Chapter 96 National Champions.h.i.+p 8
Even though the reporters on the bleachers knew it was a kind of propaganda, no one could say anything, Jake was now about six feet tall, so all these things made him stand out and have his own style, not bad because he was the captain and the best player on his team.
At that time there were not many players who did something like Jake and used it with their own style, so it was quite original for a youngster to do it, not to mention that everything was something that could improve his performance on the court, so everything accepted very well.
Tiffany and Clara who were seeing this should be the people who were happier about it, even though they both had this idea they would never ask Jake to do it, which is why they both chose him as the face of the company even though he was so young.
Jake did not need an advertising team to figure out the best time to make good publicity, even the idea of putting the equipment in just a few moments before the game started was a hard thing to think about.
The opponent of the final that the Elite team would face was the Foxes team, it was the team that had beaten Carter"s team last year as well and so was the third time they were in the final, even so, all Elite team even Carter who knew who the opponent was, thought they would win.
The highlights of the team were practically the whole team, PG Jack was a complete player for his age and would be an example of a perfect PG if Jake did not show up and raise both the level, he knew to do everything Jake knew, but some levels further down, he still helped lead the Foxes to the final.
The center of the Foxes team was called Max, Max was also very skillful and well in getting rebounds too, was the player that had the highest rebounding average, but the reason was that the Elite team made little mistakes and everyone was good at catching rebounds too, so he did not have many opportunities.
The SG that was called Sam was also very good, this in the media view was better than David, and if it was not better at least it was of the same level of skill.
The team SF was Bryan and was also another player that the reporters thought was better than Harrison both in defense and in the attack, the team PF was weaker than Carter so it was not a highlight.
So this had everything to be a difficult game if Jake had not said that he would give his best, now although this is a tight game the Elite team should win.
The media highlight for this game was that 5 players in this final were good at 3-point shots, Jake and David on the side of the Elite team and Jack, Sam and Bryan for the Foxes team, so this promised to be a game full of points.
So the game started with the ball going into Elite"s possession, then Mark pa.s.sed the ball to Jake to organize the first attack of the final, Jake left for the attack and the whole team went along.
The Foxes team did all the research before the game and knew that the Elite team was fast, so scoring in the middle of the court was not the smart option, so they waited to score in the 3-point line.
Jake, who had to make the attack, had to consider a lot more at the time of giving the pa.s.ses after all the opponent was very good in defense, he pa.s.sed first to David who already received the ball and the opponent approached to put pressure on the defense.
David who was calmer thanks to Jake"s warning returned the ball to Jake who soon pa.s.sed to Harrison, this took the unsuspecting defense and so Harrison went to score the first two points with the layup.
This already showed to Jake that the normal pa.s.ses would not work in this game where the attack might not have the s.p.a.ce to make the moves, but that was true for both sides, Jack started the first attack for the Foxes team and soon Jake pressure on the defense, Jack had no ability to dribble and forced the pa.s.s to Sam.
Sam received the pa.s.s and David came to mark, but Sam was able to pa.s.s to Bryan who dribbled in Harrison and tied the game.
It would be a game played in each attack, Jake did not want a final that he could not control, but this game Jake had seen that the opponents were better in the attack than his teammates, so it would be a difficult game.
Jake started another attack and started to make the signs and his teammates quickly changed their positions so the ball was pa.s.sed to Mark who received with a little freedom and can go up to do the 2 points with the layup.
Jack attempted to start the attack on his team, but they were all being better scored and he did not want to risk it, yet as a team fighting to become champion the Foxes team had their strategies to vary the attacks.
So Jack, Sam, and Bryan left the area where the Elite team"s defense was the 3-point line and thus began another attack formation before the Elite team"s defense could understand what was happening. then made the shot from outside to score the 3 points.
This was another strategy of attack that the Foxes used when the defense was very good, they used their players who knew to make the shots of 3 points and so if the defense did not accompany they would make the shot from outside and if the defense accompanied they would take advantage of s.p.a.ces that would be opened in the defense to make the points of 2.
Jake understood what they were trying to do and so decided to continue with the defense well posted after all the shots from outside were much more unstable and so the score would not change much.
Jake who started the attack for his team soon reached the 3-point line, but instead of stopping he made a feint and soon pa.s.sed Jack with a dribble and ran to do the layup and 2 more points for his team.
Jack tried a quick attack in response, but it seemed that the Elite team was faster and so he had to try a 3-point shot and missed the shot, it was like Jake said in a final game mainly where his opponents were young and not had stability would have many mistakes in his shots.
Jake started another attack and so he started up Jack and made the dribble, Max tried to mark Jake that would go to the 2 points and Jake pa.s.sed the ball to Mark to do the layup and the 2 points.
This game was like Eric said when Jake played a difficult game he preferred to go to the individual plays instead of trusting his teammates, which in the end was right, of course, the different thing was that if they tried to make a double game Jake could rely on his free companion.
This was a team game that highlighted Jake"s individual talent, but that did not mean he was doing it all in the game alone, so it was an open game.
At the end of the first period the Elite team was ahead by 3 points, one advantage of a basket and despite being like every game the Elite team was not calm, they were in front of the scoreboard only because the opponent missed, but the defense did not it was working so it was a matter of luck.
Max and the opposing PF did not receive a pa.s.s I the whole first period and all attacks were 3 points, although most were wrong and Mark was there to catch most of the rebounds they were having to rely on the opponent"s error.
In the attack they missed less but were counting on Jake"s individual moves, if they played a double game in him he would pa.s.s to whoever was free what happened several times if it were not for Jake they would also be stuck for the defense of the opponent.
Reporters also thought that the game was now in the hands of the Foxes team if they can hit more shots from outside the victory can be decided by luck.
Jake was the only one who did not think so, in the few times that the opponent opened a few points of the advantage he pa.s.sed the ball to David or he even tried the 3-point shot to take the advantage, it was a difficult game, but still, win if he could count on his teammates.
In the second period, David also left to disrupt the adversary with Jake in the shots of outside, thus the adversary still could not invade the defense.
Jake also continued with his individual attack style, the defense was helpless because they could not stop Jake, so they still tried to stop him from arriving to do the layup and so others were free to make the points.
The Foxes team"s defense felt it was easier for Jake"s teammates to err even if they were free than Jake in the layup, and the game showed that they were right, pressure from the final was making the Elite team nervous and wandering more.