It was one day in March, 1971. Our Towncrest Trojan basketball team was trailing the Braves from Pierre Moran Middle School in the conference tournament semifinal. Pierre Moran had the best regular season record in our conference, and were ahead of us by 10 mid-way through the third quarter.
Coach Streit grabbed me by the jersey and pulled me off the bench. He leaned in to say,
"Get on those boards!" and pushed me toward the scorer's table.
I can't say that my entry into the game made all the difference, but I did my best. I pulled down rebounds, shut down my opposite number defensively, knocked the ball away from Braves players at least a couple of times, and perhaps stuck a couple of balls through Towncrest's net.
Suddenly our defensive full court press forced a turnover and I caught Coach out of the corner of my eye excitedly calling for a timeout. I looked up at the scoreboard to realize for the first time that we had closed the gap to 2 points. It was 45-43 with 3 seconds remaining on the clock. My Trojans team needed a single basket to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Coach Streit drew up the play in the huddle. I feared he might take me out for that last play, but he kept me in the game. We went back on the court and Dave Stewart took the ball on the sideline from the referree. The whistle blew, and I broke away from my defender and saw the pass coming into my hands.
I took 3 quick dribbles toward our basket, counting 1,2,3 in my head and stopped on the right side of the lane, just about 6 or 7 feet from the hoop. I picked up the dribble and went straight up for a jump shot.
The shot felt good. Basketball players will tell you that most of the time you can sort of feel it when the ball rolls off your fingertips just right. It felt like it was going in. I watched it arch toward the basket as if it were in slow motion. It struck the front, then the back of the rim before bouncing straight up in the air and coming down as the buzzer sounded.
I missed. We lost. I carried the pain of that failure with me for many years.
This story isn't just a reminiscence of an old schoolboy memory. Instead it is meant to illustrate the key deciding factor that will determine the winner of Game 7 between the Heat and the Pacers.
Why did I miss that shot that could have sent the game to overtime and given us a strong chance to defeat our conference leaders and advance to the championship?
Because of my mind. I could hit that shot 9 out of 10 times in practice, and that's on a bad shooting day. But there's no pressure involved in popping 6-foot jumpers in practice. Take that shot to the last second of the playoff game in front of a standing-room-only crowd, and those practice statistics go out of the window.
Mental toughness will win Game 7. We've seen what the Heat and Pacers can do. We know that the Pacers are capable of dominating the glass. We know the Heat have shooters that can get hot and bury the Pacers behind wide open 3 point shots. We know that Lebron James has a way of taking over a game and winning all by himself.
Lebron unquestionably has the mental toughness to help insure a Heat win. The Heat have no doubt of that fact, and he can probably lead his team to the game 7 victory whether or not his teammates are mentally tough.
The Pacers have been given the opportunity I had way back in Junior High School. Lance Stevenson and George Hill are the two guys that have this opportunity; the two Indiana guards have generally played well on their home court but have struggled in Miami.
The Heat have taken advantage of the two young guards in at least 2 of their 3 victories. The Heat succeeded by getting Hill and Stevenson into foul trouble, forcing them to turn the ball over, and clamping down defensively to deny them points. In game 5, both Indiana guards were shell-shocked in Miami's dominant third quarter.
When Miami comes after them on Monday night once again, how will Hill and Stevenson react? Will they gather themselves to stiffen their defense and nail some critical shots to hold off the Heat bid to send them home early? Or will they become rattled and allow a repeat of Game 5?
George Hill said it well when asked about the inconsistent play of Lance Stevenson. "When Lance plays like Lance, we're are a tough team to beat". The same applies to Hill.
Hibbert and West will be there to keep the Heat out of the paint and off the boards. Paul George has an opportunity of his own to prove to the world that he's got the mental toughness to hold Lebron down and lead his team. Game 7's outcome rests on Lance and George, and whether they can withstand all of Miami's efforts to rattle them once again and carry away the Eastern Conference title.
That's why we'll be watching. It's better drama than any TV writer can concoct for a primetime network series.
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