Game Winners and why YOU should always want to take the shot!

We were down by one.

:03 illuminated by small red led lights was all that was left showing on the clock.  Out of the timeout the inbounds pass would be from the right baseline beside the basket.

This was my first chance to truly “Be Like Mike.”  I was 17 years old.

Walking out of the timeout, everyone on the court knew I’d be taking the shot.  In this league, in that game, with only a few parents and a couple of friends watching, I was the man.  I had played well enough to earn the shot at the end of the game.

I learned earlier in life that not everyone wanted the last shot.  To some the possibility of failure was crippling.  That always blew my mind because I wanted to shoot every time.  To me the possibility of making the shot far outweighed the other side of the coin.

I always fell back on something I read once in one of the many Jordan books I read as a kid.  MJ said something like, you can’t make a shot you don’t take.  If you miss it, you’ve done it before.  Though if you make it, you win the game!

That always made so much sense to me, so here I was with opportunity one.

As the ref handed the inbounds passer the ball, I prepared to make a quick cut to the baseline from the top of the key.

The guy guarding me had the nickname “bear” and his first name wasn’t teddy;-)  He was very athletic and strong.  I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

The ball now in the hands of the passer, the whistle blown, I made the cut and got the inbounds pass 3-4 feet from the right baseline.

I had already imagined what I would do moments ago in the huddle during the timeout.

I knew I would have to get every inch of lift on my jump shot to get the ball over “bear”.  Of course then the ball would go in, the game would be won and celebration would commence.

So I get the ball and go hard right before pulling up with a 10 footer from the right baseline.  As I got up in the air, I was surprised.  “Bear” didn’t jump.  He just put his hands up.  This was going to be easier than I had thought.  As I released the ball with all the hope I possessed, I thought for sure it was in.  Game winners are what I was born to make.  So I thought.

As the horn went off, so did the ball…off the rim.  There would be no game winner that day.

In my basketball career I probably took 3-4 game winners in organized games and missed every one of them.

I made plenty of game winners in pick up games over the years, but never in an organized game.  Having said that, if I were to play in an organized game of basketball tonight and my team was down by one, I would want the shot.  It’s who I am.

The lesson is just like Mike said, you can’t make it, if you don’t take it.  We all miss shots in life, but it’s the ones who keep shooting that make the game winners.

You can’t be great without some sort of risk.

Almost everyone I have told about my goal of getting a game of one-on-one against MJ laughs and thinks I’m crazy.

I understand the perception of the task seems unlikely.  Perhaps it is.

The thing is I can’t achieve my dream of playing Michael Jordan one-on-one if I don’t take that shot.  If I miss and the game doesn’t happen, I’ve missed before.  If I make it though, well, stay tuned.  You’ll see what happens.

Until then, keep shooting!  It’s better to have a life of missed shots, than to never get in the game.