The Essence of Winning - Part 2

Win no. 3: Lady Luck Saves The Day 

Bilog ang bola, a common Filipino adage suggests. It literally means the basketball is round but as we try to read between the lines, it tries to give us both a positive and negative message. The ball can either roll in for you or twist and turn out. At times, the ball always finds its way on the bottom of the net but there are also times wherein we shoot bricks for what me and my friends like to call a clank-fest.

There have been games wherein teams shoot themselves in the gut and miss every conceivable shot that is makable but what keeps them in the game? Is it their hustle in the other departments? Is it that their opponents are not capitalizing on the opportunity? No sir, most of the time its Lady Luck doing wonders.

One of the greatest games of Tracy McGrady, once my favorite player before all the injuries, is the one wherein he scored 13 points in 33 seconds for a Houston win. That seems impossible. First, they were down 10 with 56.2 seconds remaining in the game. Second, they were up against a legitimate contender in the San Antonio Spurs who coincidentally were the NBA Champions that very season.

McGrady all of a sudden went off and with the Spurs shooting bricks in the free throw line, the Rockets managed to escape with a win. Why can't we attribute that win to win no. 1 wherein the superstar takes over? One, McGrady struggled before that. Second, who in the hell would score 13 points in 33 seconds and steal the game from a championship contender? Lastly, who would alter the free throws of the Spurs? Yes you guessed it, Lady Luck!

Win no. 4: All Cylinders Clicking 

This would have to be the best way to win a certain basketball game or team sport in general. Let us quote from several people from the Book of Basketball on their thoughts about this.

Russell: "By design and by talent the Celtics were a team of specialists, and like a team of specialists in any field, our performance depended on individual excellence and how well we worked together. None of us had to strain to understand that we had to complement each other's specialties; it was simply a fact, and we all tried to figure out ways to make our combination more effective... the Celtics played together because we knew it was the best way to win."

Bradley: "A team championship exposes the limits of self-reliance, selfishness and irresponsibility. One man alone can't make it happen; in fact, the contrary is true: a single man can prevent it from happening. The success of the group assures the success of the individual, but not the other way around. Yet this team is an inept model, for even as people marvel at its unselfishness and skill involved, they disagree on how it is achieved and who is the most instrumental. The human closeness of a basketball team cannot be reconstructed on a larger scale."

Russell: "Star players have an enormous responsibility beyond their statistics-the responsibility to pick their team up and carry it. You have to do this to win championships-and to be ready to do it when you'd rather be a thousand other places. You have to say and do the things that make your opponents play worse and your teammates play better. I always thought that the most important measure of how good a game I'd played was how much better I'd make my teammates play."

Bradley: "I believe that basketball, when a certain level of unselfish team play is realized, can serve as a kind of metaphor for ultimate cooperation. It is a sport where success, as symbolized by the championship, requires that the dictates of the community prevail over selfish personal impulses. An exceptional player is simply one point on a five-pointed star. Statistics-such as points, rebounds, or assists per game-can never explain the remarkable interaction that takes place on a successful pro team."

From The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons 

So what does Bill Russell and Bill Bradley try to say, they say that team comes first before themselves. The MVP award is just a consolation prize behind the championship. Statistics don't matter when one tries to attain winning. The nirvana state of winning cannot be attained by one person alone even if at times it does. As a saying goes, "There is no I in team but there is I in win."

When all cylinders click, it is very difficult to stop a team. You won't know who to stop because any person can go off at any moment. Primary examples of these would have to be the the Celtics dynasty, '70 Knicks, and the '04 Pistons. Yes these teams had an alpha dog, a star player, but these superstars were selfless and always thought of the welfare of the team first.

Watch out for Part 3...