Chapter 172 New Game Style 1
The opposing team soon made an attack to equalize the game with a mid-range shot of the SF, Jake received the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, after pa.s.sing through the middle of the court he pa.s.sed the ball to Nathan.
Nathan pa.s.sed the ball to Lucas who had gained more confidence after the last play, Lucas pa.s.s by the opponent and went into the inner area and pa.s.sed the ball to Mark, Mark received the ball and saw that the defense was already on him, so Mark pa.s.sed the ball to Jake who was free and Jake made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
The opposing team also went for another attack, the team PG ran up close to the three-point line and pa.s.sed the ball to the SF of his team, Lucas was firm from the defense and so the SF of the opposing team had to return the ball for the PG.
So the PG of the opposing team pa.s.sed the ball to the Center in the inner area, the Center that was well defended by Mark had to force the attack to make 2 more points to tie the game again.
Jake grabbed the ball and began to organize another attack, this time he came before the three-point line and pa.s.sed the ball to Nathan, Nathan quickly pa.s.sed the ball to Carter, Carter returned the ball to Jake and Jake made the pa.s.s to Lucas who had gotten free with the move and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
And so continued the game in the first period, the Elite team had a 6-point advantage, Jake had 6 points and also made 2 a.s.sists, which scored most was Lucas who made 6 points in the first period.
Nathan seemed to be more nervous in this debut game, but even so, he scored 4 points and made 2 a.s.sists, yet he could play better normally as the MVP team at Middle School.
Coach Mike was pleased with the performance of the team in the first period, even though they did not have any three-pointers they still managed a 6-point lead, which is why they did not miss an opportunity to attack.
The opposing team was also playing well this game, but they were having difficulties even when the defense of the Elite team was not too tight, so it was a good practice opportunity for the team.
When the second period began the opposing team changed to a zone defense, after all, they did not achieve anything with an individual defense in the first period, so Jake went for the first attack of that period.
He pa.s.sed the ball to Lucas who had gotten rid of the defense to receive the pa.s.s, so Lucas pa.s.sed the ball to Nathan who was free, this time Nathan did not hesitate and took advantage of the s.p.a.ce to make the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
The opposing team started another attack and was pa.s.sing the ball as well as the Elite team, but they did not seem to have much intermingling and ended up missing one of the pa.s.ses and the ball came out.
So Jake received the ball in the return of the game, Jake advanced calmly and the opponent defense was very worried about Lucas and Nathan and left a s.p.a.ce free for Jake that advanced without hesitate, thus Jake drive to the basket and finished the play with a dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
The opposing team seemed to be lost in the game and did not have a player to calm their teammates and lead the team into a reaction, so the second period ended with the Elite team leading by 14 points.
Jake had 14 points and 5 a.s.sists in the game and managed 2 steals in that period, Nathan had 11 points in total and Lucas had 10 points in the game and so it was a great debut for them.
In the second part of the game in the third period, David and Harrison would return to play the rest of the match, it could have been they who started, but the trained Mike wanted to give more confidence to Nathan and Lucas.
Jake also had to admit that Nathan seemed to be on the same level as David and Lucas was already better than Harrison because he was good at defense too, so it looked like in another 1 year they would be the team"s highlights after Jake and the others left.
It seemed that the Middle School team was also the favorite to win the national champions.h.i.+p this year, so next year better players would join this team, these players came to the Elite team thanks to the former players who were twice champions of the national champions.h.i.+p and the team of Jake and his teammates as well.
This inspired new players showing that the Elite school was a great strength of youth basketball, even if it was not now before it would be with new talented players entering it showed that the strategy of the current president of the school was right.
At the beginning of the third period, the opposing PG advanced to the court and pa.s.sed the ball to the SF, but Harrison who wanted to show that he deserved the position was very strong in the defense and SF had to return the ball to the PG.
The PG then tried to pa.s.s Jake with a dribble, but Jake followed closely on the defense, so with the time of possession of the ball finis.h.i.+ng the PG pa.s.sed to the SG of his team that made a jump and mid-range shot quickly to do more 2 points for the opposing team.
Jake received the ball and pa.s.sed it to David who advanced with the ball to the attacking block, David pa.s.sed the ball to Mark who came to the back of the court, Mark pa.s.sed to Jake who was in the line of three points, Jake pa.s.sed the ball quickly for Harrison who was free open on the left, and Harrison made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
With David and Harrison coming in for the team they got more involved and the moves were easier, Harrison did not want to lose his starting position in his last year for Lucas, he thought that with that style of play he did not have any problems. make st.i.tches.
After all, Harrison"s biggest problem, David and Carter were that with the strongest opponents they could not make the individual plays and score, but with that style of play they would have more freedom sometimes and they could make the points.
This was one of Mike"s goals for these changes, he wanted to give more pressure to David and Harrison that they were no longer the absolute starters and would have to play better if they wanted the starting position in the team and if they played poorly the coach I would not hesitate to remove them from the team.
The opposing team began another play, the team PG pa.s.sed the ball to the SF of the team that opened to receive, this SF pa.s.s by Harrison and found Carter on the cover, so SF had to turn the ball to the PG of his team.
But Jake was following the move and managed to intercept the pa.s.s and steal the ball, this time Jake did not need to wait and run alone for the attack, the opponent"s defense could not chase and Jake went to do the layup and 2 more points for the Elite team.
The game continued like this and soon ended with the Elite team winning by 26 points of difference, the opponent was not so sad because they expected defeat, Jake managed to do 31 points and 12 a.s.sists, plus 10 steals and made another triple Double, but it would be difficult to do against stronger opponents.
This time Eric was no longer following the game because he had been sent to the NBA again, but he said he would follow some national champions.h.i.+p games, Eric never doubted that Jake could win the national champions.h.i.+p again.
So the bleachers were a lot emptier for this game, Jake was thinking of going back and telling his mother about the win, but he remembered that Eva was in the restaurant now, he could not go to the restaurant after the game.
So Mark who was the most sociable of the group suggested that all of them who played were going to a dinner to celebrate the victory and so they all accepted, it would be good to integrate Lucas and Nathan into the group now that they would all play together.
So they went to dinner and everyone sat there and told Lucas to make the orders, but it was not to intimidate the newbie since it would be Jake who would pay the bill as the only richest on the team.
As young people and athletes everyone ate very well, and as it would be Jake who would pay everyone asked for at least 3 burgers each and lots of fries with sodas for everyone, actually no one on the staff knew that Jake was rich now and so they thought he would be wasting much to pay for this meal.
Soon everyone started talking about various situations that happened in their lives and then talked about things that happened in basketball, which was the best game or when they scored the most points.
After a good time everyone was much closer Jake was the least of them, after a while they started talking about the future and universities.
"Has anyone ever decided which university to enter?"
"Not yet, we"re all talking to the coaches, I want to be the Center headliner for my team after a few years."
"I do not mind playing in rotation, I know that my weak defense can end up disrupting the team."
"It"s not always Harrison, it depends on the level of the university you"re going to enter, if it"s a weaker team, you"re going to want it for sure."
"But I do not know if it"s worth it to stand on the bench of a champion team or be a starter on a weak team."
Of all Carter and Harrison did not care to play as reserves and Mark and David wanted to be the owners of the team.