CLAYTON COUNTY – Two teams came on the court in the hopes of earning the Clayton County Championship, but only one team could walk away with the title.  In one corner, you had the mighty Bulls, the team that had all the tools to be considered the champions.  They have a player of the year candidate, a coach of the year candidate and a dedication to relentless team defense.    

In the other corner, you have the Pistons, who have a coach that pours his heart and soul into a team that wasn’t supposed to be in the championship.  A team that came into the tournament as a six seed and beat the number 1 seed and 4 seed in order to make it to the championship, a team that found themselves in the tournament.  They survived battles throughout the tournament and all they had to do was win one more game to be crowned as the champions.

A battle to the bitter end, the game had everything you could ever ask for in a championship game.  Eleven lead changes, great plays, tenacious defense, an enthusiastic crowd and one play to decide it all.

With under a minute left, the game was tied 42 to 42.  The Pistons player dribbled the ball down the court as the Bulls showed their trademark defense and forced a turnover.  As the player went to the basket he missed the shot.  One of the Pistons players grabbed the ball, the Bulls immediately tied up the ball forcing a jump ball.  Possession arrow went to the Bulls, Coach Green called a timeout. 

4.5 seconds stood on the clock.  To parents and fans in the stands and coaches on the sideline, 4.5 seconds can sometimes feel like an eternity.  To a player, 4.5 seconds can be an enemy or a friend.  4.5 seconds to get one shot off.   4.5 seconds to decide the Clayton County Championship in the 14 year old division.  During the timeout the usually fiery Coach Green was calm as he designed a play that he felt would win the game.

The timeout is over.  Coach Shaun of the Pistons looks at his players and pounds his chest as to say I need all you have one last time.  This team that wasn’t supposed to be here, this team that has made undeniably the greatest runs through a Clayton County tournament ever…point blank!  To understand this moment you have to go back to the semi-final game when the Pistons played the Magic. 

The Magic were an undefeated team, with a coach of the year nominee and player of the year nominee.  They only had one close game all season which was a one point win over the Coach Green and his Bulls.  They jumped to an early lead on the Magic and kept the pressure on them all game.  The Magic, being the great team that they are, fought back valiantly and took the lead in the final minutes of the game. Coach Shaun called a timeout to get his teams composure back together.  He didn’t draw up a play, he didn’t talk strategy.  Instead he looked in each one of their eyes and told them “I need everything you have”!  He said it over and over again.  As he said it more and more each player eyes grew wider with intensity.  After that timeout was over, Coach pounded his chest over his heart and his players answered the challenge of the Magic and ended up winning the game, which is considered one of the great upsets in this year’s tournament.  Which brings us back to this moment, as Coach Shaun pounded his chest you could see his players looking at one another, clapping their hands individually all with one common goal…to make one last stop to force the game into overtime.
 
4.5 seconds…tick…tick.  The ball was thrown in as the Pistons almost forced a turnover.  2 seconds left…the Bulls player executed to perfection as the ball was passed into the low post just out of the reach of the Pistons defenders into their big man #33 who has been solid for them the entire season…1 second left.  The crowd is on their feet screaming, you can’t even hear the coaches yelling or the cheerleaders.  He releases the ball, 4.5 seconds is what the play started off with, 0 seconds was the time on the clock as the ball went through the net.

Emotions were overwhelming as the player hit the game winning shot; the crowd noise was almost ear shattering.  The Clayton County Bulls Coach Green embraced his fellow coaches in tears of joy realizing that they had just won the Clayton County Championship.  It was a true game for the ages!  The Pistons stood in defeat as their Cinderella run through the championship had come to an end.  If there were awards for amazing efforts the Pistons would have won all of them.  Fittingly this reminded me of the movie 300.  To watch a king lead his army to victory against amazing odds only to eventually meet their end after a valiant display of heart and loyalty to each other.

As time goes on the Pistons players will realize they have nothing to be sad about, what they did in the playoffs will probably go unmatched for years.  For a six seed to make it to the championship game is merely enough for the history books but for them to come within seconds of winning a championship is something that puts that team into legendary status.

But the day belonged to the Bulls, the new Clayton County 14U Basketball Champions, a great team that battled though close playoff games.  A team whose individual stars played more as a unit, which is a direct reflection on their Coach.  Coach Green stated it perfectly in his pre game speech to his team.  “Today we will either lose as a team or we will win as a team but no matter what happens we will do it together”.  Well said coach…well said.