Chapter 22: 3. FIRST STEP(2)
Alan Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Dwayne Wade.
These were the best players of the year 2000, known as the best of the best slasher players. A slasher is a player who excelled at driving the ball to the basket.
"That's it, D! That's it!"
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FIRST HALF 38 VS 38 UTAH VALLEY
Just as Stanley said, Utah Valley was a very particular team to play against. Their tedious organizational power was what made them survive the first and second half so far.
Utah Valley's Ben Aird focused on taking advantage of the fact that Leon was not present on the court, he had already scored 16 points, whose game average was 10 points. Dominic Sanders, who was playing in place of Leon was proving to have a hard time.
"Oh man, not again!"
Once again, as Ben Aird added another 2 points, Utah Valley took the lead.
Stanley, who momentarily showed a sign of frustration, began to clap to cheer him up. Dominic, who was barely a sophomore, needed as much help to stay mentally positive.
"Damn, again?!"
A voice similar to Stanley's came yelling from the other side of the benches.
Utah Valley's coach Dick Moss seemed to be very frustrated at Lillard's amazing ability to put pressure on his team. It had been over 3 minutes since Lillard and Aird were in a showdown.
But seriously, it was incredible. Left. Right.
When Lillard decided where he wanted to penetrate, it's as if Moses was splitting waters, considering how defensive players would move left and right. Dominic, as well as Utah Valley's Isaiah Williams, seemed to be mentally crushed.
It could potentially be worse than that.
"How on Earth can he do that?"
"Hmm?"
Darn, without me noticing, Korean came out again.
I looked around my surroundings to see where David was, then turned my attention to Leon.
"I think Lillard is incredible."
"Haha. That's a given! Watch his first step carefully."
"First step?"
"That's right. His first step after his pull up is exceptional."
First step refers to the movement a player with the ball would make when they decide which way to play toward. This was a very important skill for a player who wanted to break through defenses and Leon believed Lillard had perfected this skill.
Is this another physical ability-based skill? From what I know, the first step was highly dependent on one's agility level and muscle flexibility.
So, a lot of it has to do with and one's natural body elements.
"Why's that?"
"Just because. There hasn't been a case where someone successfully dealt with a 1:1. Could it be because of their first step?"
"It's possible. Then watch Lillard's play closely."
"His physical ability is different?"
"Hahahaha. Huh? Oh! Hold on a minute."
After a fierce fight for the rebound, Artemis shoved the ball with his body momentum to Kenwah. Kenwah Mobley was Davion Berry's backup, however, he was also a senior.
Since he was lacking in skill to play as a professional, he was planning to get his Ph.D. It may be possible to meet Kenwah in a few years as an accountant.
Anyway, Artemis' hustle caused everyone on the bench to get out of their seats.
Once again, Lillard immediately shot from the 3-point line and scored. How many shots had he consecutively made?
*FWEEEEEEE*
"Whew! You're on fire, D!"
Davion Berry ran toward Lillard and jumped in the air for a body bump as the other players joyfully smile and hyped each other up.
I had been feeling this all day, but I really enjoy this free and open-minded feeling.
"Anyway, again."
After hearing the game plan, Leon returned to me and continued our conversation from earlier.
"I do admit there is a certain amount of physical ability involved in a good first step. But, that's not necessarily the most important element."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Lillard's first step's deception is excellent."
"Hold on. D, what did you say?"
"De. Cep. Tion."
Deception was a word that was generally used in baseball, which referred to one's ability to deceive or hide their actual intent.
Leon claimed that Lillard seemed to be great at this ability. But defensive plays relied on a player's ability to correctly predict one's movement by paying attention to their opponent's knees and feet, or dribbling pattern.
If an offensive player could successfully confuse the defense, it will make it easy to evade their defenses.
Defensive players were always in a passive position since they'd have to turn their bodies if their opponents successfully outplayed them. So, a defense player would be considered good if they were able to read their opponent's movements accurately.
*FWEEEEE*
As Lillard gained possession of the ball in an offensive play, spectators jumped from their seats and started to whistle and cheer.
He had been playing on fire throughout the game and it seemed to have spread to the audience.
Following Leon's advice, I paid very close attention to Lillard's movement. I watched from the defensive players' perspective. When is he going to put his foot forward?
"…"
After a few pivots and shoulder fakes, I started to count. I was thinking he would move forward after I count to 3.
'One, tw-'
"What?"
But Lillard moved to the left, in a completely different timing and direction that I expected.
I may have only been 1 second off, but Isaiah Williams put all his focus to the right side. Lillard confidently and easily jumped, made a mid-range shot and nailed it.
A fantastic first step followed by a pull-up jump.
Just as Leon said, that was Lillard's special ability that'll pull him into the NBA.
"Whew."
"Why?"
"If it were me, I wouldn't have been able to react to that."
Leon put his hand on me as I gave a frustrated look.
"Haha, well of course! Anyone would say that if they were put in front of Lillard."
"…"
I did feel a little better but realizing how long my road ahead was made me feel a bit impatient.
However, nothing good will come from rushing into anything.
I first needed to figure out exactly what I needed to work on.
"But wait."
"Hmm?"
"You're a pretty smart guy!"
This was the first time I've ever heard of "first step" or "deception" from anyone. Leon gave me a strange look as I was in admiration for what he had just told me.
"Doesn't everyone know this stuff? Do you not learn these things in Korea?"
"…"
Ever since the SAT's were finished, all I did was attend practice, went on runs and did a weight training program.
Even if I made plans so I could be as far away from the cellphone as possible, half of the day flew by just like that.
"That's it!"
"Oww! Hey! I'm still injured. Did you forget?"
I apologized to the startled Leon and motioned toward David. As he made his way to me with a puzzled look, I asked him to do me a favor.
"I want to get books that have to do with basketball."
"Books?"
"Yeah. They probably have those, right? How much would they cost?"
"…"
David slowly put his hand on me with his lips tightly sealed.
"Yeah?"
"You just used Korean."
"Oh right!"
How petty. Does he feel good for ruining a moment?
He took my dollar bill like an old man and put it in his front pocket.
"Hmm, well. Is it really necessary to buy books?"
"What?"
"You could just use WSU's library. If you ask Stanley, he'd probably let you do that."
"Oh, that's a wonderful idea!"
I turned my head and looked toward Stanley as I glanced over to the electronic scoreboard.
Should I ask him after the first half is over?
"Damnit, Hey!!! Focus!"
Nah, I'll just wait until the game's over.
"What on Earth are you doing?!"
If we were to lose today's game, I should just wait a couple of days.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
END GAME RESULTS
WSU 74 VS 68 UTAH VALLEY
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I felt a little sorry for Barron, who was waiting for me to eat dinner, but I felt like my arm was going to fall off. That's because I had an 800-page book on the history of the NBA along with dozens of books pertaining to basketball wrapped around my arms.
The middle-aged curly-haired librarian, Vedah, gave me a weird look because of how Stanley and I were overly excited about getting books.
But on the way home, Stanley seemed to have really taken to heart how motivated I was.
In 3 days, WSU will be leaving as they advance to the 2nd round. I wasn't able to travel with the team, so Stanley gave me all his NCAA and NBA DVD's for me to watch while they were gone.
After running and weight training, I was planning to stay home all day and watch these videos. That's also why I bought a huge pack of popcorn seeds.
Just thinking about all the popcorn in the pantry got me all excited.
"Whew. This is tiring."
"So early… what was all that?"
"Hmm? Oh! They were books."
"Books, huh? What in the world? You've really gone mad! You're going to spend all your time at home reading books? Go out on dates!"
*SMACK*
"Woah!"
Anna smacked the back of Barron's head as he tried to persuade me to meet girls. Just like that, she smacked him.
"He's not helpless like you!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm saying he doesn't go running around chasing girls! Am I right?"
What am I supposed to say in this situation? I had no problem making Barron look like the bad guy. But I felt bad for him.
I started to think about the kiss with Sally, so I tried to distract myself.
If only she wasn't Stanley's daughter, I wouldn't reject Sally's display of affection.
"Anyway! I'm planning to study this weekend too. Wanna study together?"
"I wouldn't mind. Tonight?"
They pointed to a white box that was visible from the living room, sitting on the kitchen table. Both of their faces brightened up as they exchanged happy looks with one another.
"Pepperoni and cheese!"
"And Mountain Dewwwwwww!"
We all hurried over as if nothing else mattered as we were ready to devour this fantastic combination.
However.
"What?! This is anchovies. They sent us the wrong one!"
"What? Barron! Did you not double check?"
"Of course, I did! With this nose!"
"What?"
"This gigantic nose has never failed me."
"…"
Anna glared at Barron, not having anything to say to him. It's been over 30 minutes since the pizza was delivered, so there was no way to ask for an exchange.
"Pft... hahahaha!"
As we all burst out into laughter, not caring about anything else, we poured ourselves drinks and enjoyed the anchovies and pineapple pizza anyway.
A good day came to an end for me.
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