Chapter 45 The Regional Championship 2
Chapter 45 The Regional Championship 2
And so after the day of the first game of their first school league championship finish, Jake was back home to dine with his mother.
In fact, Eva was anxious all day, she knew that today was going to be Jake's first game at school and despite seeing how well Jake played in the street basketball tournament, she was worried because she had seen that her son was very confident to be the winner.
Her fear was that Jake would lose the game and his team would be eliminated and Jake would be depressed about it, Eva knew how dangerous it could be for someone to get a little depressed, after all, she was depressed enough after her husband died.
And that depression followed her for more than eight years until she got better, and Eve knew depression was lurking for an opportunity, for her to be shocked again and end her life.
And for young people, everything is more intense when you end up with a boyfriend, or if you lose a friend, it is like yours the world would end at that moment.
Although Eva knew that Jake was more mature than others at her age, she also knew how much basketball was important to him and how much time he invested in it, so losing a game that he thought would be easy to win could end with his self-esteem.
So just when Jake came home saying that they had won that she calmed down, she knew that her son was very skilled in basketball, more for what she knew this was a game if 5 people on a team, if only Jake was good and his companions would not arrive an hour that they would lose.
"So you guys won that game, very good, my son, I'm very happy for you."
"Thank you Mom, I knew you would be worried about this whole thing, now the next game will be in a week, so you should calm down, I'm confident our team can win at least this regional."
"The more you must know my son, I know how skillful you are, but this is a team sport, no matter how good you are it can not get the whole team behind."
"I know mother, plus the team also has some good players, everyone has their weakness no one else is perfect, as I am the captain the best I can do is try to enjoy all their good points and try to cover their weaknesses."
"I'm very proud of you for working so hard on what you do, no matter the end result as long as you give your best."
"I do not need to be very worried, the goal of the team is just to enter the national championship, although we have no chance to be the champion this I can try to achieve."
"It's already a great result, you'll have won two trophies by then."
Jake just smiled and ate his food in silence, he wanted to win that national champion title no matter how difficult it was because he knows he had the potential for it, plus he was bound by the circumstances, he should now know what big players who were the best in the NBA most did not have the best teams and so they always lost.
Of course, when you are a professional you get used to the defeat, after suffering a painful defeat a very large check can relieve your pain, plus Jake did not even have the check.
So more now was not the time to think about a defeat that had not yet happened, he would have a game next week and should win.
So Jake spent the week doing only a few lightweight training sessions and a few plays with his teammates, during the intervals of the classes he always talked with Joseph, at that time they talked about other sports and also school and even television programs.
So it was an hour that Jake could relax.
So the day of the game arrived, the school team he was going to face had the name of the mascot of the Tigers school.
The Tigers were a much stronger team than the team from the first game, they reached the fourth place in the last championship losing to the opponent of Jake's team in the final.
So this game was a good opportunity for Jake to estimate the level of his opponents in the finals of that championship, of course, that the team of Jake was confident to win, in an analysis of his game in the first match of that championship, the best players of that team seem to be 2, the PG called Xavier who is in the place of the previous PG that was formed and was the captain, which was not a problem for the team of Jake, since it would be marking its adversary.
The other four players were already in the starting lineup in the past, and they were better now after a year, the other good player of that team to pay attention was the Center called Jay.
So he was a good opponent to test Jake's team and there was no need to worry too much because the best players in their team would be marked by the best supporters of Jake's team that was himself and Owen.
The game began and the team of Jake got possession of the ball that was soon sent to him to arm the move, Xavier soon went to the marking more Jake used his speed to take advantage of the cover of Lucas to reach the line of 3 adversary, so he soon found a fault in the defense and sent the ball to Luke who understood the sign of Jake and soon passed to Aiden to score the first two points.
This had been Jake's order and his strategy, as Luke and Owen did not have the ability to score, at least they had to know how to give the passes to improve the team's attack, so Jake taught them both several signs and also trained them passes, because when Jake was tagged and had no choice he could arm the plays through them.
Because if Jake was so scared that he could not move, it would have to have more than one person marking him, so someone would be free to make the points or at least the passes.
Jake also trained the two to do at least one simple layup, so if they were totally free it was just walking to the basket and making two points, after all, no matter how bad a player is it is impossible that he can not make a basket without marking.
The two were also very grateful that Jake spent so much time with them, even if it was only because he wanted the victory, because as they say he knows not only speaks but also sets an example.
Other players, even his captain last year just complained and put them aside on the attack rolls, he did not spend time trying to teach them, as Jake had seen, it was not that Owen did not know how to attack, he was not taught properly how to do.
Xavier was annoyed that Jake had fled his marking, he wanted to force Jake with a heavy defense to know if he had good dribbling abilities, after all, he just as many others had realized that Jake was hiding his true abilities.
And what Xavier wanted to know was how good Jake was for the team to take appropriate action, because if they knew they could score, the more they were afraid of the unknown, it was not normal for a player to hide their skills.
Jake of course also knew this, he made it clear that he was hiding something because he wanted to leave his opponents in the dark if they thought he was very good and be very careful with him, they were right, but if they underestimated him they would pay the price.
Soon Xavier commanded his team to the attack, he also tried to use his speed to escape the marking of Jake but could not Jake always kept the same distance on the defense.
After he tried a few more fights Jake neither moved, when he really did the dribble Jake was behind, was not an easy opponent, helpless Xavier can only make the pass, so he threw the ball to the PF of his team.
They had noticed watching the last game that the PF was a weakness in defense Jake's team, of course, his team already expected this to happen so there was always a player near the SF in case it was passed.
If they made the point it would be a maximum of 2 points, and Luke was instructed to always stay close to his opponent to disrupt his mid-range shot, it was not the perfect solution but it was the best Jake's team could do now.
So the opposing team made the 2-shot and tied the game, Jake calmly started the attack again, this time Jake made a sign and so all advanced together for the attack, as an army troop.
Jake had already realized that Xavier would try to force the defense to see what Jake was capable of, but as they attacked slowly they could all advance together passing the ball between them, so unless the opponent wanted to make the fault they would have to give space.
Soon Jake received the ball and gave a long pass to Aiden who had the free way to the basket to make two more points.
As they wanted to tighten the ball, the Tigers had wanted to come up with Jake's team, but they forgot that their court would be unprotected in that way.
It was a good way that Jake created to open a gap in the opposing defense, they had trained this and Jake wanted to see if it would work out in a game and gave.