Andrew Saltzman
My NBA Dream
It was game time. I had just finished putting on my Utah Jazz uniform in the locker room and I was already to go. We were about to play the LA Lakers for the NBA championship. The series was tied up three to three. I am the Utah Jazz's star player so, my performance depends on how I play.
There was about thirty more minutes before the game started so, I went outside to stretched out. Once I was done stretching, I started to warm up with doing some lay ups. After a couple lay ups, I worked on my jump shots, dunks, and three pointers. I was just about ready to go as there was just a little more time before the game was to start.
Once both teams were done with warm ups, the national anthem was sung. It was then time to announce the starting five for the LA Lakers. The announcer said, "Starting at center we have Odem, at power forward we have Paul Gasol, at small forward we have Bill Walton, at shooting guard we have Kobe Bryant, and at point guard we have Derik Fisher!" While he announced all of this, the crowd was booing as loud as can be. Then the announcer said, "Now starting for the Utah Jazz we have Memo Okur at center, Carlos Boozer at power forward, Andri Kirilinko at small forward, Deron Williams at shooting guard, and Andrew Saltzman at point guard!!!" The crowd went absolutely crazy when the announcer said my name.
We were finally ready to start the game. Memo did the jump ball and tipped it to me. I grabbed the ball and headed down court. I past the ball into Memo at the low post and I went cutting through the lane to the basket. Then Memo threw up the ball towards the basket and I caught it for the slam dunk. That meant it was two to zero.
Then they scored a few lay ups on us for bad defense and we hit some jump shots and three pointers and the score was tied up twenty-one to twenty with the Lakers in the lead by a point. There was just five seconds left in the quarter so, we had to get down the court very fast to score so that we could go into the second quarter in the lead.
Boozer passed the ball to me and I took off heading down the court. I could heard the crowd cheering in anticipation. I faked out three different people using my wicked cross over and behind the back dribbling. Then with two seconds left in the quarter, I shot up a three pointer about four feet behind the line. I could see the last second on the buzzer end just as the ball went straight through the center of the hoop. The crowd went wild!!! I felt as if we had won the game even though we still had to get through three more quarters.
We made it through the second quarter barely behind the Lakers by five points. The score was fifty-eight to fifty-three going into the half. You could feel the adrenaline in the arena. I was completely pumped up and excited. The next half of the game was going to be a brutal battle.
During the third quarter it was mainly a defensive battle. Neither of the teams were scoring that much. I scored six points but that wasn’t very much for me. The score going into the final quarter was seventy-four to seventy-two. All of the Utah Jazz fans were as crazy as can be while they were booing the opposing team so loud that you couldn’t hear the plays I was calling out.
The final quarter came down to the last couple minutes and the game was tied up eighty-two to eighty-two. I was going to give these last two minutes my all on defense and offense. I was not accepting a loss in this game.
Then after most of those two minutes were up, the game was still tied up at eighty-two to eighty-two. There was only three seconds left in the game and we had called a time out. So Boozer in bounded the ball to me and I passed to Kirilinko at the top of the key then I went cutting around the outside of him with a couple seconds left and Kirilinko dished me the ball and I drained the give and go jump shot. Two point score!
Then for the second and final time the crowd went wild. We were the NBA champions. It was the greatest moment that had ever happened to me. There was confetti falling from above us and the crowd was cheering MVP for me. Later on, I received the MVP award during the award ceremony. The Utah Jazz were number one.
My NBA Dream
It was game time. I had just finished putting on my Utah Jazz uniform in the locker room and I was already to go. We were about to play the LA Lakers for the NBA championship. The series was tied up three to three. I am the Utah Jazz's star player so, my performance depends on how I play.
There was about thirty more minutes before the game started so, I went outside to stretched out. Once I was done stretching, I started to warm up with doing some lay ups. After a couple lay ups, I worked on my jump shots, dunks, and three pointers. I was just about ready to go as there was just a little more time before the game was to start.
Once both teams were done with warm ups, the national anthem was sung. It was then time to announce the starting five for the LA Lakers. The announcer said, "Starting at center we have Odem, at power forward we have Paul Gasol, at small forward we have Bill Walton, at shooting guard we have Kobe Bryant, and at point guard we have Derik Fisher!" While he announced all of this, the crowd was booing as loud as can be. Then the announcer said, "Now starting for the Utah Jazz we have Memo Okur at center, Carlos Boozer at power forward, Andri Kirilinko at small forward, Deron Williams at shooting guard, and Andrew Saltzman at point guard!!!" The crowd went absolutely crazy when the announcer said my name.
We were finally ready to start the game. Memo did the jump ball and tipped it to me. I grabbed the ball and headed down court. I past the ball into Memo at the low post and I went cutting through the lane to the basket. Then Memo threw up the ball towards the basket and I caught it for the slam dunk. That meant it was two to zero.
Then they scored a few lay ups on us for bad defense and we hit some jump shots and three pointers and the score was tied up twenty-one to twenty with the Lakers in the lead by a point. There was just five seconds left in the quarter so, we had to get down the court very fast to score so that we could go into the second quarter in the lead.
Boozer passed the ball to me and I took off heading down the court. I could heard the crowd cheering in anticipation. I faked out three different people using my wicked cross over and behind the back dribbling. Then with two seconds left in the quarter, I shot up a three pointer about four feet behind the line. I could see the last second on the buzzer end just as the ball went straight through the center of the hoop. The crowd went wild!!! I felt as if we had won the game even though we still had to get through three more quarters.
We made it through the second quarter barely behind the Lakers by five points. The score was fifty-eight to fifty-three going into the half. You could feel the adrenaline in the arena. I was completely pumped up and excited. The next half of the game was going to be a brutal battle.
During the third quarter it was mainly a defensive battle. Neither of the teams were scoring that much. I scored six points but that wasn’t very much for me. The score going into the final quarter was seventy-four to seventy-two. All of the Utah Jazz fans were as crazy as can be while they were booing the opposing team so loud that you couldn’t hear the plays I was calling out.
The final quarter came down to the last couple minutes and the game was tied up eighty-two to eighty-two. I was going to give these last two minutes my all on defense and offense. I was not accepting a loss in this game.
Then after most of those two minutes were up, the game was still tied up at eighty-two to eighty-two. There was only three seconds left in the game and we had called a time out. So Boozer in bounded the ball to me and I passed to Kirilinko at the top of the key then I went cutting around the outside of him with a couple seconds left and Kirilinko dished me the ball and I drained the give and go jump shot. Two point score!
Then for the second and final time the crowd went wild. We were the NBA champions. It was the greatest moment that had ever happened to me. There was confetti falling from above us and the crowd was cheering MVP for me. Later on, I received the MVP award during the award ceremony. The Utah Jazz were number one.
5 comments:
Andrew:
Wow! Your story kept me on the edge of my seat!
Indeed...this would be a wonderful dream to come true.
Hugs,
Mom
Andrew, what a great moment you created. It was very action packed. You took us to the game instead of telling us about it!
Ms. L
Andrew you are an amazing writer! I wish I could write like you! Thanks for the comments on my blog! :)
-Emma
Wow! Amazing story! I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up being on the olympic basketball team or something! keep it up!
-Mandy
p.s. thx for all of the comments!
Andrew you are an amazing writer. good job on winning the NBA but come on the LAKERS!! you should have but Sasha Vujacic as one of the game starting people. Haha you know how i get wiht Sasha lol. Amazing story. One day you really will be a NBA player and maybe you would choose the Lakers over the Jazz. haha great story
~Natalie Sefilian ~
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