Chapter 54 The State Champions.h.i.+p 2
So Jake began to focus more on defense, he observed Tom ahead of him and also Will"s position on the court, and as every time Tom tried to give a pa.s.s to Will, Jake reacted faster and as he hoped this pa.s.s managed to intercept the pa.s.s.
More this time he did not immediately rush into the attack and just moved calmly to the attacking court, so it helped the mind of all his team to calm down, they were agitated by the pressure of the opponent who looked like they were behind on the scoreboard.
So Jake was showing that he need not be in a hurry, it was only calmly advancing that they would win the match, on the other side this intercept of Jake made Tom anxious, although he knew that spending every hour for Will could leave the play checked, which he was worried that Will would double-mark and not that the ball was intercepted.
So he was right now that the report was wrong and Jake focused more on defense than on the attack, because he did not score many points, although all the attacks of his team pa.s.sed through his hands that were normal, all the attack of his team also pa.s.sed through his hands.
Now, this defense was not what anyone would do, he was the toughest opponent he ever played, actually what Tom did not know is that the report was made predicting what Jake would be if he did his best, and was correct, the defense has always been Jake"s weakness.
It goes without saying that the difference between Jake and the others was his experience and the system, he gained a lot of experience in his imagery training games, and the system gave Jake a goal for him to improve his defense, otherwise Jake probably would not have has struggled so hard.
After this move killed the small reaction of the Alligators team, the game was once again controlled by Jake, and in the last period the ball was over for Aiden to score the points, so he could at least feel a little better for his weak defense.
And so the game ended with Jake"s team having a 16-point lead, it was lower than most regional doe games, only seeing from that side shows the strength of the state champions.h.i.+p teams, the Lions who were the favorite team were in the level of ability.
After the game ended Jake said goodbye to his teammates and was preparing to leave when he went to by the reporter Eric, as he was not too tired Jake decided to do the interview.
"Hi Jake, are you okay, I"m Eric and I"m from the Miami Herald and would like to ask you some questions?"
"Sure you can ask."
"Well then, you won the MVP award of the Miami regional champions.h.i.+p and it was one of the highlights of your team"s victory today, do you think you have the possibility to win MVP in that champions.h.i.+p as well?"
"Yes, I think I have possibilities, I have confidence in my abilities, but as I do not know the best players in the state champions.h.i.+p it is difficult to say if I will win, after all, most of the teams here have the MVP of their champions.h.i.+ps playing in their teams."
"This interview will be published only after the end of the state champions.h.i.+p so you can rest easy, so I will ask that question, many people think that you did not show all your skills in these games that have happened here, you can tell me the because?"
"What happens is that this can be seen from the wrong point, I think my strong point in basketball is already being shown, how PG my ability to keep up with the game and also to be able to organize the attacks of my team with quality are my greatest ability, what I have not done yet was to show my individual skills that are less important than those of the team, and I did not do that to be able to catch unprepared opponents."
Although Jake"s response seemed diplomatic was the truth, for a PG to be considered to be successful is when he has the ability to show the best of his teammates potential because the PG could be less skillful than the rest of the team, so he has which if considered a foothold for team, if Jake could play with great NBA players using his signals to score the plays, the result would be incredible.
And of all the rest Jake already showed a lot of his abilities, he only played more for the team than for himself, so far he just did not show his skill in the 3-point shot that could be a good weapon in some games if he caught the unsuspecting opponent.
"Do you have something to say that you would like me to add to your interview?"
"Yes, I would like to thank all of my mother"s support first, because without what she did for me I could not be here and also my sponsor, the Sports 100 company, which allowed me to focus only on basketball."
Eric was surprised by someone of Jake"s age already having a sponsor and was even more certain of his feeling that he could become a star in the future, even concentrating on the basketball he already is, he may become a future NBA star.
So Eric thought about asking a few more questions and preparing well before doing another interview, so he would have the complete material to show in his column in the newspaper.
After that Jake went home and told his mother excitedly about his victory, although he did not want to show himself, he liked to see the proud smile on his mother"s face, yet he wished she were just the game in the final, because she was very nervous in games and has no greater support than he would have to see her in the final.
In that game Jake could see that his 2-point shots and also his pa.s.ses were more stable, and if he had to give a guess, it would be because of his recent increase in strength, he could see more and more differences in his statistics later that they were increasing, he now had more confidence that his 3-point shots would also be more successful.
In addition, Jake had many Stamina Bars stored in his inventory, so in one important game he did not need to worry about the lack of power, he still did not have enough stamina to play a full game in the NBA, plus the four periods of one playing at school was easy.
So another week quickly pa.s.sed and another game went by, it was incredible that he seemed an easier opponent than the Alligators, so Jake could easily dominate the game and his team won by 24 points, some reporters and coaches already saw Jake"s team as a favorite to win the champions.h.i.+p most knew that the way they were could not win the Lions in the final.
At the end of this game, Eric appeared again and Jake stopped to welcome him.
"Would you like another interview?"
"I would like, plus we will leave to further in the champions.h.i.+p to give time to prepare all the questions I want to ask for you, near the end would be a good time."
"Good to know that you too are confident that our team will go far in that champions.h.i.+p, but if you are not here for an interview do you have something you want to tell me?"
"You"re pretty smart for your age, yes I wanted to tell you that you"re the captain as a fan I"m cheering for a Miami team, it"s a warning, for you to take care of your next opponent."
"Oh, are they that good?"
"No, if it is to put on skill levels they are at the level of your first opponent the Alligators, what I told you to be careful of is that they do something that no one likes to see in the youngsters" champions.h.i.+ps."
"And what is it that makes you tell me that I should prepare myself."
"They make fouls, a lot of fouls, and they always take turns not to get kicked out, and even if they are their reserves they have almost the same skill level as the starting team, even though they do not hurt the opponent everyone knows that young players are not good myth in Free Throw, as soon as they have managed to advance to their third game, I do not know how their teammates are from Free Throw so I"m only warning in the case. "
"Thank you, you tell me to have a week to prepare and organize a strategy."
"I hope you win, although it"s not illegal everyone likes to see an open game, so everyone should cheer for you."
Jake was really worried now, an opponent making fouls, is the worst opponent for teams like Jake that depend on the ability of a single player, so Jake knew, only Lucas is good at Free Throw, Aiden is just average and the other two would be difficult to hit one.
So even the attack handling techniques with the signals would not work, and he could not pa.s.s on to anyone, only Aiden and Lucas can be trusted in their Free Throw, although this kind of tactic is useless in teams like the Lions, they could get quite far.
It seems that for the next game Jake would have to give up some of the team play and show off his skills that everyone wants to see because if they need Jake, the points can be considered converted.