Chapter 386 Continuing the Winning Streak 10
"After I managed to run under 3 hours on the 43 km I knew I was ready to run a marathon, so I decided to run in Chicago which was a marathon that I always liked and was in an offseason basketball season."
"I prepared a lot to run my first marathon and I tried my best and to my surprise, I managed to win the first marathon that I ran officially, after that I knew I could have a talent and I continued to strive in training and running several marathons."
"So you asked me how I feel about having conquered so many important things and winning several marathons running less than 4 years old and being 19 years old, I feel happy and grateful for that, but I also think it's something natural for me."
"I was lucky to have a talent with a lot of resistance, but I also trained a lot for almost 6 years before running my first marathon, and I continued training even though I had basketball, so I think anyone who trains so much can achieve something if have a talent for it. "
Eric didn't expect a question from him to have such a complete answer from Jake, it seemed that Jake loved running a lot more than he thought, Eric wanted good answers like that from Jake, but he had to be careful with the questions he asked.
"And what about your team's great winning streak, what do you think is the reason why the Tar Heels team has achieved a 47-game streak without losing despite facing so many tough opponents."
"I believe that the cause of this is our environment, it is the players, the coach, the fans, all of these influences for our team to have this great sequence of games without losing."
"When I joined this team at the beginning of last season almost two years ago, the team already had almost all the teammates I have, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Serge Zwikker, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja, Makhtar N'Diaye between other players had been on the team for a year or more."
"So coach Dean Smith had already organized the team and had trained a lot with these players before Ed Cota and I joined the team that was already formed."
"In my debut season, we lost just 2 games, one at the debut and the other after a 9-game winning streak against our team and it was against the Wake Forest team, and that was our last loss."
"It means that if we had not lost that game we would have a streak of 57 wins, it shows how well we played in those two seasons, Coach Dean Smith did very well and Coach Bill Guthridge has also done as well."
"It shows how our entire team and the support of the fans has been instrumental in our team achieving this."
Eric was also pleased with this answer, it seemed that Jake was helping him a lot by giving very generous answers for him to use in his interview, with that he thought to ask me just two more questions that he had prepared and so he could finish this interview very well.
"Jake, in your debut season you won almost every individual award for your excellent performance, you broke several records for your university's performance and even for all college basketball."
"You have averaged 32 points, 10 assists, and 6 steals per game, and this season you have done even better than that, what do you think about everything that is happening to you in basketball today."
"I really think everything that is happening to me is impressive, I am lucky to have the trust of my teammates, I have an average of 18 attempts of Field goal per game and my team's Jamison has only 14."
"So this confidence that allows me to score so many points, assists only happens because I have excellent talented teammates who score when I pass."
"I am lucky to have a good ability to hit three-point shots and I also have my agility that helps me both in my attack and in my defense, it is incredible and I feel grateful every day for what I have."
"I understand, one last question, what do you hope to achieve in the future that you have not yet achieved?"
"I hope to achieve many things, I have many dreams and goals in various things related to the sport, in relation to other things and in relation to my personal life."
"But in the sport, I hope in the future to win many gold medals for me and my country in the Olympics that I will participate in the future, and I hope to one day win an NBA title and become the MVP of a season in the NBA."
"Well, thank you for this interview Jake, sorry for having spent these years without trying to talk to you, who knows in the future we may be friends again, and we will still have a lot of interviews like this in the future when you join the NBA."
"Yes, we will meet again in the future and see how things go, it was nice to see you again Eric."
After that Jake went back to the university to train, he had been happy to see Eric again after so many years, even though he was disappointed that Eric didn't try to talk to him in those years, Jake knew these things were happening.
He could have been only 19 now, but before going back to the past he lived for 40 years and it was not in the world of sports like now but in the normal society where all kinds of things happen, at 40 Jake saw a lot happening while he worked at the company.
Many of these things didn't happen to him because Jake didn't have many friends and he never tried to have romantic relationships, but he saw a lot of things happen to other people.
Jake had agreed to do this interview because he wanted to help Eric for the things Eric had done for him in the past, but it was also because he thought that with this interview David's job would be easier to get endorsements and to get a place for Jake on the team Lakers.
After a few days of training came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, this was a game long-awaited by the sports media these last few days after all the opponent was the team that had been the last to defeat the Tar Heels team before starting this long streak of 47 games without losing.
It was the Tar Heels team's first game against the Wake Forest team this season, it was a difficult game in many different ways for the Tar Heels team, it was a visitor game and it had all the pressure from the media.
Even though the Wake Forest team was not having a good season because they were still getting used to playing without Tim Duncan who was the team leader for many years, it was a dangerous team to face.
"Welcome to everyone who will accompany us in today's game, this is a long-awaited game in the last few days because it is the first game between the Tar Heels team that has not lost 47 games and the Wake Forest team that was the last team defeating the Tar Heels team."
"The Tar Heels team is definitely the favorite to win this game, Jake and Jamison have been the best players of the season, and the team still has Carter and Williams who have also been having great performances in recent games."
"But a game against the Wake Forest team can have a very big psychological effect and the Wake Forest team can take advantage of that to win, they have been trying another style of play after Tim Duncan went to the NBA, and they can win that game."
"It is true, but one thing has to be remembered when the Tar Heels team lost to the Wake Forest team, Jake did not even play 20 minutes and even today many think that this is the reason the team lost this game."
"After this game, Jake has almost always played for more than 30 minutes and the Tar Heels team has not lost anymore, with a player of his quality I find it difficult to imagine the Tar Heels team losing if they play normally."
Just as commentators had said with Jake on the team the fans did not believe that the Tar Heels team could lose, the problem was that the next two games for the Tar Heels team would be very difficult and the team needed that victory.
The Wake Forest team also had good players in three-point shots and the Tar Heels team players were prepared for that, and the Wake Forest team was unable to prepare to play against Jake.
In the first minutes, the Wake Forest team decided to try to attack and take advantage of the psychological pressure from the Tar Heels team players and the advantage of playing at home to try to get an advantage on the score against the Tar Heels team.
But it was not as they expected and they were having a difficult time passing through the defense of the Tar Heels team, in the three-point line Jake was ready to try to block anybody who tried the shot from outside and Williams was also close by.
In the defense of the painted area, the Tar Heels team was very good even without a Center, but it was in the three-point line that the opponents had more difficulty making the points because of Jake and Williams.
In one of the plays Robert O'Kelley of the Wake Forest team tried a three-point shot after moving away from Jake, but he missed and Jamison easily managed to get a defensive rebound, Jamison also took it easy and advanced slowly until he passed the ball for Jake.
It was unexpected that the Tar Heels team that was always so strong would start a game by defending more and not attacking with speed, for many it showed how the players of the Tar Heels team were feeling the pressure to win.