The Fruits of Believing

It has been two weeks since the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned the 2009 NBA champions.

Rewinding to the pivotal Game 4 of their series with the Orlando Magic, Derek Fisher, the Lakers returning veteran guard, were hitting bricks and posts throughout the game, including 5 misses out of 5 tries from the 3 point area. And this was not a one-time game low for him. All through the play-offs, he was oftentimes criticized for being too old or too slow against younger opposing guards. Critics pounced on him every time his guarded opponent scores while he endlessly seems to struggle on his side of the court. Nothing was working for him in the past weeks or so.

Actually, his critics are quite right in their thinking.
Let us consider his shooting statistics in the previous 3 games.

Game 1 : 4 shots in 6 attempts for 9 points
Game 2 : 4 shots in 9 attempts for 12 points
Game 3 : 4 shots in 9 attempts for 9 points

Not a reliable veteran’s proud moments.
More like a struggle, a slump in any basketball afficionado’s dictionary.

And then came the dying seconds of Game 4 where his team was down by 3 points. He pulled up for his sixth three-point attempt of the game and the ball swished the net. The game went overtime. In the closing seconds of overtime, he went up again for another three point attempt that swished the net again, giving his team the lead which propelled them to their third win and the enviable position of going up 3-1 in their Best of 7 series. Game 5, afterwards, proved to be the culmination of their years of team re-building and their quest for the world trophy.

When interviewed how he did it, Derek Fisher, has only a few words to say. “Faith and confidence. My team-mates believe in me. My coach believe in me.”, his tired yet over-joy voice went. “I like to step into those threes and even though I wasn’t making them earlier, I felt like I can do that.”, as he mused what was going on inside his head at the time of making the first shot.

Derek Fisher’s Game 4 statistics: 5 shots out of 11 attempts for 12 points.

If you ask me, it is still not a reliable veteran’s shining moment.
But he redeemed himself with 2 memorable shots of the series.

He believed in himself.
His team-mates believed in him.
His coach believed in him.

And so he reaped the fruit of believing.
He now joins his team on top of the basketball world, again, for his career fourth time.

To see is to believe. Nope.
To believe is to see it through.

May we all keep on believing in ourselves to be good, to do good and to be for good.
The fruit of this belief is better and more lasting than any known basketball dynasty.
The fruit of this belief is eternity.

God bless.