Final-Day Game; Part-Four

Ivan Petrovic hailed from Serbia. The country that year after year would produce basketball big men to the world, and in almost any international basketball tournament, Team Serbia would have the tallest team average height.

Ivan was a short player for his country, and he had played against tall players his entire basketball career.

He didn't have the height the match his peers in his homeland, so he needed another way to surpass his peers.

The only path that left to him was polishing his skill.

He started with a shooting guard skill set, an outside shooter, who would drop three-pointers.

Little by little, he became good at shooting and was able to score and become a genuine contributor and an asset to the team.

But, Ivan wasn't satisfied with just being a shooter, he knew he could do more, so he added a new development path to his playstyle.

Ivan began training rim-finishing skills for shorter players.

In some time, he became able to score over huge Serbian players at the rim, when his height became long enough for him to reach above the rim, he started to dunk.

After Ivan solidified this style of play, he set his eyes on the part of the game that his country dominated.

He began training post-plays, after playing against strong and taller players, his post-plays became more and more skill-oriented.

And, when he stepped on to an international stage, he noticed his post-skills were actually pretty good.

Two years ago, Ivan came to the FIBA summer camp for the first time and got advised to play equally from every area of the court.

So, Ivan switched from a primary shooting guard to a positionless playstyle, and last year, he used his new style to dominate the U19 championship and won it for his country.

Ivan Petrovic was a player that was a product of his circumstances and his talent for the game.

A spear sharpened through Grit and hard work.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The fourth quarter started with Ming out of the game, so Shun was alone in charge of the playmaking, which was fine with him because he wanted to pit Ivan and Gilbert against each other.

He walked to Ivan and asked.

Shun: "Iso-plays against Gilbert, that is what are you looking for, right?"

Ivan glanced at Shun and nodded.

Shun: "So, it is fine if I just keep getting you the ball when he is near you."

Ivan once again nodded but also added.

Ivan: "I don't care how you give me the ball, or where you give me the ball, just make sure to feed me the ball continuously."

Shun stared at Ivan and replied.

Shun: "As long as you keep scoring, I will keep giving the ball to you."

Ivan stared back at Shun, and after a while, left without a word.

Shun watched Ivan walking away and thought.

Shun: 'I need you to show me how a battle-hardened positionless player plays. You will be the reference that I will use. So, I will get the ball to you, so play to your heart's content.'

-*-*-*-

Shun dribbled the ball on the spot as he looked at Rafael.

He smiled and said.

Shun: "So, they upped the guard on me, huh."

Rafael nodded to answer Shun's question.

Shun chuckled in response and spoke.

Shun: "Well, sorry to say this, but it doesn't really matter because I wouldn't be doing much for a while."

Rafael furrowed his brows in confusion, but his eyes widened when he saw Shun throw a no-look pass to the dab smack middle to the free-throw line.

There, Ivan caught the ball and increased his speed to the utmost limit and ran to the basket.

Gilbert stepped into his path and jumped to defend Ivan.

Ivan didn't slow down one bit and jumped quite a distance away from the basket.

Gilbert frowned in mid-air as he said.

Gilbert: "What are you doing?!"

Ivan, who had jumped spun a complete 360-degree, and got past Gilbert in one fast quick spin-motion.

Gilbert turned his head to see Ivan behind him, scooping the ball into the basket while in mid-air in a risky unstable motion.

Gilbert: "No way! Who the hell plays like that?!"

Ivan got the ground, Shun smiled, and said.

Shun: "The spotlight would be on him. I will keep the light on him, and it will reveal all his secrets to me."

-*-*-*-

Shun dribbled the ball into the inside, with Antony screening for him, and threw a sharp laser-beam pass to the Ivan near the baseline.

Ivan had his back to the basket when he received the ball and Gilbert on his back.

Ivan caught the ball and jumped without turning towards the basket, or even moving a step from his position.

Gilbert was once again startled.

Gilbert: "What are you trying to do now?"

Ivan's right hand was towards the baseline and his left hand away from the basket.

Initially, the ball was in his right hand, mid-air he switched the ball between his hands and swung his left hand upwards to the limit, he cranked his neck to get a brief look at the basket and shot a bank shot to the basket.

The ball bounced from the baseboard into the net. All the while, Ivan hadn't moved from his position and wasn't even facing the basket.

On another part of the court, Shun smiled as his eyes recorded every single moment of the play.

Shun: "Good. Good! Show me more."

-*-*-*-

In the lower post, Ivan and Gilbert were going against each other.

Ivan was dribbling towards the basket, but Gilbert was trying to force Ivan out of bounds from the baseline.

Ivan glanced at Gilbert and decided his moves. He stopped just under the start of the backboard and got into the shooting motion.

Shun, who saw that thought.

Shun: "Oye-Oye! Is he seriously trying to do that?"

Ivan jumped backward behind the backboard and shot the ball from the outside the court boundary.

Gilbert clicked his tongue in irritation when he saw Ivan shooting the ball.

Gilbert: "Shit!"

The ball flew above the backboard, it got above the basket and dropped into the basket.

Shun chuckled and commented to no one in general.

Shun: "A fadeaway shot from outside the court, that is seriously nice."

-*-*-*-

Ivan got the ball outside the three-point arc and charged inside on his own.

Near the mid-range, he was met by Gilbert, who tried to block him.

Gilbert: "You stay here."

Ivan did a pump fake to ward off Gilbert.

Gilbert did fall for the fake and jumped for a shot contest.

Gilbert cursed himself in his mind, but he wasn't going to give out so easily.

He got to the ground and did a sharp side-step to get into Ivan's way.

Ivan, for a split-second, was surprised. He lost his balance because of said surprise, but he regained his calm almost immediately.

He threw the ball towards the backboard and immediately regained his balance, and ran towards the basket.

The ball bounced in the upward direction, Shun recognized what Ivan was trying to do.

Shun: "A self alley-oop."

As Shun predicted, Ivan caught the ball in the air and slammed it into the basket.

An impressed smile surfaced on Shun's face, and a compliment escaped his lips.

Shun: "What extreme court awareness and the ability to work on that. Indeed a talent for basketball."

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shun watched Ivan and Gilbert playing on the court, he even analyzed the other players.

This game was a dream come true for Shun.

The ten-minute stretches that they played during the camp were good for Shun. Everyone tried moves that they wouldn't try in real games, and they were relaxed and played calmly.

But, a game like this pushed everyone to work their hardest, and they played in their true playstyles. They used moves that they knew would work and played efficiently.

Shun felt like he was amidst of tornado of basketball information.

These top players, playing on the same court pushing each other to play harder and harder.

A smile of pure enjoyment surfaced on Shun's face.

Shun: "Ah, this is so good."

Shun moved on the court and moved the ball around, he screened, he tried to block, he tried to get rebounds, he even tried to score.

Shun moved all around the court.

And, when only five minutes left in the game, something changed.