We started the morning by watching the video of the 2v2 basketball game and the interviews Hagan did at halftime and post game.

The students then wrote stories based on watching the game. Some excerpts:

Kavin

The game started very slow, shooters from both sides were struggling early, when Eddie Bricio went into takeover mode, netting the first 3 buckets. Eddie had found his 2k hotspot early and was on fire from inside. Eddie had been struggling going into the playoffs, but after last night’s performance, Eddie makes a strong case for a fantasy basketball starter in the upcoming games.

Eventually, Jonathan and Kavin got a bucket by doing what they do best, the pick and roll or the pick and slip. They have torched opponents with it all season, and eventually, they were able to pick-up their only first-half bucket off of a slip play. Kavin touched on the play right before the half saying, Jonathan was able to bury a layup off of a beautiful pick and slip play, we are going to use more of those plays during the second half and win the ball game.” Kavin, a 4-star guard was right on one of the accounts, as the in the second half, he and his 4-star buddy Jonathan used pick plays to set up inside looks to charge forth a comeback.

Ben

On May 29, 2019 Ben and Eddie squared off against Kavin and Johnny for The DT World Championship Title. Led by Eddie Bricio, a 5-star prodigy from Cary Academy, Eddie and Ben held onto their 11 straight T.D.T.W.C.T. Before the game Ben was questionable, as he is still recovering from a gruesome broken leg injury 2 weeks ago. This led to a poor performance in the first half, shooting 2 for 9 and ending the first half with 2 of the 5 points. After his massage during the half time he came out firing scoring 4 of the team’s 5 points, leading all scorers with 6 points. Eddie filled in for Ben’s poor first half playing nailing tough shots and leading all scorers heading into the break. Although he only scored once during the second half, he did score a tough fade- away shot to win the game.

Eddie

Though Eddie and Ben made great improvements to their play, they may be getting overconfident as they still have the rest of the competition to face. A much overlooked fact is that Kavin and Jonathan made a 7-3 run in the second half before Ben and Eddie finished the game. Will Eddie and Ben be consistent enough to advance further in the tournament? They faced trouble in the past, but they look good now. They may not be the best team, but they could be the scariest opponent to go against if they play at their best. Look out world, this is Ben and Eddie in the DT world Championship.

Johnathan

Yesterday, we witnessed the first game of the DT World Championships between Eddie Bricio’s team and Kavin Wood’s team. The game was filled with excitement, as Eddie hit ridiculous shot after ridiculous shot. However, that is not what the main headline coming out of the game is- instead, the focus is on the blatant flopping and lying by the athletes on both sides.

One thing to note is that the lying didn’t start until the second half, when the game got much closer than it was in the first. Actually, that isn’t true- Ben Buxbaum lied in the halftime show, saying that he had broken his leg two weeks ago and was still recovering from it. This is a blatant lie, as a typical broken leg requires 6-8 weeks on crutches before being able to walk without support. It’s possible he lied to excuse his below-average play in the first half, but it doesn’t really help to lie that obviously. It can be unanimously decided that behavior like this doesn’t belong anywhere, so Ben has something to learn in terms of attitude when declaring for the draft.

Kavin Wood has stated before that he has taken inspiration from James Harden, and that clearly showed with his lying to the referee in the second half. First, he declared that Ben had been the last one to touch a loose ball when the ref was on the other half of the court; replay clarifies that he was definitely the last to touch that ball. When driving for a layup later in the half, he just threw the ball up and flailed his hands around, even though nobody touched him. Both of these plays went his team’s way in terms of officiating.

If it weren’t for plays like this going his way, would Kavin’s team have been close to winning? I believe the answer is no, as they would have gotten two less possessions to use to score. If you’re competitive, you do anything you can to give yourself the opportunity to win; if basketball wants to reward those who are competitive, lying simply must be part of the game.