An Exciting Final
The Foxes' team PG picked up the ball and went to the three-point line and passed the ball to Mason, Mason turned to do the layup, but Carter was able to react and make the block in that move, Harrison took the rebound and passed to Jake.
Jake just got the ball and calmed both teams and then went to the attack calmly, the Elite team was winning the game, but the game was not easy to be beaten and despite not liking to do so Jake began to spend more time in ball possession.
This was also the work of a PG controlling the pace of the game in favor of his team, after arriving at the attack the opponent's PG was very afraid to try to steal Jake's ball, so Jake made the shot from outside to make 3 more points to his team when the time of possession of ball was ending.
These tactics worked out right because the Foxes' players began to get more anxious in the third period, so the third period ended the Elite team winning with a 10-point lead now.
Jake had 35 points and had not missed a shot from the outside yet in that game, he also had 15 assists and 8 steals in total, David also had 22 points in the game and was doing very well.
Jake told his teammates that they needed to calm down and play normally that they would end up winning the game and would be in the national championship final, Carter was better after getting a block.
But Mark was very sad, he came from a great sequence of games, but now did not get any rebound and made only 8 points because Jake's passes were accurate and caught Jackson distracted.
The Foxes team still tried to score more points, but since they had no players who could make shots from outside to make three-pointers, even if the Elite team missed a few balls they would still have the advantage.
In addition, after Jake began defending against Elijah the game became more difficult, the SG of the Foxes team could not get past Jake in every move, so the Foxes team always lost some attacks.
Until the end of the game, Jake did not miss any shot from outside, it was something incredible and even Jake had to assume it was because his luck had helped Jake after doing more than 12 shots outside in this game, it was difficult not to miss any.
But if someone made a video of this game would think it was incredible, Jake made the shots outside very fast and from the 5 directions of the 3-point line, so the opponent PG could not do much about it.
The Elite team ended up winning the semi-final against the Elite team with a 15-point lead, Jake had 46 points and 19 assists plus 11 steals, it was another Triple Double, Eric thought it was incredible, a record 15 games in a row now.
In addition, Eric remembered that Jake had another incredible record, had made 21 games that Jake did not lose for now this record was more normal, but if the Elite team won this year the national championship next year should also be beaten by Elite team.
After all Jake and his teammates are in their third year of high school yet, so everyone had another year to play with the same team and they will be more mature with another 1 year of training.
So Eric was thinking that if Jake could bring this record to college it would be awesome, of course, it would not be easy, but it was possible if the team was strong.
After the game ended everyone could not escape doing some interviews with all the reporters, after all being in the final of the national high school championship was an incredible thing thinking that it was almost the last step before the pros.
After that Jake went home to tell his mother about the victory in this game when Eva heard that Jake had beaten her, she finally calmed down, she did not want to show it to her son in the morning, but she was very nervous about this game in the morning.
In the next game she would not be so nervous because she would be in the stands to cheer for Jake and see everything that was happening, but staying home knowing that such an important game for Jake was happening was bad for her.
There were still a few weeks left for the final game and Jake wanted to just rest before this important game, of course, his teammates would do some more training, but it would only be plays and tactics and not the training they would normally do.
Jake at school can talk to Joseph and his friend said he would go to see the final game with Oliver, even Matthew would see if he had time to watch the game, Anna also said he would definitely.
After a few days, Clara called Jake, she said she wanted to go to a restaurant to talk business, it seemed that Tiffany would not attend that meeting too, it had been a long time since Jake could not talk to Clara since she had to make a trip to Europe to solve the problems of the shops.
Clara did not know that Jake and Tiffany sometimes argued about her private life either, even if they talked about it so they could help her when something happened if she knew that she would attend the meetings instead of sending Tiffany.
Jake grabbed Eva's borrowed car and went to the same restaurant they always met when Jake arrived the waiter wanted to take him to the table, but Jake decided to go alone by then.
Clara had not realized that Jake had arrived, he looked at her alone at the table and realized she was a bit depressed, a bit sad too, it seemed like she had not eaten and slept very well in these last few months.
The make-up helped cover this, and even though she may have lost weight, maybe even Tiffany did not realize it, but Jake, who had not seen Clara for a few months, might realize, moreover, after what happened to Eva in her past life, she learned to pay more attention to people.
Although it was not so serious Jake realized that Clara was a bit like her mother was, because Eva was Latin it was difficult for him to perceive easily, but Clara had whiter skin anyway with the makeup he could easily perceive.
But Jake imagined how difficult it must be to be married to someone many years ago and lose all his youth in this marriage, besides, she knew that her husband did not love her and still betrayed her, it can be said that Clara had a very sad life even business success.
When Clara noticed Jake she smiled and got up, just so Jake realized she was distracted for a while, so Jake smiled too and went to the table, the last thing she needed was to see her friends pity her right now.
"Hi, Jake, how long, after I went on that trip you did not call me anymore and just talked to Tiffany."
"I thought you were still busy and as I had already asked her to look at these matters for me, it would be rude to talk to you about this."
"I know, I was just joking, if you talk to her or me, we'll both know the same, I heard you want to be a marathon runner now?"
"It was always a dream of mine, I always enjoyed running and my stamina was always very good, so I thought I could try."
"If you think I can believe it, after all, I've stopped mistrusting you since you were 13, I know you can do that."
Jake really liked Clara to trust him, she knew he would not say such things without having any confidence if Jake said he just wanted to be okay, but Clara had heard from Tiffany that Jake said he wanted to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
Clara did not think Jake would say that if she did not have at least the confidence to end a whole marathon, so with a few years of training she believed that it was possible Jake was already an athlete so he would be easier than ordinary people in those races.
In addition, the two companies already sponsored Jake anyway, if he participated in a marathon they would only have to win; in addition, because Jake being underage he would be a stand out just by finishing the marathon.
"But that's not what I called you here, what you've done this season is incredible, even though I and Tiffany did not know much about it, but a triple Double in every game is something that only you did I think."
"In addition, you still have one more year at high school to play and then you go to college with all that plus the fact that you can be the MVP of all the championships you have played in the future we are very happy to patronize you."
"So I and Tiffany decided that from today you will receive sponsorship of 25 thousand dollars from each of our companies, so 50 thousand of our two companies."
Jake was very happy to hear this, it's a big sponsorship for him now, he was thinking about maybe joining the NBA before because he wanted to have more income to be able to invest in stocks and be able to take advantage of before 2000.
But with this sponsorship he could do the university, in these last games he understood that he had much to improve on many things in the game, he wanted to enter the NBA to win and not wait a few years for the opportunity to start.
Besides, Jake was taking time to talk to Eva about not doing the university because he knew she would not like it, he would have another 15 years of career at least after college, so he did not have to hurry.
"Thank you very much for the trust Clara, you have supported me a lot when I've been away from the team for almost two years, I will never forget that."
"I already said that it was okay, Jake, you did several things for our companies at that time too, plus we were thinking about doing another commercial with you this year as the last one was a great success."
"But after that record of 15 triple-double, you made we will again have free sponsorship from you for another year, for that money we could pay your sponsorship for another 2 years."
Jake knew that this was probably true, after all just to pay the time on television of these commercials would already give that value, in addition, the propaganda that Jake would have succeeded as a basketball player was much bigger than in a commercial that everyone would know was false.
The companies of Tiffany and Clara were still developing the brand, even if their products were very good and they sold well many people did not even know that brand existed, and for a company to make the brand known was very important.
At least in the Miami area, Jake was well known and just as Jake was related to their companies for many years people would also remember the brands, Tiffany and Clara did not have the money to pay for millionaire sponsorship with NBA players, so Jake helped very corporately too.
"But that's not why I called you here, Jake, you do not have any agents and so some people came to talk to me about it, after all, everyone knows that our companies sponsor you."
"They talked to you about what?"
"Representatives of the two companies came to talk to me because I wanted to be their sponsors as well."
This time Jake had really been taken aback, he would never expect more companies to want to be his sponsors, he understood that in the beginning Clara's company only agreed to sponsor him because of Matthew's request.
After the Tiffany company saw that Jake was very intelligent and also Tiffany was a shareholder of Clara's company and so she also became his sponsor, he helped companies a little, but they already had a lot of capital and quality products and so developed quickly.
But Jake did not know why the two companies wanted to sponsor him too, after all by the way Clara said neither she nor Tiffany had recommended Jake to these companies.
"You do not have to think about it much Jake, you're very talented and now that you're over 1.88 m, I'm sure you can play in the NBA, especially after what you did this season."
"Even if companies can not continue to pay you after you enter the NBA, they can say they sponsored you before you entered the NBA, and you still have 1 year in high school and a few more years in college."
"These companies saw that you've been helping our companies a lot and not for a lot of money, they also saw your commercial on television, so it's no wonder they ate sponsoring you."
"And I called you here to say that Tiffany and I have no problems if you want to work with these companies too, so that's it."
"You can give them my phone number so if the conditions are good I can work with them."
"Alright, I'll do it, then until the next Jake, we'll be in your final game."
"Thank you for everything Clara."
After that Jake went home, he never thought that more companies could sponsor him before the NBA, but it was good because he needed a lot of money before the year 2000 to invest and try to earn as much as possible by then.
After all, if he is going to be able to invest in the future, some company will depend on the money he makes in these investments, how he already knew how much he would make was not risky, but after that, he would not have such a good chance and risk.
After a few days, Clara said the two company representatives wanted to talk about the details of the sponsorship agreement with Jake on a few days at the restaurant where they last met.
Jake thought that the representatives of these companies would try to talk to him only after the national championship final, but he did not expect it to be so fast, yet he did not care about it, the sooner he could get the better money.
As Clara had to arrange this she scheduled lunch with the two company representatives at the same time, she thought that so Jake could end up with a bigger sponsorship of the two companies.
The next day Jake went to the restaurant again, the waiter took Jake to the table of business representatives, coming to the table Jake could see the two representatives, one of them was a fatter bearded man and looked more like a school teacher than a representative of a company.
The other was a tall man who appeared to be of Asian ancestors, he wore a suit and had glasses of the same brand as Joseph wore, the fatter representative was clearly uncomfortable with the difference between their appearance.
"Hi, nice to meet you, Jake, my name is John."
"My name is Alan."
"It's a pleasure to meet you both."
The Asian man's name was John and the fattest was Alan.
"I think it's best if I talk to each other so the conversation does not get too confusing, so the other can see how the deal goes, so things get easier, what do you guys think."
"I agree."
"I also agree."
Jake did this so that the two did not think he was trying to do something to increase the values of the purposeful patronage and also not to get too confused, the two thought the same thing and accepted.
"Then I'll speak to Alan first in alphabetical order of the name."
"Well then, I am the representative of a razor company, we saw that you have a lot of talent and did an incredible thing on the blocks this season, so the sponsorship is first to support you so you can focus on the studies and in basketball."
"In addition, we have seen that you have done a good job with Tiffany and Clara's companies and we also think that if we need to do a commercial for television you can do very well."
"And what are the values that your company thought?"
"Our company has thought of something around $ 50,000 a month."
"Sounds good to me, now John what is the proposal of your company?"
"I am a representative of an energy drinks company and our company has taken an interest in you for the same reasons as Alan's company, and if our company can get an authorization we can even sponsor you when you join the NBA."
"The value we think is around $ 45,000, but Alan's company thinks it may be more I have the authority to raise to $ 50,000."
Jake was very happy with this, he had just raised the value of his sponsorship to 25,000 with the companies of Tiffany and Clara, so he was thinking of accepting any amount above $ 30,000, but luckily he chose the company of Alan first, so the other company's values also increased.
"I accept the 50 thousand a month that your companies offered so you can talk to Clara's company to put your brand on a bandana or arm protector for me to put on the games, or even a shirt for me use in an interview that I have to do on occasion."
"If you also have some agenda that I have to do as a commercial, you just call me and I'll schedule a timetable that I can attend."
The two were a little confused by this, they expected to have a long talk and discuss the prices a lot, they did not expect things to end so easily, but they were happy to be able to solve this in just one lunch.
This heightened the appreciation the two companies felt for Jake, they prepared a maximum of $ 60,000 to close this sponsorship deal but ended up much less.
Jake thought 50,000 was great and probably would not accept much more, if they paid much more than the companies of Tiffany and Clara they could have some complaints in the future, now the contract would be wide open with that value and Jake would have much more freedom.
After this Jake went home and told her about the good news for her mother, Eva was shocked to see how much her son would earn, with the 4 companies and the school, Jake would earn $ 155,000 a month, even if it was much less than players of the NBA won he was still far from being an NBA player.
So Jake was happy because he would have much more money to invest in stocks in September of that year and this after he opened the restaurant for his mother, so Jake was convinced that he did the right thing.
After signing the contract the two companies have already deposited the first month in advance, they wanted that if Jake won the national championship he could already talk about the two companies, Jake was happy about it.
Even if it was not too true Jake still told Tiffany and Clara about the value he would get from the two companies because it was because Clara helped him get that sponsorship, Jake would also tell the companies when it was time that he too would run in marathons, so companies would gain more exposure.
In the next few days Jake just rested and thought about the final game, it would be a difficult game for sure, Jake thought that if there were players like Mason and Jackson this game would be harder because it was impossible that he hit all the shots out at all the games, and it was never known if his teammates would take the pressure and play well this time.
At least during the training sessions in the weeks before the final the team seemed focused and excited for the final game, Jake had confidence in his teammates as well.
These days Jake always did his private training too, every day he played as Center in his training of the imagination, he was confident that he learned a lot, maybe in a few more months, he could even play in position.
Jake was sure that this experience could help him a lot in his game as PG, he could read much more easily the changes of Mark and Carter and also of his opponents.
After a few days, the day of the national championship final had finally arrived, Jake woke up very early and went down to eat Eva's breakfast, it was a full table as always and Jake ate happily.
After that Jake and Eva changed and packed up their things and then went to the playground, Jake was very happy to have his mother going with him to watch this final game, giving him another incentive so that he could win.
After arriving at the game site Jake saw that all his teammates had already arrived, Eva can also find Anna in the stands and went to sit next to her.
Jake could also see Joseph and Oliver in the stands until Matthew had seen to see this game, Jake could see Eric, and Tiffany and Clara in the stands, it seemed that everyone he knew had come to see this game.
The two company representatives who started sponsoring him now had not come to see this game, but Jake was sure they sent someone to see Jake's performance, Emily did not come because Jake did not tell her about this game.
Jake thought that as Emily worked with him it would be strange if he asked her to come and cheer for him in the game, if she found out by herself and wanted to appear he did not care.
The coach was passing some last things to Carter and Harrison, Jake was a little anxious in today's game, his teammates seemed to be fine and he also trusted them a lot, but Jake was worried that the same could happen for the final 3 years behind.
Jake knew that if his team was playing badly in today's game he could not just lead the team to victory, even if he could hit all the balls out he would get an hour that he would receive double play or even with three players and could not do anything more.
The two teams were called to the court because the game would soon start, the Elite team's opponent in that final game was the Hawks team, they had 3 players who were the team's highlights.
The Hawks' team PG called William, he was a very skilled player and even had some Double-Double in this competition with points and assists, even if William was very good at shots from outside and mid-range he was very fond of making scores also.
William was not very good at defense, but he was one of the best players of that national championship in the attack, he was one of the reasons the Hawks' team reached the final.
The SF of the Hawks team was called Logan, he was a very good player in internal scores and shots from outside as well, in addition, Logan was a player with 1.82 m and very good in defense, so Harrison would be virtually nullified for that game.
The PF of the Hawks team was called Gabriel, Gabriel was a very strong and fast player for his size, besides being a tall player was very fast and skillful, would be a big problem for Carter, he even had a note about Gabriel for Jake , he was better than Liam that they faced some games ago.
The SG and the Center of the Hawks' team had no highlight, but they were too good to be on such a strong team so Jake did not dare to disregard them.
After a few moments, the game began and Mark got the ball to the Elite team, Jake was happy to have the first ball of the game, he had to make some plays with his teammates to see how they were for that game.
But on that first ball, Jake thought it best to score the points to ensure an advantage for his team as soon as he got close to the three-point line he made the shot from outside to make the first 3 points for the Elite team in that game.
William did not expect Jake to take the shot off on the first play and he could not even react, but he took the ball calmly and went to organize the first attack for his team, arriving at the attack he passed the ball to the SG of his team.
The SG picked up the ball and passed by David and then made a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Hawks' team, Jake got the ball and started another attack for his team.
Arriving at the attacking court he passed the ball to Harrison, Harrison knew that Logan should be an excellent player in the defense and so only made a feint and opened a small space and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for his team.
Jake was very pleased, it seemed that Harrison was very well in the game today and also had matured a lot in recent years and learned to think and know their limits, Jake thought that with another year of training Harrison could pass for the defense of Logan.
William received the ball and went to the attacking court to organize the attack, arriving at the attacking court he passed the ball to Logan this time, Logan did not respect Harrison and pass by the opponent quickly and continued until doing a layup to do 2 more points for the Hawks team in that game.
Jake got the ball to advance to the line of three points and passed the ball to David, David made a feint and saw him unable to fool the opponent, then he dared his speed and passed by the right side of the opponent to make the mid shot range and 2 more points for the Elite team.
William received the ball and began to organize another attack for his team, arriving at the line of three points he passed the ball to Gabriel, Gabriel made a quick turn and then made the mid-range shot to make the 2 points for the Hawks team.
Carter did not have much time to react with this quick move of Gabriel, so he was frustrated by even after training so much still had players who could easily make points with him on the defense.
He knew he did not have the qualities to be a professional, but at least he thought he could be a good player in college, but if he had difficulty playing high school in high school when he knew it would be more difficult at university.
Jake grabbed the ball and started another attack on his team, he reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Mark, Mark received that Jake pass and turned as fast as Gabriel on top of the Hawks' team center and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
Everyone could see that Mark was the most trained during the week, in the last game he can not do anything because the opponents were very good, that was good because he took some of the pressure that was on him before the final.
But this also served to inspire Mark to train harder for not having another game in which he could do nothing in either attack or defense, Jake thought that just like everyone on the team next year would be the year that Mark would show all his potential as Center.
After this move Jake was very satisfied and can see that all his companions were very well, Jake being able to rely on Mark and David in the attack could already make many different moves.
On defense, it would be difficult to stop Logan and Gabriel, but if nothing happened, Jake was confident that his attack was better than that of the Hawks and they could still come out with the win.
William was disappointed because he also realized that the opposing players were all in good shape, but just as Jake relied on his team players, so William started another attack on his team.
Arriving in the line of three points this time he did not pass to anyone and went to face Jake, William made some feints and saw that he could not fool Jake, so he sped left to pass by Jake.
Jake could easily follow, but William was a skilled player and after two dribbles he could pass Jake and make the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Hawks' team, Jake knew he could not stop William in every move and did not care about this move.
William was disappointed to realize that Jake had not been bothered that he had gone on this move, William knew that the better the defensive players were the more proud they were and would not want to be dribbled.
But William could never know that even though in his information Jake was considered one of the best defenders, Jake himself did not think it was that good.
Jake began to arrange another move, William hoped that Jake went to the individual play in this attack to his revenge and was prepared, but Jake soon passed the ball to David, David made the feint and took a step back to make the shot out to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
William received the ball and passed to Logan when he arrived in the attacking court, Logan received the pass and made a step back and made the shot from outside also to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
Seeing this Jake knew that this could become a point-to-point game.
After a few more plays the first period ended, the two teams were very equal and the Elite team was ahead with a 2 point lead at the end of that period.
Jake had 7 points and 7 assists in that early period, but he could not do any steal, Jake still had to analyze William's playing style to have a chance to steal the ball.
Everyone in the crowd was thrilled with this end-to-end final, but they did not have many exciting plays in the first period, but they knew that in Jake's games it would not be so slow the whole game.
Eva and Anna were a little anxious about the game, but they were happy that Jake's team was winning and Jake was playing so well, they expected the game to continue like this.
Joseph, Oliver, and Matthew were quieter than the others in the stands, they were cheering for Jake and they had the feeling that Jake could get the victory without too much difficulty.
Tiffany and Clara were also calm, they had accompanied Jake since many years ago and they never saw him lose any game, so they had confidence that Jake would always win, it seemed strange, however it was true, after Jake lost a game that could change, but has not yet happened.
At the beginning of the second period, William was with the ball, he saw that the team of the Hawks was behind the board and decided to bet more on individual plays and Gabriel and Logan for this game, these were the players who washed the team with him for this Last.
So William reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Logan, Logan passed by Harrison easily and went to the inside area to attempt the layup, Mark appeared to cover Harrison and Logan passed the ball to his team's Center.
Hawks 'center was alone and tried to do the layup, but Jake who was following the move rose and made a block to end the Hawks' attack, David took the rebound and passed the ball to Jake to organize the attack.
Jake followed calmly to the attack, when he reached the three-point line he passed the ball to David, David received the pass and fired the shot before the defender came in to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
William was upset because when he was thinking of tying the game the advantage increased to over 3 points when he reached the three-point line William also made the shot out to make 3 more points for the Hawks team he could not afford that this advantage would continue.
Jake was still trying to analyze William's playing style, he had to admit that the Hawks' PG was one of the best players he knows in that position, Jake went to the attack and passed the ball to Mark.
Mark received Jake's ball and used his body to protect the ball as he made the turn on the opposing player and then dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team, Mark was beginning to regain his confidence before the last game.
Jake realized this and started to pass the ball over to him, in an end game like this it was more important not to lose attacks, and for that besides himself, Jake trusted Mark more.
Mark also seemed to be getting better and more conscious in defense, Jake was happy with his friend's improvement, especially since it would help his team a lot.
William did not care much about Mark, just as Jake had Harrison and David on his team who were not very good at defense, the Hawks' team center also struggled defensively.
So they already had this failure in defense for some games, William came on the court and passed the ball to Logan, Logan received the ball and easily got rid of Harrison to make the shot from outside and make 3 more points for the team two Hawks.
Jake got the ball and started to organize another attack for his team, he reached the three-point line and saw that William had been fumbled by the change of position of his team's SG, so Jake took advantage and ran behind David to the bottom of the court to make the shot from outside and make 3 more points for the Elite team.
Jake had no confidence in hitting all the shots from outside, but he knew he could only keep the advantage to the team because he and David hit several shots per game, besides, in that game Jake was calmer because Mark could get the rebounds for the Elite team.
William grabbed the ball and went to arrange another attack for the Hawks' team, reaching the three-point line he passed the ball to Gabriel, Gabriel who learned from the mistake last time picked up the ball and quickly got rid of Carter and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
Jake grabbed the ball and advanced to the attack, reaching the three-point line he did not stop and made a feint to cheat William and continue heading towards the inner area, William tried to recover and Jake made a sudden stop and then a crossover and can leave William behind, and advanced until doing the layup and 2 more points for the Elite team.
Jake came to defend, William made a feint and could pass by Jake using the speed, Jake who was attentive did the steal at the moment that William relaxed and advanced to the attack.
Jake ran alone to the attacking court and only stopped after he made the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team, Jake was trying to catch the dribbling style of William from the beginning of the game, now he had the opportunity to do the steal and did not lose.
William was even more annoyed by this, he got the ball to start another attack for his team, but he was not so inexperienced so and did not try the individual move again, he passed the ball to Logan.
Logan received the pass and left Harrison behind easily and advanced to make 2 more points for the Hawks' team, Harrison was very upset about it, he was not managing to get in the way of Logan.
Also, because Logan's defense was very good he was not having a chance to attack as well, even though he thought of having more chances he knew he was not the best option for this game but David to Mark.
Jake grabbed the ball and started to organize another attack for the Elite team, he advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Mark again, Mark this time he moved away from the opponent's center and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
By the time the end of the second period the Elite team was winning by 6 points, Jake had 19 points and 12 assists in the game now, plus he had 3 steals and 2 blocks in that period, William tried a few more moves and Jake could do more some steals.
Mark was also doing well and had already managed to score 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds for that game, David also had 12 points so far, with all the Elite team having a good game they were getting closer and closer to getting the trophy for that one national Championship.
Tiffany and Clara were very happy about it, both as sponsors and as friends of Jake, as they had increased Jake's patronage even though knowing it was well worth it was good for Jake to win the national championship to convince the shareholders.
Tiffany did not have many problems because she was the majority stockholder of the company, but in Clara's company, her husband was the one who was starting to bother, at first Robert who did not want to have much contact with Clara did not care what happened in the company.
But after he virtually assumed he was cheating on Clara and also after the company began to get more valuable he also started trying to interfere in the company's business, with the 10 percent of the company he could just mess up the decisions a little and impose nothing.
So now Clara was trying to make all the decisions she made right in the company, increasing Jake's sponsorship was something she had to have some results to prove that it was not a personal decision but rather the best of the company.
At the beginning of the third period the Hawks' team was starting to get anxious about the score of the game, they were the champions of last year playing much less than this year, two years ago they knew that the Elite team had won the second time.
So everyone thought it was the turn of the Hawks team, but they never thought that the Elite team would form another strong team after only two years, now the comment that Elite team could only win because they had recruited players from other schools seemed to be false.
William grabbed the ball and advanced to the court of attack with more speed, they wanted the fast attack to be able to take the advantage of the score of the Elite team and to be able to at least tie in that period, so he passed the ball quickly to the SG of his team who pass by David and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the team donates Hawks.
Jake got the ball and started to organize another move for the Elite team, he reached the three-point line and passed the ball to David who fired the outside shot to make 3 more points for the Elite team.
The two teams were very much the same in the game, but Jake was being calmer and managing to better organize the attacks for the Elite team, that was the biggest difference in this game, if someone from the Elite team was playing badly as happened in other games would be more difficult, but as everyone playing well Jake could do his best.
William took the ball and went to another attack for his team, reaching the three-point line he observed his players, so he passed the ball to Gabriel, Gabriel received the ball and made a feint pretending it would turn to the left and turned to the right and then made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Hawks team.
Jake took the ball and calmly went to arrange another attack for his team, arriving at the three-point line he passed the ball to Carter, Carter received the ball and did the layup to make 2 more points for his team.
Jake realized in a few moments that the team of the Hawks was thinking of changing the defense, they realized that Mark was able to make the points very easily and had Gabriel go to play a double game on him.
So, Jake who saw this passed for the first time in the game the ball to Carter who alone can make that point, this served as a warning, if they leave a player alone to make the double play they would end up losing faster.
William who realized this did not bother, the coach had already thought about it before giving that order, but as he knew that Mark had great results in this national championship it would be much more dangerous to let him score points than to leave Carter alone.
Jake knew what the opposing team was thinking and knew they were wrong, Jake did not pass the ball to Carter just because Carter asked for it in some games, he was a defensive player and wanted to save his energy to defend.
But he could attack as well as Mark, there was no one in high school who would not know how to score, only that some were better than others in dealing with the opposing defense, but leaving Carter alone was like letting the Elite team score more easily.
William reached the three-point line and passed the ball to the SG of the Hawks' team, the SG made a feint and could pass by David more easily, Mark came to cover and SG passed the ball to the Center who was alone do the layup to make 2 more points for the Hawks team.
Jake picked up the ball and went to the court of attack and when he reached the three-point line passed the ball to Carter, Carter who was alone again did the layup and made 2 more points for the Elite team.
It was like Jake said if they left Carter free and defenseless Jake would pass all the balls he could to him to make the points for the team.
William received the ball and began to organize another attack for the team of Hawks, he reached the line of three points and tried to pass the ball to Logan, but Jake stepped forward and intercepted the pass.
So Jake with the ball ran up to the attacking block, William who had been responsible for making the mistake ran the maximum he could to stop Jake, when he was close to the free throw line William tried to steal the ball, Jake made the bait behind his back and took William out of the play and advanced to make a dunk on his back to make 2 more points for the Elite team.
The crowd loved Jake's moves, it was how they expected the game would never be so annoying when Jake was on the court, William was even angrier because he realized that Jake was just holding his speed to dribble on him before making the points.
In fact, it was not that, as the Elite team was winning the game Jake was not in a hurry to end the move and so it took time, he did not expect William to follow him, so he had to get rid of William to make the points.
William received the ball and went to another attack for the Hawks team, this time he was not in such a hurry, arriving in the line of three points he took a step back and made the shot from outside, Jake who was alert jumped together, so William had to make the shot faster to avoid Jake's block.
The ball did not enter and Mark jumped to take the rebound, then he passed the ball to Jake that calmed the move, in the middle of the third period Jake had already analyzed the style of game of William and so would not be caught by surprise in these moves.
At the end of the third period the team Elite team was winning by 10 points difference, could be more if Harrison and David had not lost some attacks, Jake can do 5 more steals in that period and was with 8 steals now.
In addition, he had 31 points and 22 assists, Mark had 8 rebounds now but had made no point in that period, Carter who took advantage and made 12 points in that period.
The team coach of the Hawks realized that this game was almost lost, William who was the best player of the team had lost control of the game and his emotions, so Jake can take advantage to prevent many attacks from the Hawks team.
But the Hawks' team coach had the same problems as many other teams and had no substitute players qualified for his team, especially for the best player on the team who was William.
Eric was quite excited about this game as well, Jake was very close to making another triple Double and winning another national championship, Eric was happy for Jake and was even happier with the story he would write about Jake.
After that game, Jake would have 16 games in a row making Triple Double, and what was better was that next year Jake could continue to increase that sequence in the regional championship that had weaker teams to face.
Eva was very happy for her son, as with all the games she accompanied with Jake these years she knew that with a 10-point lead victory was virtually guaranteed, she knew Jake deserved all the good that was happening after staying 2 years without playing and still training every day.
In the fourth period, the Hawks had not given up yet and continued to try to win the game, but Jake deliberately delayed all of the team's possession of the ball, as the game was only 8 minutes per time he could leave each move closer to victory.
When the time was running out William began to get more anxious and Jake managed to do 4 more steals and 1 block defending against him, so after a quieter fourth period, the Elite team won the game with an 8-point lead.
After the game ended Jake first brought everyone to greet the opposing team for the good game and then everyone began to celebrate.
Everyone was shouting and wailing, smiling and crying with joy at the victory, Harrison and David were most excited about this victory, last year they were not able to play for most of the year so they were very sad when they were eliminated.
Jake went to where Eva and Anna were and gave a hug to his mother who was crying a lot of joy for Jake, seeing that Jake also started to cry, he had been strong and endured the suffering and frustration in those two years, so now it was the time to cry with joy and leave the past behind.
Anna also hugged them and cried too, so the reporters first interviewed the other players who had recovered and let Jake celebrate, Jake only stopped when it was time to grab the medal and lift the trophy as a winner.
When Jake raised the trophy and the players began to celebrate again the fans were cheering a lot too, many who came to this game were accompanying the Elite team that had the best games.
After Jake got the MVP award from the MVP national championship and got more applause from everyone, the players picked up Jake and threw him up a few times to celebrate, they knew that Jake was responsible for the win that year as well.
All the newspaper reporters and some television interviewed Jake and asked about various things, Jake answered everything and was sure that the bandana and arm guard with the marks of the companies that sponsored him appeared.
After all, was over Jake was again close to Eva, his friends who came to see the game were already gone, Matthew saw with Joseph and Oliver that Jake really had a lot of basketball talent and would never give up on that to work in a company.
Tiffany and Clara were also satisfied as well as the observers of the new companies who sponsored Jake after Jake got close to Eva he saw that Eric was there waiting to do the exclusive interview.
Jake was also happy about this because he would have to talk about the new sponsors and even doing several interviews before everyone avoided the subject, but Eric had a lot more authority than the other reporters and could even talk about the companies after Tiffany and the others could just give a fee to the newspaper.
"Hi Jake, congratulations on the national championship victory, the MVP award and the incredible record of 16 consecutive Triple-Double games, all of which you've certainly been one of the biggest highlights of recent years for youth basketball."
"Thanks, Eric, if it was not for your help maybe this would not have happened, I'll never forget what you did for me and for all the school I could say."
"Just keep doing these interviews with me and join the NBA in the future and I'll feel good for what I've done for the sport in general."
"Sure, you can ask whatever you want."
"How do you feel about winning your second national championship and second-time MVP in both Middle School and high school?"
"I feel pretty good about it, it makes me feel like I've been improving in those years and I'm not far behind, the national high school championship is much harder than the Middle School, really only the best to get here."
"I was very grateful to be able to be with the same Middle School teammates, so I think we have a greater advantage of networking."
"And I hope to continue to improve in the future and one day is in the NBA."
"You've gotten an incredible feat that even a lot of players could not get through many times in their careers to get a Triple Double and more than that you did for 16 straight games, do you have any secrets in that?"
"The secret is to train a lot and have the will to help the team, I once talked to coach Mike about this after doing triple-double followed by some games if I should stop it and he said that I doing this helps the team to win then I should try to continue."
"I agree with your coach, but to do that has to be good both in attack and defense, do you intend to continue like this?"
"I always try to improve my defense, but against a good player like William in today's game I would be lost, so I just try my best."
"Do you have anyone who wants to thank you for this victory today?"
"I would like to thank my mother who has always supported me in all my difficulties and allows me to continue, Anna also that as my mother supported me a lot, my team-mates who have been with me for many years and my coach, without they could not win."
"I would also like to thank my sponsors who have been supporting me and helping me, and that's it."
"Very well, thank you for the interview."
After that Jake was happy to go home with his mother and Anna went to her house too, after a long day full of emotions after dinner Jake slept quickly.
The next day Jake woke up early even though he had nothing to do during the day, they were in March and it was a few months before the third year was over, then they would still have a vacation of 3 months until after classes started and Jake had more games.
But he would have many things to do even if he did not have games, Jake was thinking about competing in a marathon in the next few months, but for that, he would have to train for at least a few weeks even if he was going to use the Stamina Bar at the races.
This is because even if he did not get tired in the marathon his muscles would not be renewed with the energy bar and his body could dehydrate so a few weeks could condition his body so that there is no risk of side effects and no injuries after the race.
The most he tried before was to run 30 kilometers on the treadmill and eat two bars of stamina, then the system warned that if he did not stop he could suffer an injury but that was because it was the first time he tried to run more than 10 kilometers.
In addition, his stamina statistic was only a little more than 20 at that time, but if he trained for a few weeks and with his stamina statistics being well over 30 he would hold 45 miles marathon quietly.
Besides the marathon, he could run if he could find any suitable he would still have to see about his mother's restaurant that would be open in a few weeks after all Eva would still have to choose the theme of the restaurant.
After she chose what the restaurant would be they would have to see if they needed to buy some equipment and hire the cooks, then they would have to negotiate with the vendors and choose the menu.
Then they would still have to do a simple advertisement at least in the regions near the restaurant, then Jake could relax with his mother's restaurant.
Jake was also sure that Matthew could need some more of him these months, the funny thing was that even though he was in high school still the thing he least cared about was school.
After all, even now that he had plenty of things he had to learn in class, he had intelligence of 58 now, according to the system itself, less than 1 percent of the population should have intelligence of that level.
He was almost learning the Japanese language completely, and it was still more than half a year away from the year-end holiday, and Jake did not know if he would travel this year, after all, he would only go if he could go with Eva or his family.
Jake did not know if Eva could leave the restaurant she had just opened for a month on vacation to go on a trip, and Jake was not planning to marry until she was 25, so if it was not for Eva it would only be 9 years from now. this trip would happen.
After all, even if he wanted to do this trip a lot during his birthday, he would not have any joy in spending his birthday alone, he had better invite some friends to have this party at his house.
Jake also thought that he was very lucky nobody knew that his family was rich now, even if he appeared on television no one could deduce that Jake receives a lot of money being under-age, in addition, they did not have great changes in their lifestyle even making so much money.
Jake thought about it because neither he nor Eva would want to move away from this each for a few years, after all, it was the only memory Eva had of Jakes father and Jake also spent dozens of years here with his mother adding up the two lives he had.
But when the others discovered that they were rich they would have to go to another larger house in another neighbourhood that had greater security, after all, Jake did not want Eva to be kidnapped because he had money, Jake was not afraid to be kidnapped because the system said with his luck nothing could threaten his life.
He could even have problems with some people or some relationships, but nothing could risk his safety, that was the main purpose of the system to increase his luck, was so that he had no accident as in his past life.
The same could not be guaranteed for his family, even if it would not normally happen to be rich and leave his mother in a house without security was like an invitation for a misfortune to happen.
After a few days Jake went to Anna's house again, he was about to hit the last details of the surprise for Eva, Jake was thinking about Anna telling Eva that this was the restaurant where she would work and that she wanted Eva to see what it was like.
That was no lie Anna would actually work at this restaurant, but Eva did not know the owner was herself, after that he would make a fake opening party with only the hired employees and Jake and Eva would be the guests for the opening.
Only at that moment would Jake tell that the restaurant was from Eva and they could start organizing the restaurant for real opening after everything is ready.
Anna said that everything was ready for the plan, if she knew what the restaurant would be until the opening could be real, but Anna and Jake were afraid that Eva would find out and that spoiled the surprise, in fact, the reason for Jake to have all that work to leave everything ready before telling her was so she would not refuse the restaurant.
If everything was ready and the people hired, it was impossible for Eva to reject her gift, but even if the restaurant was already bought she might have rejected it earlier and ordered Jake to sell the building.
After a few more days, Eric sent Jake another poster and a copy of the story he made about Jake and the Elite team's victory in the national championship, the newspaper with that report ended up being sold to a few more states because it was about the national champion.
Even those who did not play basketball in the schools were impressed to have a Triple Double player in 16 straight games, everyone who knew a little bit about basketball knew that it was almost right for Jake to be in the NBA in a few more years.
In addition, Jake was already high enough to play professional basketball, so everyone thought that only an injury could take Jake out of success in the sport, everyone in Miami knew Jake after those years with several reports and other people recognized Jake of the commercial on television.
Several university scouts were already gathering information from Jake to begin recruiting him for the next year, Elite school was mostly talking to the top universities that they had partnerships to let them have privileges to talk to Jake before other universities.
But Jake knew he did not have to worry about it, he would choose a good university to go to and have a good basketball team, luckily Jake followed college basketball a bit in his past life, and although he did not watch every game still knew which universities made their final rounds each year.
In addition to a good basketball team the university should have the course he wanted to do and also that the reputation of this course is good for whoever graduated from it, besides, he could see which universities were closer to Miami, the nearest universities of Miami that have these requirements will be Jake's main choices.