The Night the Lights Went Out

I remember the sound before I remember the dark. A long, low hum, like the whole building was exhaling. Then nothing — four thousand people holding their breath at once.

We were down by two with four minutes to play. In the silence somebody laughed, nervously, and then the entire bench was laughing, and I thought: this is the moment we either fall apart or become a team.

The huddle nobody saw

Coach did not shout. He asked each of us, one by one, a single question: what do you need? Nobody had ever asked me that in eleven seasons.

We did not win because we were better. We won because for nine minutes nobody was watching.

Mohammed Example

When the lights came back, the arena roared like it had been holding that sound in. We scored eleven straight points. I have replayed those nine minutes thousands of times, and the strange thing is that I cannot remember a single play — only the voices.

• Score when the lights went out: 71–73
• Score when they came back: 71–73
• Final score: 84–79

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