172 Finals China vs Japan

The day of the finals had finally arrived. Tickets were sold out, but thankfully Riri had obtained tickets for everybody that she came with, which was close to 50 people from my side as we had a whole roll full of black folks, while the other rolls were full of Asians. So in the place that made it look like a small black spot in front of high cameras, it seemed quite funny. 

Down in the locker room, Coach Andre had not said a single word to me after he had bailed me out and had warned me that shouldn't happen again.

If I wasn't his star player, I'm pretty sure he would have been yelling at me by now. It doesn't even matter whether he's mad at me or not. I'll be heading to the NBA right after this, and I probably won't have to see him ever again unless Paige is still playing and I feel like coming to see one of her games, but except for that, we probably won't see each other ever again which I didn't mind as we weren't that close. 

Everybody there was quite nervous as this was the first time in the finals. Blackpool had even thrown up in the garbage can due to all the nervousness he was feeling. 

I laughed when I saw this but didn't say anything because I didn't want to discourage the team; they had to get out whatever feelings they were having now before they headed on to the hard floor.

Coach Andre was once again talking about the game plan. At the same time, I was completely zoned out thinking about how I was going to go about my next moves. Everybody could tell that I wasn't anxious about the game, and I seemed almost a little bit too relaxed. 

They wondered how many times I've been in this position before. Still, honestly, after that football game in high school, I was used to facing that kind of crowd, and it didn't phase me.

After discussing the game for a little bit and someone finally came to tell us that it was time we headed out. Our new jerseys were pretty cool as they were army colors, green, a different shade of green, and black. 

I was feeling these new jerseys as the coach had brought it to us during the locker room meeting. It seems like we had gotten sponsors after making it to the finals, so the coach used that opportunity to make our new jerseys.

I looked at Paige while we were walking down the hall and asked her, so are you ready, babes? Paige smiled at me and said, as long as you're here, we can get through anything. I laughed a little at the confidence that she had in me. 

We waited at the doorway of the entrance to the court as they started announcing the Chinese team roster, they're starting five, and the coaches and staff. An had gotten the most cheers as he was their star player.

The hype was real as a crowd had gotten wild up by this. It seemed like An was quite the famous figure within this league and probably the best using his wits and smarts to maneuver through the competition for years. 

The announcer finally got around to my team as they called out Coach Andre. He received a few cheers but not enough, and then after they started calling out the other starters, the crowd had cheered but not as loud as when they finally called my name. 

"IT'S EAZY!!!!!!" the place went chaotic as if we had already won the championship. My family side went wild as they started letting go of balloons as it floated up to the top of the ceiling.

They got into a little trouble with that, but nothing that will cause them to get kicked out. After waving to everybody and seeing how much fans I had got on the Asian continents, it made me feel a little happy that I had come to this league before going to the NBA. I smiled and waved at them as the cheers got louder. I saw a few signs saying:

Eazy for president

Eazy is the best

Easy for MVP

Eazy have my baby

I laughed when I saw all these signs and couldn't believe how crazy people were. After the presentation, we all got around and started shooting the ball as we warmed up. We were laying it up and passing the ball to one another.

I pretended like I was also warming up as I shot a few shots and passed the ball around. Anytime I would make a shot, the crowd got loud because I would make it every single time.

An had finally approached me after warm-ups were done as he said," nice to see you Eazy, I heard you had quite a good time last night; I hope you're still not hungover from it"? I shook my head laughing and said," I still am hungover, but I don't need to be 100% to beat you". When An heard that, he cringed a little bit as I could see the anger boiling inside of him, but he remained calm as a summer breeze as he smiled his signature smile, causing his eyes to squint.

Just when I thought he was going to say something back, he turned around and said, "good luck may the best player or, in our instance, may the best shooter win." I laughed and said," likewise." I could never get this guy to blow a fuse, but I know he will blow one after this game. 

I'll get into his head one way or another. Both our teams got on the court as we got ready for this matchup. The finals were officially starting, and I couldn't wait to get this done and over with.

As soon as the whistle was blown, both of our centers were up in the air…..