“Shengyu and I went 2-on-2 with Desmond Mason…” Calvin Chia recalls going head to head against a professional NBA player

By Les Tan

In May 2008, two Singaporean ballers, Lim Shengyu and Calvin Chia, were selected to represent Singapore at the adidas Nations basketball camp held in Shanghai, China. Malaysian centre Khaw Yeong Wooi, who played for Catholic High was also selected to go.

Later in the year, in August 2008, Calvin and Shengyu flew to Dallas, Texas in the United States to attend another training camp.

At the Shanghai camp, on the last day, Shengyu and Calvin got to mix it up with Desmond Mason who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks in the American National Basketball Association.

Red Sports caught up with the two players after that experience.

RS: What was the game with Desmond Mason like?

Calvin: It was basically a 2-on-2. Shengyu and I versus Desmond Mason and the 2m-tall Australian centre. It was a light-hearted moment that involved playing basketball for the fun and passion of it rather than the results.

Shengyu: It was very fun, friendly and relaxed game of less than 5 minutes. All of us were joking around throughout the game. He didn’t play seriously. He just fooled around “streetball style”, doing tricks with his dribbles and passes.

RS: What was the highlight?

Calvin: The highlight was getting blocked by Desmond Mason which drew ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’.

RS: What struck you about him?

Calvin: His reflexes and movements were very quick for a man his size and his down to earth character which was obvious when he mingled around openly with players who came from so many different countries despite him being an NBA star.

Shengyu: Generally, I felt that he is an encouraging and amiable superstar. Despite being an NBA star, he showed no airs at all, and joked around with young players like us. He was humble, humourous and child-like.

Before our match-up, he was warming up and shooting, he made a 3-point shot and exclaimed with a surprised look and a huge grin: “You saw that?!?” All of us laughed.

Later on, when I was walking pass him, he stuck out his leg and tripped me. I stumbled and turnaround. “Gotcha!” he laughed.

RS: What moves did you make on him?

Calvin: I tried a front crossover and spin move on him but his quickness ensured that he still ended up with his big mass between me and the basket.

Shengyu: Thanks to his slackened defense, I managed to score some baskets through him. I drove by him for a reverse layup. I’m glad that he was kind and didn’t reject me.

RS: What moves did he make on you that you remember?

Calvin: His court vision was superb and every time the Australian center was open, he would find him with a no-look pass.

Shengyu: Although he is really tall and big, his dribbling skills were swift and precise, that amazed me and is something i should work on. His shooting is very accurate too.

RS: What else happened on the last two days that you remember well?

Calvin: I particularly remember the informal 3-on-3 competition on the last day when Shengyu, the Australian center and I were randomly drawn to be in the same team. We played well and surpassed even our own expectations.

We made it to the quarterfinals by beating 2 other teams that possessed bigger, stronger and taller players and we lost to the eventual champions which consisted of the American star forward and Chinese star point guard.

I remember stripping the ball off the Chinese point guard when he was doing a crossover and trying to penetrate. He was remarkably quick for his 1.87m tall frame and I was quite surprised that I managed to do what I did. thus, The lesson I learnt was to be confident in my own abilities and daring to execute what i can do.

Shengyu: We had a charitable activity, to teach kids from a school to play basketball. We all had fun teaching and sharing and watching them play.

I played 2 games that day, lost both. In the first one, I only had 5 minutes of play time due to my injuries (knee and ankle) from the previous day’s finals. I went to the camp’s doctors during lunch break for treatment and taping. For the next game, against the Amercians, i finally got to play, had 8 points and I’m really proud of myself.

We had a 3 on 3 tournament. Both my teammates were from Asia Blue despite the random selection. They were Calvin and an Australia center. Our team was considered weak but we got into the quarter finals and were knocked out by the eventually champs.

Last game of the camp, it was a very close fight. we gave our best as it was the last game. Sadly, they pulled away at the last quarter and we lost.

Desmond Mason dunks for Red Sports

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWaEBMFVRw#GU5U2spHI_4