Chapter 74 Walking Back to Top 1
After his mother finished preparing the dishes Jake moved to make the decorations and last preparations to be able to finish the plate.
Many women who were on the course including the teacher thought that Jake was just looking and that Eva would prepare the entire dish, but when Jake started they realized that he had more skills in the kitchen than many of them.
Even the teacher who showed how to make the dish was surprising after all this was the first time she showed this dish and the others were doing just the same, but Jake was making the decorations the way she did with ease.
Of course, he did not do it with the same delicacy as she who prepared these dishes years ago as a pro, but it was still incredible.
After Eva promised to go back to do other cla.s.ses they went away, Jake had told his mother that as she had liked it so much she should come in days he was in school to not get bored at home, and when it was weekend it would come with her.
Eva liked the idea and promised to come 3 times during the week, Jake was happy because one of the things he had the most regret was that his mother was very lonely and did not have many friends and did not leave the house without him.
So now she would have a hobby and so could make friends who had the same preferences, just as Eva was with Jake he was also happy when his mother was well.
After a few more days it was the day of the first regional champions.h.i.+p game this year, unlike last year Jake had come with a much stronger team, but now he was much more worried than before as he knew it was his last chance.
His teammates did not look very nervous in their turn, they liked basketball, but winning the national champions.h.i.+p was not a goal for them.
The team that they would face had been eliminated in the second round last year so it could be said that it was a weaker team, Jake began to calm down more only when he was already on the court, he knew that at that time no point in getting nervous anymore.
The game began and Mark won the ball pa.s.s to his team and handed the ball to Jake to start organizing the first play, Jake started to run while his teammates began to organize an attack.
The opposing team"s markers only kept away from Jake until he reached the 3-point line, only after his marker began to press, his other already-positioned teammates were being heavily scored as well.
Jake just made a few signs and for the defenders last night"s nightmare if Jake"s team players quickly changed their position and the scorers were confused.
Jake took a break from the mark and gave the a.s.sist to Harrison who had been freer, and so Harrison accelerated and did the layup scoring the first two points of the team in the champions.h.i.+p.
Jake"s team quickly returned to their defense court and positioned themselves to the other team who already hoped to concede many points did not care and just attacked when they got close to the line of defense form marked strongly by Jake"s team.
But they still managed to trade pa.s.ses until they found their SF more free to score points with a 2-yard shot and tie the game.
Jake again organized the attack, the same as last year Jake still controlled the pace of the game as PG and made it more supportive for his team, but different from last year he maintained a fast pace and not a slow.
He knew his teammates could handle this pace until the end of the game, but the same could not be said about their opponents, so in that attack, the opposing defense did not position itself quickly and Jake pa.s.sed to Mark to do the layup and 2 more points.
This fast pace was the way Jake liked to control the game, it was better to get a defense unprepared or at least to put more pressure on the opponent"s defense, and with fast players like David and Harrison, the game would quickly become one-sided.
So the two teams attacked and studied Jake"s team did not miss any attack, but the same could not be said about his opponent, with great pressure from Jake"s teammates and also lacking skills they missed 3 attacks and after the first period Jake"s team led by 6 points.
Although Jake stood out for his control of his team and the seemingly unexpected positioning changes of his team that was controlled by him and the pa.s.ses at the right times, Jake was not getting very high and had not made any point yet.
But he could not go unnoticed by his weaker performance as everyone there knew that he was the MVP of the last champions.h.i.+p, he himself has not mistaken anybody and really did not think of making points if he could pa.s.s, but he did not mind stressing one little more your opponents.
He was testing the skills and limits of his teammates, he had to know what he could expect from them in the future, after all, he did not want to pa.s.s the ball in an important game just for his teammate to miss the attack like last year.
In the second period Jake"s team still opened another 4 points ahead of their opponents" mistakes, the other team must have realized that they could not win like this and tried to increase the pressure on the mark, but all of Jake"s teammates were good players and had no problem marking the pressure.
In the third period, Jake told his teammates to push a little more in defense and try to stop the other team from attacking, so Jake"s team made 5 steals and so they got a 20 points advantage, in the last period the other team had given up and Jake"s team only managed the score.
It was a good game in which everyone did not have to give in to the maximum and also showed the strength of the whole team and not only of a player, after that game Jake was not nervous anymore, he knew that with this team they would have a great chance to win the National Champions.h.i.+p.
Eric was the only reporter who was present in that initial game, the others just started going to games closer to the final, he had already decided that he would cover all the games of Jake"s team that he thought was the future national champions.h.i.+p team.
So he wanted to comment on each score and take pictures of the game and the players, so in the end, to do a better and more complete interview matter, it was a very big risk for him because if Jake"s team lost he would have wasted all his time covering these minor games.
But even so he decided to risk it, he thought it would be worth his investment based on all the media he did that had Jake in it, especially the last one that had as cover the point of Jake doing spin, everyone liked to know that a young man from Miami won a match against the best of another city.
They liked it even more when they saw the dribble that a 12-year-old did, Jake himself was getting better known by the readers of the newspaper in Miami, after all, he had appeared in 3 interviews doing incredible things, so if they won the national champions.h.i.+p would be another success.
Clara and Tiffany"s companies were also getting better known and selling a lot more, it was a lucrative investment for them so far, not to mention that they could save two years not needing to record an ad.
In addition, Eric also knew that David was very skilled as well as won in the 13-year compet.i.tion, and today seeing these players it seems that all players are on the same level, so they were a big favorite.
After Jake went home and told the good news to his mother who was also anxious, last year she had become accustomed to staying calm and just waiting for Jake"s victories and was even surprised when Jake could not win now she would always be a little anxious until hearing the good news of Jake.
So another week went by and the second round came Jake"s entire team was confident of their victory, and the game was over easily than last week, the opposing team already knew the strength of Jake"s team and did not present much resistance, Jake controlled the game and his teammates and they had a smooth win in that game as well.
When Jake spoke to David after last week"s game he said that the New York regional champions.h.i.+p had much stronger teams, it was said that winning the regional champions.h.i.+p was more difficult than winning the state champions.h.i.+p.
This means that whoever won the regional champions.h.i.+p in New York was practically guaranteed in the national champions.h.i.+p, of course, he was a rare case, all the other teammates were expecting a slower pace in the regional champions.h.i.+p.
After the game ended Jake, who was preparing to leave, he received news that made him surprised and annoyed.
His old school had the team eliminated in the second round, Jake did not want to face them in this champions.h.i.+p, but it was still surprising that a team that won two consecutive regional champions.h.i.+ps and were the state champions lost only in the second round.
So Jake"s mood soured a little.