Chapter 156 An Exciting Final 3
At least during the training sessions in the weeks before the final the team seemed focused and excited for the final game, Jake had confidence in his teammates as well.
These days Jake always did his private training too, every day he played as Center in his training of the imagination, he was confident that he learned a lot, maybe in a few more months, he could even play in position.
Jake was sure that this experience could help him a lot in his game as PG, he could read much more easily the changes of Mark and Carter and also of his opponents.
After a few days, the day of the national champions.h.i.+p final had finally arrived, Jake woke up very early and went down to eat Eva"s breakfast, it was a full table as always and Jake ate happily.
After that Jake and Eva changed and packed up their things and then went to the playground, Jake was very happy to have his mother going with him to watch this final game, giving him another incentive so that he could win.
After arriving at the game site Jake saw that all his teammates had already arrived, Eva can also find Anna in the stands and went to sit next to her.
Jake could also see Joseph and Oliver in the stands until Matthew had seen to see this game, Jake could see Eric, and Tiffany and Clara in the stands, it seemed that everyone he knew had come to see this game.
The two company representatives who started sponsoring him now had not come to see this game, but Jake was sure they sent someone to see Jake"s performance, Emily did not come because Jake did not tell her about this game.
Jake thought that as Emily worked with him it would be strange if he asked her to come and cheer for him in the game, if she found out by herself and wanted to appear he did not care.
The coach was pa.s.sing some last things to Carter and Harrison, Jake was a little anxious in today"s game, his teammates seemed to be fine and he also trusted them a lot, but Jake was worried that the same could happen for the final 3 years behind.
Jake knew that if his team was playing badly in today"s game he could not just lead the team to victory, even if he could hit all the b.a.l.l.s out he would get an hour that he would receive double play or even with three players and could not do anything more.
The two teams were called to the court because the game would soon start, the Elite team"s opponent in that final game was the Hawks team, they had 3 players who were the team"s highlights.
The Hawks" team PG called William, he was a very skilled player and even had some Double-Double in this compet.i.tion with points and a.s.sists, even if William was very good at shots from outside and mid-range he was very fond of making scores also.
William was not very good at defense, but he was one of the best players of that national champions.h.i.+p in the attack, he was one of the reasons the Hawks" team reached the final.
The SF of the Hawks team was called Logan, he was a very good player in internal scores and shots from outside as well, in addition, Logan was a player with 1.82 m and very good in defense, so Harrison would be virtually nullified for that game.
The PF of the Hawks team was called Gabriel, Gabriel was a very strong and fast player for his size, besides being a tall player was very fast and skillful, would be a big problem for Carter, he even had a note about Gabriel for Jake , he was better than Liam that they faced some games ago.
The SG and the Center of the Hawks" team had no highlight, but they were too good to be on such a strong team so Jake did not dare to disregard them.
After a few moments, the game began and Mark got the ball to the Elite team, Jake was happy to have the first ball of the game, he had to make some plays with his teammates to see how they were for that game.
But on that first ball, Jake thought it best to score the points to ensure an advantage for his team as soon as he got close to the three-point line he made the shot from outside to make the first 3 points for the Elite team in that game.
William did not expect Jake to take the shot off on the first play and he could not even react, but he took the ball calmly and went to organize the first attack for his team, arriving at the attack he pa.s.sed the ball to the SG of his team.
The SG picked up the ball and pa.s.sed by David and then made a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Hawks" team, Jake got the ball and started another attack for his team.
Arriving at the attacking court he pa.s.sed the ball to Harrison, Harrison knew that Logan should be an excellent player in the defense and so only made a feint and opened a small s.p.a.ce and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for his team.
Jake was very pleased, it seemed that Harrison was very well in the game today and also had matured a lot in recent years and learned to think and know their limits, Jake thought that with another year of training Harrison could pa.s.s for the defense of Logan.
William received the ball and went to the attacking court to organize the attack, arriving at the attacking court he pa.s.sed the ball to Logan this time, Logan did not respect Harrison and pa.s.s by the opponent quickly and continued until doing a layup to do 2 more points for the Hawks team in that game.
Jake got the ball to advance to the line of three points and pa.s.sed the ball to David, David made a feint and saw him unable to fool the opponent, then he dared his speed and pa.s.sed by the right side of the opponent to make the mid shot range and 2 more points for the Elite team.
William received the ball and began to organize another attack for his team, arriving at the line of three points he pa.s.sed the ball to Gabriel, Gabriel made a quick turn and then made the mid-range shot to make the 2 points for the Hawks team.
Carter did not have much time to react with this quick move of Gabriel, so he was frustrated by even after training so much still had players who could easily make points with him on the defense.
He knew he did not have the qualities to be a professional, but at least he thought he could be a good player in college, but if he had difficulty playing high school in high school when he knew it would be more difficult at university.
Jake grabbed the ball and started another attack on his team, he reached the three-point line and pa.s.sed the ball to Mark, Mark received that Jake pa.s.s and turned as fast as Gabriel on top of the Hawks" team center and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
Everyone could see that Mark was the most trained during the week, in the last game he can not do anything because the opponents were very good, that was good because he took some of the pressure that was on him before the final.
But this also served to inspire Mark to train harder for not having another game in which he could do nothing in either attack or defense, Jake thought that just like everyone on the team next year would be the year that Mark would show all his potential as Center.
After this move Jake was very satisfied and can see that all his companions were very well, Jake being able to rely on Mark and David in the attack could already make many different moves.
On defense, it would be difficult to stop Logan and Gabriel, but if nothing happened, Jake was confident that his attack was better than that of the Hawks and they could still come out with the win.
William was disappointed because he also realized that the opposing players were all in good shape, but just as Jake relied on his team players, so William started another attack on his team.
Arriving in the line of three points this time he did not pa.s.s to anyone and went to face Jake, William made some feints and saw that he could not fool Jake, so he sped left to pa.s.s by Jake.
Jake could easily follow, but William was a skilled player and after two dribbles he could pa.s.s Jake and make the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Hawks" team, Jake knew he could not stop William in every move and did not care about this move.
William was disappointed to realize that Jake had not been bothered that he had gone on this move, William knew that the better the defensive players were the more proud they were and would not want to be dribbled.
But William could never know that even though in his information Jake was considered one of the best defenders, Jake himself did not think it was that good.
Jake began to arrange another move, William hoped that Jake went to the individual play in this attack to his revenge and was prepared, but Jake soon pa.s.sed the ball to David, David made the feint and took a step back to make the shot out to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
William received the ball and pa.s.sed to Logan when he arrived in the attacking court, Logan received the pa.s.s and made a step back and made the shot from outside also to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
Seeing this Jake knew that this could become a point-to-point game.