There are three life stages to the game of basketball. The first, of course, is childhood. I spent my childhood working on my jump shot under a streetlight my Dad had planted a goal next to. I sometimes played with friends, but many nights I was alone in my imagination under that streetlight, counting down the final seconds of the game before I tried to launch the game-winner. 3-2-1, and he scores! Or he misses! Or he reverses time and tries again!
I was never completely alone in this fantasy. I usually chose what player I was. Sometimes I was Dr.