Chapter 82 Easy Start 2
And so the second game of the state champions.h.i.+p began, the ball began with Mark getting possession of the ball for the Elite team and the ball going into Jake"s hands to organize the play, he held the ball, in that game would not start with an attack fast.
Shortly after the entire team positioned themselves in the attack Jake saw that the Hawks" defense was evenly balanced, everyone had a mark that was so much on each player as it could also become a zone marking.
The zone defense was the right type to stop the Elite team"s attack as the attacking players changed their position easily with Jake"s signals, but this type was the hardest to adapt and able to defend well if a player ran out being left alone to attack would be futile.
Not to mention that the Elite team"s attack did not depend solely on Jake"s change of position and precise pa.s.sing, but also on the individual ability of all team players.
So Jake threw the ball to David who soon left on top of his defender and then with a dribble pa.s.sed him and managed to make the first points with a layup.
Many misunderstood that Jake was controlling the rotation of pa.s.ses just so that no player stood out, it was not that, if it were so the companions of Jake would have already claimed what happened was that with this rotation the defense would not know in whom to force the marking.
But in that game with the Hawks that was not individual marking was perfect for players to show their individual ability, and it was not long before the defense discovered their mistake.
In the attack the Hawks" team was also having difficulty, Scott was completely nullified by Jake"s scoring, as Jake was much stronger than the other players his age, it was almost impossible for anyone to get past him using the form, dribbling was also difficult because Jake did not freak out and his reaction speed was very fast.
So Scott did not have much choice but to pa.s.s the ball when he took it and had the chance, Jake was also confused, it was clear to him by the style of game of Scott that he was more an SG than a PG, and Scott was not very good either in giving pa.s.ses.
At the end of the first period, the Elite team were gaining by 4 points advantage, it was a tighter game and as Jake was giving David freedom and the others made individual play as well, more mistakes happened and the attacks were more time-consuming.
Even though there was no doubt that the Elite team had the advantage, in the second period the defense of the Hawks did not change their form of defense, they should have thought that as the advantage on the scoreboard was small their defense was working.
So before starting the second period, Jake gave a scold at his teammates who were being too individual and forgetting that the game was in team because many times two players from the opposing team would go for scoring and instead of moving to the teammate who was unmarked David and the others forced the shot or the pa.s.sage.
That was a waste of good selfishness, and Jake"s scolding seemed to have worked, the moves were much prettier than in the first period, there were plays that went through the hands of the 5 players before going to the points.
In defense the Elite team was stable as always, in addition to Jake his teammates were also doing a great job, so the second period ended with the Elite team getting a 12 point lead in total.
In the second half of the game, the Hawks team decided to return their score to one against one, and so Jake returned to make the rotation in the game, it was easier for the Hawks team to score more also the points continued out the same way.
In the attack, the team of Hawks decided for a change and sometimes Scott tried to risk the plays against Jake, but Jake defended some and stole the ball a few times, it seemed that Scott"s confidence continued to fall.
So he tried to give a shot of 3 that was his differential, but Jake who was alert gave a block on the attack and managed to stop, then pa.s.sed to David who ran in did plus 2 points for his team.
That was the final blow to the confidence of Scott and the Hawks team who then relaxed Jake also did not want to humiliate the opponent and so the game ended the Elite team winning by a 24 point lead.
Although this game was easy for the Elite team to serve well, the Hawks" team was much stronger than the first opponent, but Jake"s team nevertheless showed that they can attack in more ways than one and still guarantee victory.
As soon as the game ended Jake went home to tell about his victory for his mother and celebrate the victory with her after that Jake ate and went to sleep pleased with his day.
After another quiet week, the third match was also easily won by the Elite team, which was now the favorite to win the state champions.h.i.+p, the overall strength of that year"s Florida State Champions.h.i.+p was much weaker than in its glory years, as well Jake"s team seemed to be the strongest.
There were other teams that also excelled, but the Elite team also had Jake who was the MVP of the state champions.h.i.+p last year and it was undisputed that Jake with his talent was supposed to be better than last year and he still had not been forced to score any point that year.
Many argued that the biggest reason for Jake to make no point so far was that the opposing teams were too weak for him to score, that could not be a truth, no matter what the real reason Jake did not do any point he would rather make points in a game that was risky to lose than to lose doing nothing.
Others speculated that it was a kind of protest that Jake was making since last year they said that Jake was more suited to be an SG or an SF than to be a PG and that it had irritated him and now that Jake was with comrades stronger team he could just pa.s.s and still win.
That was the closest they came to the truth, Jake really did this to be able to improve the use of his pa.s.ses in a game because he did not make any changes before, and it was also good that so other opponents would not know how much he improved and in a difficult game he could catch the opponent by surprise.
After another week the fourth opponent was also defeated, it was another team that tried to make a zone defense, but after that game, Elite team players were much better at making individual moves to their teammates.
So the highlight of this game was David in the attack and Carter in the defense that managed to make 11 blocks until the end of the game, so little by little the total strength of the Elite team was showing, players could now also realize how their current teammates were much stronger than those of last year.
So the hope of being able to win the national champions.h.i.+p was much greater, all players still had guarded things that they could not show in the games, Harrison mainly that many said was the weakest player in the team, he just did not have many opportunities to show his skills.
Mark also noted that last year he excelled in rebounding he did not have many opportunities for that, and in the defense that had more rebounds all the players of his team could also take defensive rebounds.
Not to mention Jake who had not yet scored a point yet, even his teammates did not get a chance to see their total abilities, if it was not for Jake being the MVP last year many would think he was bad at attacking.
His teammates were only totally convinced when Carter, who was the team"s best defender, said he could not stop Jake and also David said that Jake was better than him in the attack, so Mark and Harrison could only imagine how terrifying Jake would be in the attack.
While everyone thought of him, Jake would sometimes go to the high school gymnasium to see the basketball team"s training, Jake had heard that the biggest investments to form the school"s first sports name had been made on basketball, baseball, and American football.
Jake who already had his skills compared to the high school players got curious and went to see how they were the best of the high school compared to him.
He watched the team coaching in silence as if pondering something and then went home silently, no one saw that Jake had come to see the workout.
When Jake got home he just lay down and kept thinking about that training and was wondering if he could beat someone there is a one on one game.