Chapter 53 The State Championship 1
So after two weeks of rest for all players and teams today begins the state championship, although Jake's team has made the best possible games, they were not a favorite of that championship.
The biggest favorite was the Lions team who had won the last state championship with their entire team in the second year and now everyone was in third and theoretically much better and experienced, that team was in another key so Jake's team would only see themselves in the final results.
Jake's team opponent today had not played the state championship for three years, but they struggled last year's champions in the final, and that team they won tight was one of the worst teams in the state championship last year.
The team's name is Alligators, and all players seemed average in skill, the best player on the team was their SF that was called Will, as Aiden is a bit weak in defense the game will be one with many points, his PG that would mark Jake's name was Tom.
Although Jake was not worried he still warned his teammates to play with concentration and give no space to the opponent, and if anyone could in the game that covered Aiden who was with the most difficult opponent.
Before the game Jake put on the sneakers and socks of the brand he was sponsored, of course, he did not tell this to his teammates, because although he did not believe it, it could happen to be envious of his teammates and affect in matches.
So the game started with the ball in the possession of Jake, who soon began to advance to opponent's court, he was taking this game more seriously after knowing that his skills were not as high as he thought they were, this brought Jake a little to the reality that he was only an 11-year-old yet and that he still had a great distance from the NBA.
As soon as he reached the three-point line his team was already positioned for the attack, after the regional championship finale, Jake trained a few more signs with his team, as he increased by only two each did not have to worry, more Jake had more than 10 new combinations to think about now.
He made some signs and then passed the ball to Owen who was freer because he had not made any points so far, so Owen did the layup and the first two points of the state championship for the team.
Owen and Luke had been learning from Jake directly that he had a high school player's abilities now, after two months if they could not make a free basket as Owen was now he would not deserve to be called basketball players or at school.
The Alligators team suffered now with their oversight, of course, all teams have players who could at least score points, so they gave those points by underestimating their opponents, which was what Jake always said.
After Tom started the attack on their team, Tom and no one in that league had received information from other teams besides which player they had to worry about, and Jake was one of them, in the information just said that Jake was a good offensive player and that knew how to organize the team at the time of the attacks.
Plus there was nothing in the information about Jake being good at defense, so after Tom got the three-point line he did not make the pass and tried to infiltrate for the basket, although he felt the mark of Jake squeeze him still managed to move, when he was doing the layup the ball had gotten out of his hands, he was focused on scoring and relaxed his hands from the ball and Jake seized the opportunity and stole the ball.
So Jake just ran more than the others and not at his top speed and reached the opposing basket to score two more points for his team.
...
While the game on the court in the bleachers had several reporters who had been sent by the newspapers of their cities to cover the championship, despite being better than the regional no one liked being sent to cover such low-level championships, at least they would be willing if it were national.
One such journalist was the only 25-year-old Eric Hunt who was sent to cover the Miami Herald, the Miami Herald, Eric was just a news reporter and columnist for the Miami Herald, and despite being a minor league, always had players who could be future NBA stars.
And the person Eric was eyeing at this time was the young Jake Smith who was just 11 years old and was in his second year at his school, he was the MVP of his school's regional and many including Eric had seen that he had not shown all your ability.
Now was the chance to see if he even had the potential to be a star in the future, and if he had Eric himself would do his interview for a future star he could follow in the future.
...
On the court, Tom was starting another attack, although he acknowledged that he was wrong to leave the ball unprotected it was the first time he had the ball in his possession stolen, that is to say, that Jake was also good in defense.
So when it came to line three he did not want to risk more attacking alone then he made the pass to the SG of his team, although Will be the best in the attack on his team Tom knew he could not pass the ball just for him, otherwise his attack would be very predictable, after SG received the ball he made a feint and Lucas gave him a space, SG did not take advantage to make the dribble more decided to make a two-point shot right there.
And so they slowed down the board, Jake never had many expectations for the defense of his team so he just started the game and did not say anything, although he knew that Lucas could be sad, more like his teammate made a mistake that could not be corrected in this game what else could Jake tell him?
So he just restarted with the game, in the line of three points Jake passed the ball to Lucas and just nodded indicating that he should know what to do, Lucas made a feint and then the dribble and ran to make the two points.
As in the first period the teams were only studying Jake as he always managed to impose his pace of play because it was superior to Tom, so in the end Jake's team ended up leading by four points, although the Alligators tried their best without risking making more mistakes they could not lead the score because Jake's team did not lose any possession of the ball.
And so it was the same in the second period and Jake's team was ahead by 10 points now, the highlight of the team other than Jake was Owen who became one of the best centers after learning to strike too, Luke was struggling to maximum as he acknowledged his weaknesses was improving so as not to be a major weakness on the team.
Luke was also making the most of learning Jake's attack and defense with Owen, with two national-level players teaching it was hard not to improve, and Luke seemed to have his strong point that was discovered by Jake, who was that his reaction speed was fast, so he would not fall into as many feints as Lucas and Aiden.
So his role in the game was to disrupt the opponent as much as possible without missing, he did not need to steal the ball or block the attacks, only to disrupt, of course, he and all of the team knew that if a skilled player attacked the team would be in danger.
In the interval from the second to the third period, Alligators had more time to discuss what to do to try to win this game, and decided that the way was to rely on Will for the attacks of the team even if the move is obvious, after all, was the only way of not losing attacks.
Too bad they did not have a good way to beat their opponents in defense, Jake's signals were simply deadly for any defensive positioning, with three signs he could change the position of the entire team twice, and so it looked like a dance in the attack.
When the third period began the Alligators team started to do what they planned, all their attacks went through Will and Aiden was simply a defense ornament in that game, Jake was seeing all those moves more did not think with a big advantage as they were it was not necessary for him to trade the tag with Aiden.
Jake's team attack also missed more during this period and Owen could not take all the rebounds, so Jake's team was in danger of getting behind on the scoreboard by two points in that period and lessening the advantage they had overall if Jake did not do something.