the shot. The buzzer went off as the ball was in midair. Everyone in the arena held their breath. The ball hit the back rim, took a lazy bounce high in the air, came down on the front rim… and dropped into the net.

The crowd erupted, and Xander, who had entered the game with zero made three-pointers all season, celebrated his game-winning, third three of the game by standing in the corner, mouth agape in disbelief. Both the team and the crowd mobbed him.

“How the hell did we win this game?” Danny yelled, ecstatic.

“Xander did it!” Caleb added. “We did it!”

“What a way to end a season.” Amy said, in shock. “What a way to end an era.”

All too focused on Xander, no one noticed The Giants disintegrate, and disappear. Well, no one except Parker, who saw it, smiled, and turned back to the celebration.