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We had 8 players including 5 guys, 3 girls. We also had a double-header. Good times.
Kyle and I decided to run in and out for each other so he started and I was going to come in after about 6 minutes. It was a back and forth game as each team would build a 5 - 6 point lead, the other would go on a little run. Close game all the way. I was rebounding well, got fouled and badly missed the first free throw. Next one was money. Missed an easy put-back lay in. And when I say missed...well, I actually forgot how to shoot. Literally. Like, how to grip the ball, what motion to make...it was ugly. Then I did it again. On the bright side...I was getting easy looks off strong positioning and excellent rebounding. On the dark side...I could not shoot to save my life.

Ironically, at one point Kyle and I were on the court at the same time. I had the ball out top, flipped it to him on the left wing and cut to the basket. He passed back slightly behind me, I caught the ball in traffic and avoided 2 defenders to put in the toughest shot I took all game and it went in pretty as you please. Easy shots I can't make, but give me a difficulty 8.5 and I am all over it...

My next shot was a desperation 3 against the buzzer at the end of the first half. Airball. I suppose I could say it was time and a hand in the face...but the truth is, the ball was not in shooting position. It was as if I shot-putted it. I was embarrassed. But we were tied at the half.

Second half was more of the same. With 32 seconds left we had built a 5 point lead. They got the ball up court in 4 seconds, got a wide open trey and drained it. We got the ball in to Kyle. I was pretty happy with that. He is our best foul shooter. He was dribbling up court...and got picked clean. I have not seen that happen to him in years. So inside of about 10 seconds they had tied the game. We had last shot, though. With time expiring Kyle got hammered in the lane. I was pretty happy knowing he would hit at least one of the two and probably both...except they called nothing. Overtime.

In OT we built a small lead, they came back, but we pulled it out by 4 to break our losing streak at 9. Woo-hoo!

Game 2 we did not do so good on our substitutions, but we would not need to. We were clearly the better team and were scoring almost at will. They struggled from the field early and we built a 15 point lead. This was uncharted territory for us. They got it back to about 8, we built it to about 17.

I was worthless on offense, though defensively I was doing well on the boards.

Then, with Kyle, Nick and I on the bench they went on a huge run, got back within 6. Suddenly we could not find the rim and they could not miss. It was looking ugly. We built it back to 8, they got it to 6, we got a couple stops, and then with the 6 point lead and the ball Nick found Christina who hit the tough lay-up to give us the 8 point lead and they basically threw in the towel. Boo-yeah, 2 games won!

It feels good to win again. it feels bad to have suddenly gone from one of the better players on the team to clearly the worst. Very discouraging. I am getting more out of shape, having a harder time finding the hoop...might be time to pack it in. We will see what the next couple games bring.