Life is like a last-second shot

You have the ball with 20 seconds on the clock, and running. Standing in front of the defense, in a tie game, waiting for the right fraction of a second to start your play. You've been entrusted with the ball, and you can't let your teammates, coaches, and fans down. You don't want to, either. Your team has no timeouts, so you don't have a chance to draw up a play. You're not sure how the defense will react once you start your offense, and all of these thoughts are swirling through your head as the clock ticks down to 14, 13, 12...You begin thinking about whether or not you can win the game in overtime. But you don't want to have to worry about that. You don't want to think about what happens if you don't make this last-second shot. So what do you have to do? You have to make it count. You have to use every ounce of strength you've built up, you have to use every brain cell you have to react to the defense, and you have to use every molecule in your body to make the right moves and have the right form once that shot goes up. Nine, eight, seven, and you begin to run your play. Your teammates position themselves should you want to utilize them, but this one's all you. Take your defender below the free-throw line, step back, and take a 17-foot jumper. The same one you've practiced hundreds of times. The same one you dreamed about taking as a kid. But this isn't practice. This isn't your dream. This is the last-second shot. This is it.