169 An Da Man

The beginning of the second half started as Boa passed the ball to An this time, which confused the Marines because usually their power forward or center would be tossing it inbound, so this change did not go unnoticed by them. Still, this time An was the one controlling the ball as he walked down the court with the ball.

Looking at the defense that was stumbling around to adjust to this new offensive lineup made An laugh a little bit as he charged in. The Marines weren't able to position themselves in time, so An stopped at the 3-point line and took the shot. The sound of the bottom of the net made a whoosh sound, indicating that he had made the bucket as they closed the lead by 2 points. The Marines were quite disappointed with how they handled that last play as they got more serious and organized themselves better.

An wasn't very physical, so their point guard that was checking him now was able to keep up with him, but what came up next was all the tricks that An had come up with. China was setting double picks, given An open shots. Li had also turned up his defensive game and started getting a few blocks here and there. On one of the plays, An had asked for a pick; the Marines point guard had gone around the pick only to run into another pick as An stepped back to where he used to be and took the open shot. Due to all these tricks, China had taken the lead and was now leading by 3 points.

Due to An's quick thinking, they were able to get back in the game as China continued to steamroll over the Marines, Boa had even gotten a few points in. The Marines were frustrated at this point as they wondered how the game had turned around so quickly. They thought that they would have this in the bag and win this game easily, but An came back with determination as he figured out a new style of play.

I couldn't help but admire this guy and knew that if they won this game, I would have trouble playing against him because he was quite the thinker, even though Boa was supposedly the captain of the team. Everybody knew that An was the one who was pulling all the strings.

By the time the fourth quarter had arrived, China's team was up by 6 points as the Marines; were hanging on. Still, they didn't give up as they continued to charge towards them. If China didn't have Lee, the center ranch probably would have bullied or dominated them, but thanks to Lee's defensive place, they were able to hold them at shore.

An was having a great game from the 3-point line; he had missed a few shots due to stepping on the line or being too far from the line, which was the one weakness I could say that held him back. Still, if he could shoot from anywhere as I could, he would be a force to reckon with, and I'm sure the league players would hate having to face off against him especially when he had a giant like Li to back him up and a good point guard that can pass and score at will.

I honestly thought that the Marines were going to run with this game after seeing their first-half performance, but it seemed like An had outsmarted them once again coming out on top as he went to sit on the bench to rest due to playing a lot of minutes. It didn't matter now since they were up by ten plus points; he had received a standing ovation as the crowd clapped for him when he went to go sit down. Even I had to admit that it was quite a great game as the seconds whittled down. 

An got up from the bench as he went to hug his other teammates for the excellent job well done thanking them for their hard work. All of a sudden, he had a feeling that somebody was staring at him as he turned around and looked in my direction. An immediately noticed me and smiled as if saying you're next; I smiled back at him as if saying I'm waiting.

The finals were officially determined, it was going to be Japan army Ground Force versus China's military team, and everybody was quite excited to see the best team in history face off against the underdog's team as it became quite the headliner. The Marines didn't even seem angry as they slowly exited with no emotions showing. I laughed in my head as I thought these guys are so hard-core. I was a little glad that I wasn't going to be facing off against them since it seemed like it was going to be quite the boring game if I did. 

Having An as an opponent would challenge you to your very core. He would outsmart you, play you like a fool and outshoot you if you're not too careful, just like how the Marines came in hot for two quarters and still lost the game.

After my team and I left, Coach Andre was saying that this week we're going to have to saddle up and train extra hard because there's no room for mistakes in this finals. I agreed and hoped that I was not going to be working too hard too but as soon as I thought that coach looked at me and said: "you should take it easy this week, we're going to need you more than ever as we come into the end of our journey." I laughed and said, "yeah, that's fine."