Finally our turn had come, and we took the floor to stand toe to toe with Compton’s Finest. My long, luscious blonde hair stood out like a sore thumb, but it was hard to see it since I was at least six inches shorter than any other player in the tournament. We warmed up and discussed our strategy, but in the end none of that would matter.
The game started not with a jump ball, but with something they called the rip. It involved one player from each team holding the ball and the player to rip the ball from the other got to start with the ball. Safe to say we didn’t win that one. The opposition scored quickly, as my best attempt at taking a charge didn’t work out. The biggest obstacle for Lakers Nation proved to be passing the ball inbounds. The bizarre shape of the court gave us very little room to inbound the ball, and the opposition managed to steal virtually every inbounds attempt we made.
Ultimately we managed to get on the board once, but we had a little help doing so. An inadvertent referee whistle forced the opposition to stop, but we pressed on! We finally completed an inbounds pass that resulted in a lay-up on the other end. Lakers Nation had finally scored. This wasn’t going to be a shut-out. Needless to say, we were excited.
Unfortunately Compton’s Finest scored four straight baskets to beat Lakers Nation 11-1. However, in the end we had proven to everyone that we were as fearless as the rest.
While our dreams of street ball glory ultimately didn’t come true, the event was still a major success. Hundreds of basketball players from around the city participated, and it ended up being a fantastic event for both Nike and the city of Los Angeles.
I want to send one more special thank you to Nike for getting us into the tournament. While Goldsholl and myself aren’t the most physically gifted basketball players in the city, we certainly enjoyed ourselves while we were there.
