I Cant Miss !!!

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We continued to play games and we were still on a winning streak, soon there was a big buzz around our team as celebrities and big-name players started to come to watch our games and just to see me play. A lot of recruiters were there too, on one of the game night's someone I had noticed as soon as I walked in the gym was none other than Kobe Bryant. When he saw me looking at him and he smiled at me I was shocked because even though I wasn't a big fan of him in the past, I still respected his game. I went to greet him and he told me to stick around after the game he wanted to talk to me said sure no problem as I went to go get warmed up by shooting around with the team. Just because Kobe was there I decided to go for 82 points. I was using all of Kobe's signature moves, I did the fadeaways, crossovers and to finish it off with the wraparound the ball around my back and dunked it. Kobe was truly enjoying this game as I displayed basketball excellence. Kobe was on his feet clapping and enjoying the show. We kept looking back and forth at each other we can both feel the Mamba mentality within us getting excited to play against each other. The game finally ended, I had 11 assists, 82 points, 11 rebounds, and 15 steals. I had ranked up the stats and in this game as people started chanting MVP. After greeting the other team Kobe had told me to come to meet up with him after I have freshened up. After the coach had talked to us about all the things we could have done differently and dismissed us, I went to freshen up. I went back to the court where it was completely empty except for Kobe who had a bunch of his guards near him while waiting for me. We shook hands as he started the conversation off by saying "you would be the right fit for the lakers". This shocked me as I had the one and only Kobe Bryant trying to recruit me to his team. I'm so excited and confused because I thought NBA stars weren't allowed to recruit college students. Kobe looked at me and said" yeah I know I'm not supposed to do this but I'm willing to risk it all for you, we need somebody like you on our team that wants to win, there's a lot of ballers out there that play, but not a lot of people want to win. I saw that in you when I was watching your highlights but after seeing you play and the way you play today I'm sure if you come under my wing you'll be a star in no time".I told him what I told all the others that approached me like Iverson and LeBron, "that's not up to me", which he quickly cut me off and said, "everything is up to you, you decide what you want for your future not the others just have the Lakers on the top of your list when the time comes".I then explained that I had received an invitation from more basketball stars as I asked him" what makes you think I'll take your offer and not theirs". Kobe smiled as he said," I can play a game to 5 and if I beat you then you should change your mind and join the Lakers if given a chance". I couldn't believe I was getting the opportunity to play against Kobe, this should be epic I thought. Kobe didn't even change as he played in the same attire he came with which was some jeans and looked very casual. He told me I could have the ball first since I'm younger which in my mind I thought man this guy is going to regret that. As soon as we check the ball I took my shot but after I took that shot for some weird reason Kobe had blocked it but instead of slapping the ball away he grabbed it went to the other end and windmill dunked it. I was surprised and starstruck as I thought man this is what I real NBA future hall-of-Famer is like. Kobe paid attention to details like a shark. He seemed like he was focused on my muscle movements more than the actual movement of the ball itself. It felt like I was facing off against a black Mamba snake, he was now up by one point and had the ball, make it take it. He dribbled up a little bit as I guarded him he took one step forward and that step alone put him right near the bucket as I thought what long legs. Kobe dunked it once again this time moving the ball around his back to bring it back up with a nice flush while hanging on there for a few seconds. At this point, I started to wake up as I thought like this is my chance to beat Kobe so I better not mess this up. Kobe seemed like he was impressed with what he was doing as we checked the ball up once again. He started to do his back up move where he backs up the opponent close to the post, does his fake turns around and fades "swish"  like that he was up by 3 points and I still hadn't scored. I was so amazed by his moves as I wanted to learn them because the moves that I did during the game wasn't as perfect as his and if I could learn how to do that move and fade with a shot I don't think anybody could stop me unless they were extremely tall. Due to my short height that move wouldn't work so well against taller opponents but against opponents shorter or within my height range which is 6'2, I'm sure that I could shoot it like that every single time and make it. Kobe had noticed that I was paying attention to all the details when we are playing and he appreciated players like those who were willing to learn as they play. This time now I got my act together because I hadn't scored one single point so I needed to show him that I was also good enough. As soon as he checked up the ball I used time freeze to steal the ball but even with that, it seemed like the time had been cut shorter, within two seconds the time had unfrozen again and Kobe was right on me playing defense.Luckily I was able to steal the ball within that time but next time I definitely have to be quicker than that. Kobe didn't even care that I had stolen the ball from him as he was in defense mode and very focused. I did a few crossovers to get free from him and finally made my first point. I wanted to catch up so I stayed outside the three-point line and he knew that I could shoot from there so he played defense on me wherever I went he did too, it didn't matter if I went to the half-court or not he still played great defense on me. The respect I had for this man elevated as I thought I could learn a lot from him might as well do it now. I was able to do the James harden step back to get two more points as I tied up the game. He called a travel and I told him that it clearly wasn't because it was sort of like a euro-step he smirked and said are you trying to destroy the game that was clearly a travel I said okay we'll shoot for it if I make it then it's a good point but if I mess it no point and you get the ball back. Kobe smirked and said fine and of course, I made the point, he wasn't intimidated by that he just laughed as he got back on defense. I told him that if I make the next one from the 3-point line I win which made him get more focused in. I had to cheat a little by crossing him up with golden eye before I was about to take the shot. The guy was already with me even after being crossed up he was still by my side as I had to time freeze in order to get the shot off. I faded to the side just a bit while taking the rainbow shot. When the time freeze was over he saw that I was taking a floating rainbow shot and tried to swat it, but he missed it by a few inches has the ball went straight in and with a splash. I was able to win that tough game playing against a legend. It was extremely tough, especially one in his prime. Kobe couldn't believe that I had beat him as he said: " man these college kids coming up or going crazy in the NBA". I simply laughed at this as we chatted up a little bit. He took me out to eat at a restaurant that he normally comes to in DC. He took me to a spot that I had never been to, where they were playing some cool blues and jazz. I really enjoyed his company and it was quite different from the normal company that I keep. After saying my goodbyes to Kobe we finally decided to part ways as he had another vehicle came to pick him up while he had a different vehicle drop me off. I was like o man, I can't wait to become as cool as this guy and thought man I was able to play one-on-one against a legend. I smiled all the way back home and didn't tell anybody about this after he threatens me to never speak a word about this loss he took against me. I got home and got ready for the weekend as I got a text from Koby saying thanks for the game and don't forget to think about the Lakers tonight purple and gold will look good on you. I laughed at this as I shut my eyes and thought of the plane crash he would go through to end his life with his daughter. Since I was from the future, this time I will at least try to warn him about it in the future. Rest in peace Kobe Bryant AKA Black Mamba and his daughter. Prayers go out to his friends and family for this loss. Gone but not forgotten!!