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墨書 Inktalez
We stood on the court again, ready for the third quarter. After the opposing team made their serve, the Point Guard organized the offense. I positioned myself in front of him as he slowly dribbled past the center circle, then jumped to pass the ball to the Power Forward. Instead of driving to the basket, the Power Forward immediately passed it back to the Shooting Guard, who took a long-range shot and scored. The score was tied at 49-49. The Point Guard and Power Forward ran over to high-five the Shooting Guard, and they smiled while whispering something in his ear, likely offering praise and encouragement. The leadership spirit of the Point Guard was evident. At that moment, our classmates surged in like a wave, filling the previously empty gymnasium. In the darkened stands, I spotted Situ Yanan, Xia Ying, the Three Sisters, Yin Long, Zhao Bin, Ding Fang, and some other good friends sitting together. However, I didn’t see Pang Hao, Shuai Dong, or Sha Xiaomei; these three should be the most concerned about the game—why weren’t they here? Were they afraid to see if we could make it to the Olympic Sports Center? No matter; I should focus on my own game. They must have had something important to attend to.
The game continued, and the opposing team's mediocre role players suddenly came alive at the start of the third quarter. First, their Shooting Guard scored a three-pointer in front of Ouyang. In the next round, he came back and answered with one of his own. The two went back and forth; by the end of the third quarter, Ouyang had scored nine points (three three-pointers) and made three steals against his opponent's eight points (two three-pointers and one long-range shot) along with two assists—both were performing well. Additionally, their forward was able to overpower Zhou Wenming under the basket with his strong physique and skilled techniques; however, this did not stop him from exploding from mid-range with a perfect shooting percentage of four for four. With Kobe hitting a buzzer-beater three-pointer, we ended the third quarter trailing Hejiang by two points at 69-71. We lost that quarter by four points. As we walked off the court, I couldn't help but shake my head—was this really our home court?
As we left the court, our classmates gave us applause for encouragement. After we stepped off, Teacher Qiu tirelessly laid out strategies for us. Looking at the enthusiastic fans in attendance and thinking about our current passive position made me feel uneasy. What were we doing? This wasn’t a warm-up match or a preliminary round; it was the semifinals of the City High League—our dream after three years of hard work. We had already suffered a regretful loss on their home turf; if we lost this match too, my high school career would be over—there would be no more City High League and no more fighting alongside my teammates. Yes, we needed to turn things around at home! We needed to win by at least three points; we still had one quarter left. Right now, we were down by two points and needed to score at least six points to ensure advancement. Twelve minutes should be enough time. Now that I think about it, it seems like our Yulin team has never beaten Hejiang in any competition over these past three years. Moreover, this Hejiang team is completely different from before—they are wilder and more refined than ever.
“Jie! We’re here!” Just as I was lost in thought, Pang Hao’s loud shout broke through. The entire crowd fell silent as everyone turned toward the gym's entrance where four figures slowly walked in: Pang Hao, Shuai Dong, Sha Xiaomei—and they were helping… A Fei! It really was A Fei! He walked in with crutches supported by Shuai Dong and Pang Hao while Sha Xiaomei cared for him beside them. “Ai II!” I couldn’t help but shout at A Fei as thunderous applause erupted from everyone welcoming this soul of Yulin and one of the Three Musketeers into the gym. A Fei sat on the sidelines and shouted at us: “Yulin, go for it!” Under A Fei’s leadership, all our classmates erupted: “Yulin, go for it! Yulin, go for it!” Our entire team stood up in response and nodded toward all sides of the audience. Teacher Qiu was particularly excited and even more energized. I never expected A Fei would come here to cheer us on—A Fei, for you, we absolutely cannot lose this game!
After a while, we returned to the court to begin our fourth-quarter journey. We started with an inbound pass; I held onto the ball for our first offensive play and drove into the paint for a high layup that went in. I raised my right index finger into the air to celebrate when suddenly their Point Guard countered immediately with a response play against me. I quickly refocused my energy for another offensive attempt; with A Fei’s support and encouragement from all around us boosting our morale from rock bottom back up again. The four of us re-entered as we initiated our Four Kings strategy—my hook shot learned from A Fei combined with Jiang Lingfeng’s bridge layup left our opponents dizzy. In the latter half of the fourth quarter after a fierce run scoring nine points in a row allowed us to take back control of the score; with just one minute thirty seconds left in regulation time we led Hejiang 89-84 by five points. However, both Kobe and Zhou Wenming had accumulated five fouls while Ouyang and I had four fouls each as well; Teacher Qiu called a timeout to substitute Lu Yinghao for Li Kanglin. Victory was within reach—the Olympic Sports Center was just around the corner! In these final eighty-nine seconds, we had to hold on.
After returning to play following timeout, their team began organizing their offense after inbounding; Rocky faced my defense with some fakes before passing it off to their Shooting Guard who then moved out beyond the arc at three-point range while Rocky positioned himself at the top of key waiting for a return pass from him. As soon as he received it at arc top he prepared to jump for a three-pointer; I rushed over to defend while Zhou Wenming got closer first attempting to block him—but Rocky had set up a trap! As Zhou Wenming reached out his arm trying to block him Rocky took advantage by lifting his hand upward simultaneously releasing his shot—the referee's whistle blew signaling a foul against Zhou Wenming for blocking! Zhou Wenming fouled out! I stood there stunned—one crucial piece among our Four Kings had been taken out! Zhou Wenming shook his head walking off while Tu Lei quickly came on as an emergency substitute at small forward position; this tall forward might struggle adapting to our rhythm but turning around I looked at Rocky who was chatting casually with his teammates—this guy truly is formidable! But we absolutely will not lose!
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