Chapter 232 Last National High School Champions.h.i.+p 10
"I know you are all nervous about this national champions.h.i.+p final game, especially since our colleague Mark won"t be playing with us today, I have to confess myself that I"m nervous today."
"For some of you this is the last game in high school and the chance to win the second national champions.h.i.+p, and for others, it"s just the beginning and the first chance to win the national champions.h.i.+p."
"We have to do our best in today"s game, Mark himself still hurt came to see us win this game for him, and he will also receive this medal after we win you don"t want your friend to feel guilty for getting hurt because we lose today isn"t it? "
"I am going to play in a different position today, you all just have to do what you always did in previous games, but try your best today so there will be no regret later."
"I am the captain of this team and I ask you all to calm down and play as best you can because even in a different position I will take responsibility and lead the team for this victory, trust me in this game and we will win. "
Jake made no very exciting speech and just was sincere and said what he wanted from everyone, it was true that he would be doing the hardest in today"s game so no one had any excuse to play badly.
Everyone felt calmer after hearing Jake"s confidence and seriousness and also the pressure of responsibility, they just had to do the best they could do, Jake would do the hardest.
The Elite team for this game today was Jake in PG position, David in SG position, Nathan in SG position, Lucas in SF position and Carter in PF position in a false position David would play as Team Center but he would really play as SG as he always did.
In defense, Jake would be what he would play as Center and he would take care along with Carter to catch the rebounds in attack and defense, Coach Mike gave an order that no one should fire many shots outside Jake who was free to try as much as he wanted had a high percentage of hits.
Everyone gets ready for the start of the game and Jake was feeling even more pressure when he remembered what the system said the day before, Jake could play even better than he usually did and guarantee the team victory, he just had to find out how to do this.
The opposing team in this game of the national champions.h.i.+p final was the Dogs team, just as the system warned the day before that this year"s players were the strongest and most talented of the Dogs team in decades, even though they have won the national champions.h.i.+p a few times in that year time.
There were no major players in the team, but that was because they were all very high level and could not stand out from their teammates, the weaker player in the attack was the opposing PG, but in compensation this PG was what always organized the team"s moves with quality and was the best team in defense.
Thus the Dogs team relied on the team"s PG to stop Jake"s attack in the game, as this PG was the weakest in the attack would be he who David would score when the Elite team was in defense.
The opposing team"s coach was trying to guess how the Elite team would play in this game in order to give their players more instructions, but from what he could see it was Carter even playing as an improvised Center, he didn"t even think the Elite team would play without any Center and Jake who would make that position in defense.
The Dogs" PG was named Juan and was weak on offense but more in defense and organization of play, the team"s SG was Ivan and he was good at three-point shots.
The Dogs" SF was named Ashton and he was good at defending and also trying to play in the attacking area and drive to the basket, the opposing team"s PF was also medium in attack and a little better than Juan.
The Dogs team center was called Rowan and he was the best player in the defense team and was also good at offense, much of the Dogs team"s attacking moves were concentrated on Rowan, Rowan was also good at rebounds not at Mark level, but it also helped the Dogs team a lot.
After a few more minutes the game of the national champions.h.i.+p final finally began, the high ball this time was played by Carter and Rowan of the Dogs team got the first possession of his team.
Rowan pa.s.sed the ball for Juan to start organizing the Dogs team"s first attack in the game, Juan advanced slowly for the attack while the Elite team positioned themselves in defense, after a few seconds everyone realized that Jake was inside the defense against rowan.
This positioning of Jake took everyone by surprise, only Mark who was in the stands knew it would be so in the game, Juan was also surprised by this and realized that it was David who was defending against him.
Juan didn"t think that was an offense and understood very well that as he didn"t score many points it was normal that he was not well marked in defense, he also dared not underestimate Jake who was defending against Rowan, after all, Jake was the MVP last year and everyone, They knew he was excellent at defending and brilliant at attack.
Before reaching the three-point line Juan pa.s.sed the ball to SF Ashton on the right, Ashton received the ball and held while Lucas appeared to defend, so after attempting a feint Ashton pa.s.sed the ball to his team"s PF on the left.
The Dogs team PF did not hold the ball and went to Ivan behind, Ivan took the ball and took advantage of having more s.p.a.ce and tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Dogs team.
From this play Jake can see that the Dogs team was really strong and well organized, it seems that the Elite team defense will make little difference in this game, after all, they worked the ball well before trying to score, so without many individual plays, Elite team defense could not do much.
Jake received the ball and slowly advanced to organize the Elite team"s first attack in the game, so everyone realized that Jake would still play as PG in the attack as usual, so everyone could see how the Elite team positioned themselves in the attack.
Nathan was wide open on the right and Carter was also more open on the right near the bottom of the court, David was open on the left and Lucas was also on the left closer to the bottom of the block.
Elite team players formed a square with attack position, Jake was the only one who would move as he wanted without the ball and when players received the ball the team positioning varied with the player"s decision to attack with the ball.
The Dogs team"s PF and Rowan were excellent in defense, but they were more prominent in defending the internal area, so the Elite team"s attack formation without any Center would make these two defenders uncomfortable while defending.
After going through the middle of the court Jake pa.s.sed the ball to David on the left, David was excited to have the opportunity to start as a starter in the final game, yet he knew he needed to stay calm to do his best and help the team.
David advanced and before the three-point line pa.s.sed Lucas the ball to the left, Lucas received the ball and held for a while and when Ashton reached the defense Lucas pa.s.sed the ball to Jake behind.
Jake received the ball off the three-point line and attempted a shot from outside to make the first 3 points for the Elite team, even if Mark was not on the team to catch the rebounds Jake would not hesitate to attempt three-point attacks to ensure the victory.
Juan took the ball and advanced, after pa.s.sing the middle of the court he pa.s.sed the ball to Ivan on the left, Ivan advanced and Nathan came to the defense before Ivan crossed the three-point line.
Ivan was known for good three-point play, so Coach Mike arranged for Nathan to always press on the defense before Ivan even entered the three-point line, especially today that Mark was not in defense to catch the rebounds.
Seeing that Ivan pa.s.sed the ball to his team"s forward PF, Carter came to the defense by pressing and the PF returned the ball to Juan again, Juan was freer to work the ball with only David on defense after hold on a little he pa.s.sed it to Rowan inside.
Rowan received the ball and was alert with the b.a.l.l.s in his hands worried about Jake in defense, Rowan tried to use force with his heavier body to push Jake before trying the play, but Jake was much stronger than Rowan expected and was Rowan that was pushed out.
So Rowan, who saw he was running out of possession, used the ability to spin and attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Dogs team.
Jake received the ball again and advanced to the attack slowly, after pa.s.sing through the middle of the court Jake pa.s.sed the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan advanced to before the three-point line and pa.s.sed the ball to Carter ahead.
Carter managed to fake a shot and fooled his opponent and tried a mid-range shot to get 2 more points for the Elite team, the Dogs team manager did not like what he was seeing, the Elite team seemed to play as usual without Mark on the team.
Worse, Rowan was now almost useless in defense, he had only Lucas to defend against, but Lucas after entering high school also changed his style of play and now only tried mid-range shots.
So no one else on the Elite team thought of trying to play inside, so the Dogs team was having trouble defending.