Little-known fact: we enjoy writing fiction. In our younger, less-encumbered days, we completed a novel. It’s frighteningly unpublishable, but still: writing it was one of the greater joys in our life. Since then, we’ve started and stopped about five more. They rest in various notebooks and computer files, lingering like players to be named later in a trade. We say this because we will now take a stab at basketball fiction. The only caveat is that it isn’t fiction at all — even if almost every word might seem like it is. Here we go (and yes, this will suffice as our Section 203 report for the day):

We arrived with our pal Diddy around 7 and got to our seats right before the start of the National Anthem. Shortly before tip-off, there came an announcement: Kevin McHale was being honored for winning the NBA’s Coach of the Month award for January. McHale was shown up on the big screen, and he was treated to a rousing ovation.

The game started, and after not paying any attention to the introductions, we were surprised and delighted to find that Kevin Love had found his way into the starting lineup. But it was also clear that the Wolves were displaying a combination of tired legs and indifference toward the Atlanta Hawks — an up-and-coming team from the East with several nice young pieces in place for a bright future.

Minnesota point guard Sebastian Telfair was whistled for traveling twice in the first quarter, both times for moving his pivot foot — neither case was obvious. It proved to be a sign of things to come, as an estimated five to seven total traveling calls and three to four carrying violations were whistled during the course of the game. Two or three moving screens were also called for good measure.

With Minnesota’s indifference and Atlanta’s athleticism paving the way for a sizable Hawks lead in the third quarter, Coach of the Month McHale shuffled over, pointed far down his bench and summoned Rashad McCants to the scorers’ table. And again, the crowd responded with a round of applause.

McCants came into the game and immediately made a positive impact. He hustled, played defense, didn’t force shots and brought overall energy to the mix. He helped turn a game that had seen the Hawks leading consistently by 13-17 points into a tight affair in the fourth quarter. McCants had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in playing the final 15 minutes of the game.

It got to the point where the only substitution we wanted down the stretch was Love (a monster on the boards again; 14 rebounds, nine of them offensive, and he was killing the Hawks with tip-in putbacks in the second half) for Ryan Gomes (couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last night). That’s right, we wanted Randy Foye, Rashad McCants, Mike Miller, Kevin Love and Al Jefferson in crunch time. The Miller part can be explained by the fact that he was taking — and making — shots. He finished 7-for-10 from the field, including 3-for-6 from deep. Two of those bombs came in the fourth quarter during Minnesota’s ultimately ill-fated comeback in a 94-86 loss that was down to a two-point deficit late. Yes, Minnesota’s two best players in the fourth quarter were McCants and Miller.

Stranger than fiction, indeed.

Fasola-link! The Brazilian curling team.

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