Continuing the Winning Streak
"And in the personal dispute between Jake and Staples, Jake has been winning easily by scoring 14 points with 12 of them in three-point shots, and Jake got 3 blocks and 3 steals against Staples."
"It was clear from the start of the game that unless Jake was playing poorly in this game Staples would not have had a chance to score too many points, and not because Staples is a bad player but because Jake plays very well in defense and even better in the offense."
In the 2nd half, Coach Guthridge did not ask Tar Heels to change anything in defense and they let Jake control as he thought it was right, Tar Heels had a good lead on the scoreboard and even though they had not yet secured victory it was hard for the V.i.r.g. Cavaliers team to win this game.
As Coach Guthridge asked Team Tar Heels to start the game with caution in defense and it was the right thing to do because Team V.i.r.g. Cavaliers began to press harder on offense, it was what they had to do if they wanted to win.
In another play, V.i.r.g. Cavaliers tried the offense and after Nolan missed the move Jake managed to catch the defensive rebound when the ball fell into Jake's hands the game slowed and thus the players of Tar Heels relaxed from the pressure opponent was doing.
Jake advanced slowly and before the middle of the court passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison advanced slowly too and before reaching the three-point line went to N'Diaye who was further left.
N'Diaye held the ball for a while and passed the ball to Carter on the right, Carter passed the ball to Jake who came in the middle behind the opposing defense, Staples had lagged behind and Jake used his agility and drive to the basket to make the dunk and increase the advantage of team Tar Heels by 2 more points.
No one on the defense of V.i.r.g. Cavaliers expected Jake to try an inside play and Tar Heels increased their lead further.
The V.i.r.g. Cavaliers team this season was not very good and was very dependent on Nolan and Staples in the attack to make the points, with the defense of the Tar Heels team and the other ACC conference teams knowing that they could not win many games.
Even so, the players of Team Tar Heels were being very careful in this game so as not to give V.i.r.g. Cavaliers a chance to try to win the game, especially as the players wanted to win even more to maintain the winning streak.
Team Tar Heels continued to dominate the game and with good attacks and defense stopping the best players of team V.i.r.g. Cavaliers, so at the end of the game, Team Tar Heels secured another victory.
Tar Heels won the match 94 points against V.i.r.g. Cavaliers 66 points, it was a good game for the defense of Tar Heels and another good game for the attack with Jake, Jamison, and Carter.
In this 2nd half of game Jake can play for 20 minutes and get 17 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, so he managed to do another double-double with more than 30 points and 10 steals as well.
"And so the game ends with another victory for the Tar Heels team, the game sequence is further increased and the Tar Heels team favoritism is most evident this season to win the NCAA tournament."
"That's right, this season alone is 17 straight wins and that shows the strength of this current team without Zwikker and with coach Guthridge, Jake today made another double-double and a five-by-five, that shows how he improved even comparing last season when he broke several records."
"Certainly, and Coach Guthridge showed how he understands the team he has and how strong even the players of Tar Heels are, he put Makhtar N'Diaye in place of Shammond Williams and the team's defense improved and the attack was well too."
"True, we will continue to watch the matches to see how many games the Tar Heels team can stay without losing."
After that victory the players were happy and relaxed going back to the dorms, the next game would be only in 4 days, but it would be a guest game so players had to recover before the next game to perform at their best.
Only Jake was more worried after the next game, even though he wasn't as worried as the others in the game because of the great losing streak and had confidence that with him on the team they wouldn't easily lose, Jake couldn't help but worry about the next game.
That's because this game would be the team's first defeat this season from what Jake remembered, of course with the Tar Heels team winning the NCAA tournament everything was different, but he still had to be more prepared for it.
Especially since it would be a game in which Team Tar Heels would lose overtime after equalizing for 40 minutes, it showed the strength that Team Tar Heels had even without Jake playing.
So Jake went to Coach Guthridge to tell him that the Tar Heels team had to be careful in the next game, Coach Guthridge took Jake's warnings seriously and decided that the Tar Heels team would have to train harder in the coming days.
Of course, the players wouldn't know it was because of Jake's warning, but no one would even care if they did because they all knew that Jake wanted only the best for the team, and they also knew that Jake also did his racing training almost every day.
Coach Guthridge would also continue with N'Diaye in the team because the next game's opponent would also have a skilled Center who would take advantage of this failure in team Tar Heels, Carter could play in the next game part-time and Williams another part of the game if necessary.
Another thing Coach Guthridge asked was for Jake to attack with everything at the beginning of the game and try to make several three-point plays and thus increase the team's advantage early in the game.
Jake naturally accepted, he really wanted to win this next game because he felt that if he won this game the sequence of games would be easier to win too, the team Tar Heels trained a lot of defense and attack with Jake.
So after a few days of training came the day of the next game, this game would be with the visiting team Tar Heels making it even harder, yet they would have to try to win this game.
The opposing team in this match was the Maryland Terrapins team who had a great last season and this season would be great for them too, the Maryland Terrapins team was of the same style as the Tar Heels team and had a great team so they could win more.
When a team had only one or two very good players that team would not be a tough opponent if the opposing team had a good defense, but when a team like Maryland Terrapins had good players who could make a difference it was harder to beat such a team.
"Welcome to everyone who followed this game with us, another great game today with two very good teams and with an uncertain outcome."
"The Tar Heels team comes from a 17-win streak this season and has been without a game for over a year, while the Maryland Terrapins team comes from some wins and losses this season, but they have a very good team."
"The Tar Heels team is the favorite to win today's game because it comes from a great winning streak and Jake and Jamison are considered the best players today."
"But I wouldn't be surprised if the Maryland Terrapins team won this game and ended up with the Tar Heels team winning streak, because they have a good team and play at home in that game."
No one knew what this game would be like, but everyone was waiting for an exciting game, so early in the game, the Tar Heels team seemed to want to put pressure on the attack, the defense at Jake was strong enough to keep him from firing from the outside.
It seemed that Maryland Terrapins coach hoped that Jake would be more used in this game to increase the advantage for Team Tar Heels, but even with a strong defense against him Jake made a feint and soon got rid of the player who was defending against him.
Jake stepped forward and pretended to go forward using speed and stepped back out of the three-point line and tried an outside shot to hit and make the first 3 points for the Tar Heels team.
The Maryland Terrapins team advanced to attack and try to reduce the score quickly, but after a passing error the ball was passed to Jake again and he quickly advanced, no one could run as fast as Jake and he made 2 points more with a calm dunk.
Following the Maryland Terrapins team missed the attack again and Jamison got the defensive rebound and went to Jake to arrange the counterattack after the ball passed through some players of the team Tar Heels returned to Jake's hands off the three-point line.
Jake made a feint and made a high pass for Jamison who hoped for this and jumped to catch the ball in the air and make a dunk and complete the alley-oop and score 2 more points for the Tar Heels team.
After that, team coach Maryland Terrapins asked for a break from scolding the team that he was not doing a good job in defense. On the side of team Tar Heels, coach Guthridge said the team was doing well and they were supposed to do more pressure on the defense.
So Maryland Terrapins didn't make as many mistakes as at the beginning of the game and Tar Heels continued well in defense and without failing in attack, those 7 points in the first minutes of the game would greatly help Tar Heels to play more calmly in that game.
The defense in Jake increased a lot and it didn't hinder him that he could use his speed and get rid of the defense if needed and could assist with Jamison who was playing very well in this game and for Carter who was also well in the game.
After 10 minutes with Jake hitting 2 more three-point shots and getting 2 steals, Tar Heels's lead increased even more, so Jake began to take more of the defense's attention on him and started making more assists.
Even coach Guthridge put Williams in place of Okulaja to further increase the strength of the Tar Heels attack, it was for a few minutes but increased pressure on the Maryland Terrapins defense.
At the end of the first half of the game, Tar Heels had a good lead on the scoreboard taking advantage of Maryland Terrapins' mistakes early in the game and with Jake not letting the Tar Heels attack go awry.
In this 1st half, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 18 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks, knowing that the team could have difficulty. Jake was giving as much as he could for the team and was seeing the advantage in the score that the team Tar Heels finished in the 1st half.
"Good 1st half for the Tar Heels team, a very strong start to the game by Jake and the Tar Heels team who took advantage of the Maryland Terrapins defense and attack errors and managed to open a small lead."
"After the team Tar Heels continued strongly in the attack with Jake and Jamison playing very well and putting a lot of pressure on the defense, so the team Tar Heels finished the 1st half with a good advantage that will give greater tranquility in the 2nd half of the game."
"Yes, Jake and Jamison are doing very well in offense and Carter also scored 9 points with Jake's assists and taking advantage of rebounds, and the defense of Tar Heels was fine with all the players."
"Jamison already has 16 points in the game and seems to be doing very well in that game too, Tar Heels's attack is concentrated on those 3 and yet the Maryland Terrapins defense is having difficulty."
In the 2nd half Maryland Terrapins was behind on the scoreboard and had to try to attack more to try to win the game, but the Tar Heels players were focused on defense and after the Maryland Terrapins players began to tire Jake had more freedom to make the moves.
Maryland Terrapins went for the offense and in the middle of the pitch Jake steals the ball from Laron Profit and held the ball calmly, Jake was hindering many attacking moves by Maryland Terrapins and being careful about Tar Heels don't miss the attacking moves so much.
Jake stepped forward and before passing the middle of the court passed the ball to Carter, Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed to N'Diaye who advanced a little and had to stop under heavy pressure from Maryland Terrapins defense.
N'Diaye passed the ball to Jamison on the left and Jamison made a nice feint getting rid of the defender and running and running to try the layup and score 2 points for the Tar Heels team, with N'Diaye and Okulaja playing near the painted area Jamison had more freedom to make plays like this without having multiple players defending against him.
The Maryland Terrapins defense was doing a great job in this game, they were making a defense in which everyone within the three-point line ran out of space to make the move and anyone outside the three-point line had difficulty getting in on the three-point line.
But Jake didn't have to be inside the three-point line to make the points and most of his points were shot off, so the Maryland Terrapins defense had a hard time dealing with Jake if another player came to defend against Jake, he passed the ball to Carter and Jamison.
Jake, Carter, and Jamison were very close friends at the university and trained a lot of time together, so with Jake's talent it was normal for him to do some assists in unexpected situations and Jamison and Carter easily got those assists because they had a good rapport.
After half of the 2nd half, Jake felt Jamison was a little tired after running so hard to make more than 20 points in a difficult save like Maryland Terrapins, so with a good lead, he decided to slow down the attack. team and focus more on defense.
This made the Maryland Terrapins team further increase the pressure on the attack and made it difficult for Tar Heels to defend, even though the Maryland Terrapins team scored the attack points they could not prevent the Tar Heels team from scoring too.
Coach Guthridge also noticed that Jamison was tired and made some changes to the squad and Shammond Williams stepped in for him, which caused Tar Heels's attack to change and the quality of the defense to decrease.
So in a few minutes Tar Heels' lead in the scoring diminished, seeing that Coach Guthridge called for time to stop the game and get the team together, Jake already had an idea of attacking him and Williams with only three shots points.
Jake had a good hit average and Williams also had a good average and so Team Tar Heels could scare the defense of Team Maryland Terrapins, returning to the game was what Team Tar Heels did by taking Team Maryland Terrapins by surprise.
Thus in a few minutes, they tried several three-point shots and even if they missed some could still further increase the lead after the Maryland Terrapins defense failed to block the players from attack.
Team Tar Heels ended up winning a game that would have been lost without Jake in the team in another situation, Team Tar Heels scored 92 points against Team Maryland Terrapins 71 points, the game also did not reach over time and thus the team's winning streak Tar Heels increased.
In this 2nd half, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 21 points, 5 assists, 7 rebounds, 5 steals, and 1 block, making 39 points. Jake landed another triple-double and was instrumental in this Tar Heels team victory for the points in shots of three points and for his good defense in the game.
"What a great game we saw today between these two teams, Maryland Terrapins was perhaps the team that came closest to beating Tar Heels this season."
"A great game from Laron Profit and Obinna Ekezie, but that was not enough to beat the Tar Heels team who also relied on Jamison and Jake's great performance to get that win over."
"True, even though Profit and Ekezie had played very well it was still not enough because Jake and Jamison also played very well and together scored over 60 points in that game."
"It seems that with Jake and Jamison playing so well this season it will be hard to find another team that can beat this team, so let's keep following how far this Tar Heels victory sequence goes."
That was perhaps the hardest game they had this season, but this was the kind of game Jake liked the most and that's why he worked harder at this game and managed to play so well, this game that Jake knew the team losing without him on the team was what he wanted to play best to ensure victory.
Coach Guthridge also saw that Jake was right and that was a tough game indeed and would have been hard to beat without having Jake on the team In that game Okulaja and N'Diaye hardly received Jake pass to try to score and even Williams had just a few minutes just like Carter to try to make the points.
But everyone could understand if it was to get the win in a tough game like this when Jamison was tired and playing badly in the attack at the end of the game Jake didn't pass the ball to him either and that was what he had to do to get the victory.
Fortunately, the next game would be much easier for the Tar Heels team and they would have 3 more days to rest and Coach Guthridge wouldn't even give training so players could recover.
Only Jake wasn't tired and even though he didn't have basketball training he still had the running training he always did, for Jake that running training was now very easy and he couldn't wait for the holidays to start for him change the training.
He had to start with Yuen Woo-ping martial arts training for the movie The Matrix that would also hinder Jake's training for the marathons that would be on his vacation.
The game started with the NC State Wolfpack team looking for the attack, as they had no confidence in stopping the Tar Heels team attack with their defense the only way to attempt victory was by attacking.
But Team Tar Heels was not praised for good defense for no reason, the strong start of Team NC State Wolfpack was halted by pressure from the defense of Team Tar Heels who attacked calmly with Jake controlling the pace of the team.
But in this game, the defense of the NC State Wolfpack team was also doing a good job and the players of the Tar Heels team were not doing as well in attack as in the last games.
Even so, Jake was getting good assists and making some three-point plays, so by the end of the 1st half Tar Heels ended up winning with a slight lead on the scoreboard.
Coach Guthridge realized this and tried to change some things in the team's tactics of play, and this evil 1st half of team Tar Heels made the NC State Wolfpack team have more hopes to win this game.
In that 1st half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 14 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals, this was a game that even Jake was not doing very well and was lacking the confidence to try many individual and three-point plays.
Luckily the defense of Jake and Tar Heels was still good and could stop the pressure of the attack by NC State Wolfpack, it was one of the worst games of team Tar Heels of the whole season.
Even though Jake had good results in the game, compared to what he had been doing this season this was the worst game for him, yet the Tar Heels team was much better than the NC State Wolfpack team and so they managed to win by one good advantage.
The Tar Heels team won by scoring 82 points against the 54 points of the NC State Wolfpack team, if the Tar Heels defense were not so good in this game could be the team's first defeat of the season.
In the 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 13 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, it was a good defensive game compared to the offensive game and Jake just got so many points relying on the 3 point shots.
The Tar Heels team won well, but the players knew it was not such a good game, even though Jake was disappointed with his performance, scoring 27 points and doing what he did during the game would be considered the ideal game for many players.
But Jake knew what he could do and how he had the system to help him, his results would always be better than other players, and it was always thinking that he kept improving even though he had the stats he had and played so well how he played.
Even though Jake and the Tar Heels players thought they had not played so well, all the media cared more about the victory than the way they managed to win, because with that victory they increased the winning streak even more.
It was hard to find a college basketball team in the modern years that managed a sequence of over 40 games without losing, and the Tar Heels team still had a strong appeal to the media for having players like Jake, Jamison, and Carter who played very well and they had high hopes of being stars in the NBA.
The other day the Tar Heels team got a day off because they would have the next game in 4 days, Jake thinking about focusing on his training for athletics, but he got a call that changed his plans for the next few weeks.
"Hi Jake, this is David Falk speaking, you said you wanted to talk to me a few weeks ago and I'm here at a restaurant near your university."
"Alright, I'm going over there."
Jake had called to talk to Falk in late 1997 because he realized that he wouldn't have that much time to talk to him and the draft season was coming and if Jake wanted to get a better deal he had better talk to David Falk in advance.
Jake knew it was normal to just join a team for the draft and stay with that team for a few years before moving, but he knew the history of the teams that had a chance to get him out of the draft if he was first overall pick and he didn't. I wanted to lose a few years without a chance to win.
Jake soon arrived at the restaurant and David Falk had been waiting for him, long time since they last saw each other, David Falk was increasingly famous in the NBA and he had been spending a great deal of time trying to get Jake's new contracts in the NBA.
But David Falk didn't get as easy as he expected because even though many thought Jake was really a star he might not play that well in the NBA, and as David didn't know when Jake would join the NBA it was even harder to get a good one. sponsorship agreement.
"Hi Jake, good to see you again, you did very well in your debut season on the Tar Heels team, showed that you really have a star, this season I think you will win all the individual awards again."
"Hi David, thanks for the compliments, I was happy with the Tar Heels team winning the NCAA title last season, I was also happy to be able to win several individual awards last season as well."
"I hope this year our team will be able to win the NCAA title again, if that happens I'll be happy."
"True, if your team wins this season again and breaks the second place winning record, you will win all the individual awards and will still go down in history, but let's talk about reality now, which you said wanted to talk to me?"
"I'm going to join the NBA draft this year, so I called you to organize what we can do in the coming months and to make it happen as I hope."
David Falk didn't expect Jake to want to join the NBA this year, next season would be a tough time for Jake to join the NBA, and David wanted Jake to wait at least another year.
"Look, Jake, I think this year will be a bad year for you to join the NBA, some things will happen and the reputation of the NBA players and teams will be shaken after that."
"As the Tar Heels team is playing so well I think it's best that you stay for one or two seasons and try to win 4 NCAA title in a row and make history or break that winning record."
"I already thought about it, I think this is the best year for me, this problem that will have in the NBA may be a good opportunity for me, the debut years of the NBA players do not get many opportunities to play and next year I can become an NBA star after this mess."
"Also, in the coming seasons I find it harder for the Tar Heels team to break this winning record or even win the NCAA title, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, and Antawn Jamison will be joining the NBA draft this year and the team will be much weaker next season."
Hearing this David Falk had to agree with Jake and he realized that Jake had thought a lot about it if the best players of the Tar Heels team left after this season next season the team will have to adapt to the new players.
This will make it difficult for the Tar Heels team to win the NCAA title again next season, so if the Tar Heels team won the NCAA title and Jake left he would emerge as a hero at the university and with much more impact to enter the NBA.
It was being difficult for David Falk to get endors.e.m. for Jake when he entered the NBA without a set date, and after the NBA shutdown next season it would be much harder to get another good contract for Jake for a few years.
After Jake got all the individual prizes with more than 30 points per game and winning the NCAA title it was much easier to negotiate with companies about endors.e.m. , this season Jake kept playing well and if he said Jake would join the NBA this season It would be easier to close endors.e.m. agreements a year.
"I agree with you so if you have ever thought about it then I will organize everything for you, I am already talking to 9 different companies that are thinking of closing an endors.e.m. agreement with you when you join the NBA."
"Now I was wondering if you have any conditions for these endors.e.m. contracts and which shoe company do you intend to sign with?"
"I have some conditions, I'll tell you, David, because I trust you and because it's something you need to know."
"In those years after making a lot of money from my endors.e.m. as a child, I made some investments, at that time I am a shareholder of 3 different companies and owner of two companies."
"So in assets, I currently have over $ 100 million worth of stocks that are valuing a lot, so I don't need a bad endors.e.m. contract."
David Falk heard this and was shocked, he knew few NBA players who were stars who had more than $ 100 million, many earned it in their career, but spent most of their money.
But Jake was saying that he had it in stock and David felt that Jake was telling the truth and might even be hiding the real values so as not to scare him.
Knowing this David Falk understood what Jake was saying, he didn't need to make sponsorship money because he could get rich otherwise, so he had better focus on the best contracts than getting any contracts for him.
"I get that Jake, so you just want the most lucrative contracts, it helps me a lot because I can deny many smaller companies."
"Yes, tell companies I only accept a contract of up to 4 years, and it has to be worth over $ 1 million a year, if they think it's not worth it, say I win with two companies endors.e.m. $ 3 million, gives more than $ 1 million a year and I signed this contract in 1996."
David Falk was going to say that Jake was asking a lot for an athlete who was debuting in the NBA, but after hearing that Jake currently earns more than $ 3 million a year he understood why Jake didn't want bad contracts.
"I understand, I'm going to say that to companies, and to the shoe company, which one do you prefer to sign with?"
"Just like I said before with Nike, but I want a $ 52 million contract for 5 years, if they think it's too much, say you're going to talk to Adidas, name Kobe Bryant that received almost $ 8 million a year from his contract."
"Nike hated losing the endors.e.m. with Kobe Bryant a few years ago, and I managed to win an NCAA title and won some individual awards, so you might get a deal with them."
David Falk naturally knew these negotiating tactics and how he had many years of contact with Nike and everyone knew of his good talent vision, so maybe Nike would accept this deal that David had no doubt would be profitable for Nike.
But David was really surprised at how Jake had already thought of these negotiating techniques, so he could understand why Jake was able to earn over $ 100 million in a few years because he was talented at negotiating.
"I want to ask you to try to do something for me, David."
"You can tell what it is."
"I want you to try to make a deal with one of the NBA teams so they can trade some players for a draft pick, so I can go to that team in my debut season."
"This is very hard to get Jake, you're very good and you're sure to be a star in a few years, but it's a big risk for a team to bet on a rookie, especially when we don't even know if that team will choose you."
"I know, but I'm asking you to just try, I want to play on the Lakers team and they already have a history of doing something like that."
"It will be very difficult, they risked a lot to do that with Kobe Bryant, and in this team, you are not going to be the main player, you better stay as the main player of a weaker team for a few years and then go to a winning team when I have more experience."
"I'm asking you to just try, I know Lakers general manager Jerry West dreams of having an offensive trio to get the Lakers to win an NBA title, they already have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal with me on the team. they will achieve that."
"Tell him that with me on the team I guarantee they will win 3 NBA titles over the next 4 years, and negotiate a contract for me that allows me to lose some running marathon games so my salary may be lower."
"It will be a good marketing move for the Lakers and they will save on salaries, I know they want to hire Glen Rice for a salary that will be over 5 million dollars a year, I can do better than him for 5 million dollars in 3 years."
David thought it would be very difficult to negotiate with the Lakers for such a contract, and even though David did not know that the Lakers intended to hire Glen Rice, he also thought it was very dangerous for Jake to guarantee that he could win 3 NBA title in 4 years.
Few players have been able to do that in all of history and the Chicago Bulls team have been able to do that because they had Michael Jordan and many other good players, Jake could be a star and a very good player, but he could not compare with Michael Jordan.
But David felt it was just worth trying to talk to Jerry West about it, Jerry West had already done it with Kobe Bryant and it worked and he really wanted a team with 3 talented attacking players.
It was much better to bet on Jake who was good for team marketing and was very talented and spend a few million dollars than hiring an older player who might not stay long on the team if it worked the merit would be all his and the team The Lakers really needed a talented PG.
Since Magic Johnson retired, the team has not had such a talented player in position, and Jake had a similar playing style to Magic Johnson and could make the Lakers team win games again.
With that in mind, David thought it might be quite possible that Jerry West would decide to risk hiring Jake for the team, so he would have perhaps the best NBA team paying the lowest wages.
After that David left to try to get Jake's endors.e.m. deals, and he would also take the opportunity to try to make a deal with Jerry West, if Jake really joined the Lakers and managed to win an NBA title in the years he stays there he will become one of the most important players in the NBA even being a novice.
If he could win an NBA title it would be worth having a low salary and spending a few years not being his team's main player, after that contract was over Jake could go to another team where he would be the main player and could win many NBA title.
After talking to David about what he wanted to do when he joined the NBA, Jake could refocus on his training with the basketball team as well as the races for the next upcoming marathon.
After the last game that was not very good in the players' view, they put a lot of effort into training before the next game, the players were under a lot of pressure because of the great winning streak.
Even though Coach Guthridge was under great pressure because of this winning streak, everyone had already forgotten that he wasn't even the team's official coach and was just replacing Coach Smith until the Tar Heels team hired another.
Coach Guthridge no longer had to worry about whether Tar Heels would have a good season after switching coach, but how long they would be able to keep up this sequence of many games without losing.
For that, Coach Guthridge had Jake and Jamison who were the best players of the Tar Heels team, especially he would need Jake who was certainly the main responsible for the team to achieve this.
Jake had already warned that he would have to run a marathon soon and so would lose a team game, Coach Guthridge had agreed to that and knew that Jake running the marathons was what helped him get so much resistance to play the 40 minutes in all the games.
But with this team pressure to maintain the winning streak if the Tar Heels team continues to win until Jake has to lose this game to run the marathon will be the most difficult game of the Tar Heels team.
Everyone trusts Jake and a game without him on the team would be a completely different game, and if the Tar Heels team lost that game the whole team would blame Jake for that defeat because he would not have participated in that game.
That's why Coach Guthridge tried to change Jake's mind, but Jake didn't change his mind and was still convinced to run this marathon in Tokyo, the reason being that maybe this was Jake's last chance to participate in this marathon.
Always in February, there would be NBA games, and Jake wasn't sure if he would get a deal with an NBA team that would allow him to miss some marathon games.
Jake found this point of endurance and agility very important to him when it was so difficult to get opportunities to improve his stats, so even if the Tar Heels fans started to loathe him, Jake would still run in this marathon.
If Tar Heels won the NCAA title, the fans would forget that they had lost that record because of Jake, and that would even leave players with much less pressure to continue winning all games.
So soon the day of the next game of the Tar Heels team came, it would be a home game at the Dean Smith Center and so players were more relaxed with today's game after training for several days players were eager to perform well in this game.
The opponent of this game was the Florida State team that the Tar Heels team had already defeated this season, which was an even bigger reason for the players to be able to be more relaxed for this game even with all the pressure for the team He Tar to win this game.
"Welcome to everyone who is following this match between ACC conference teams, this is the second match between these teams and it is also an important match because of the great unbeaten sequence of games of team Tar Heels."
"Because of this even being a home game at the Dean Smith Center, the pressure of the need for victory can affect the Tar Heels players."
"The Florida State team has no pressure to win that game and came to try to beat the Tar Heels team and take revenge for the defeat in the game a few weeks ago."
"It's true, for sure the Tar Heels team is the biggest favorite to win this game, the whole team is having an excellent performance this season, Jake and Jamison are playing to be the best players of the season among all the teams."
"So if they play normally they already guarantee victory in that game."
Just as the commentators said the fans and the players of the Florida State team also thought, they didn't have much motivation if the team was better this season they could even be excited to be the team that defeated the Tar Heels team.
But in the current situation, the chance of them winning this game was minimal and they had to hope that the players on the Tar Heels team had a bad performance so that they had the opportunity to win this game.
The Tar Heels team decided to start putting pressure on the attack, Jake increased the pace of the Tar Heels game and the Florida State team had to work hard to defend themselves, Jake also wanted to stand out in this game because of the poor performance he had in the last game.
In the first minutes of the game, the Tar Heels team was hitting all the attacks and Jake was drawing attention from the Florida State team's defense and making great assists, so the Tar Heels team got a small advantage on the scoreboard.
In another play the Florida State team advanced after the ball passed almost all the players, LaMarr Greer tried the shot and missed and Jake managed to catch the rebound, Jake quickly advanced to attack.
He did not intend to move forward to try to make a dunk after getting a counterattack, but he wanted to move quickly with his teammates to try to greatly increase the lead on the scoreboard so that the Tar Heels team players could relax.
Before going through the middle of the court, Jake passed the ball to Jamison on the left, Jamison advanced and soon the opponent players arrived pressing in defense, Jamison and Jake were the players who received the most attention from the Florida State team defense.
So Jamison had no choice but to pass the ball to Williams who was behind him, Williams received the ball and held the ball before passing it to Jake who was further behind, Jake received the ball and tried to make a feint pretending he was going to advance to the area painted.
Jake did a step back and was free to try the shot from outside, when he tried the shot from outside the opponent player came suddenly and tried to make a block, Jake made a fadeaway and hit the outside shot making the three points and still got a foul and can make 1 more point.
The crowd was excited by this move and started to make it even louder at the Dean Smith Center, Jake hit the Free Throw and scored another point making a four-point move, he was surprised in that move because he did not expect the opponent defender to try the block.
Jake did not like to do the fadeaway because doing so he knew it lessened the chance that he would hit the shot from outside, but just because he didn't used to do the fadeaway multiple times didn't mean he wasn't good at it.
In another move, a player from the Florida State team tried to make a layup when Jamison was defending and he was not well-positioned, seeing this opportunity Jamison made the block and Carter got the ball.
Carter advanced slowly to the attack and passed the ball to Jake, Jake continued to advance and before the three-point line held the ball, Jake looked at the pass options and when no one expected he made a high pass.
Jamison hoped for this and jumped to receive assistance from Jake at the top and do the dunk to complete the alley-oop and get 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, this move started with Jamison's block and ended with Jamison doing the 2 points with a dunk after an alley-oop.
Jake knew that the Tar Heels team players were frustrated with the team's performance in the last game and just as he was trying to make a great game, so he kept a fast pace in attacks until more than half of the 1st half of the game.
This tired the players of the Tar Heels team, but even more tired the players of the Florida State team who could not stop the players of the Tar Heels team and even in the attack were not able to pass through the defense of the Tar Heels team.
Jake was getting a lot of assists and steals and was also hitting several three-point plays when the Florida State team's defense gave him freedom, so this was a satisfying 1st half for Jake.
The Tar Heels team ended the 1st half winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard thanks to the great performance of the players, this made the players of the Tar Heels team more relaxed and forgot a little the pressure of having to keep winning.
In this 1st half, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 27 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals, this was perhaps being Jake's best game of the season so far and Jamison, Carter, and Williams were also playing well.
"What a great game for the Tar Heels team in this 1st half, the whole team is playing well and Jake is playing an excellent game that may be his best 1st half of the season, Jake did just that first half of the game that many would be happy with to achieve in an entire game."
"It's true, in the last game Jake also played well but compared to what he was doing during the season, he was slightly below his great performance, in this game he is doing what he wanted in this game and also in the last game."
"The Florida State team's defense has no choice but to make a more focused defense on Jake, but with that, he managed to make great assists and the other players had more freedom to score."
"In the 2nd half, the Florida State team has to try to go more into the attack if they want to try to win in that game, and the players of the Tar Heels team will no longer have as much pressure for the victory and the pressure will be all over the Florida State team that is playing as a visitor."
As commentators said the Florida State team would have to try to attack if they wanted to win the game, but at the end of the 1st half the advantage of the Tar Heels team was already very large and this discouraged the players from the Florida State team.
So contrary to what everyone expected, the Florida State team decided to focus more on defense in the 2nd half to try not to lose with such a big advantage in that game, seeing that the Tar Heels team was not afraid and Jake decided to keep pressing in the attack.
Jake already knew that the defense of the Florida State team could not stop the attack of the Tar Heels team, and this was a good game to increase the confidence of his teammates achieving a victory with a great advantage on the scoreboard and thus continue the sequence of victories.
In another move Jake managed to make a steal and advanced the ball with speed to the attacking court, there was only one player who had been further behind in the attack of the Florida State team who could still follow Jake on the counterattack.
Jake continued at speed and was advancing in a way that the Florida State team player who was on defense could not find the opportunity to try the steal or even make the foul.
Jake advanced with speed and close to the painted area the opposing player managed to turn to try to make the foul on Jake, Jake advanced with speed and took a second long step to the left and soon made a turn that the opponent did not expect and ended this move with a dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team.
This was the unstoppable Spin Move that was a LeBron James dribble that Jake had used several times and was a known move of him in basketball, with this move the crowd became more animated and the players of the Tar Heels team more confident.
Even with the Florida State team playing the 2nd half trying to defend more than attacking the Tar Heels team, it was very good in that game and increased the advantage on the scoreboard much more and that discouraged the players from the Florida State team.
So the game ended with the team Tar Heels winning the game making 131 points against 48 points of the Florida State team, the team attacked willingly until the end of the game and the Florida State team gave up trying to win the game after 10 minutes of the 2nd half.
In that 2nd half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 25 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 6 steals, it was one of Jake's best games of the season and he made his second quadruple-double of the season.
"What an amazing game we are watching today, the Tar Heels team achieved a great victory against the good Florida State team, and it was a very convincing victory with the Tar Heels team doing more than double the opponent's points."
"The Tar Heels team had a great defensive game as well that really got in the way of the Florida State team that failed to score many points in that game."
"But the main point of this game was the 131 points of the Tar Heels team, all the players of the Tar Heels team were fine Jamison, Carter, and Williams had a good game and managed to score a lot of points and even Okulaja can score some points in that game."
"But the highlight of the Tar Heels team in that game was certainly Jake with 52 points, 17 assists, 11 rebounds, and 12 steals, his second quadruple-double of the season and playing very well."
"It's true, Jake has been playing very well this season and surpassing what he achieved last season that gave him all the individual prizes, he averages more than 30 points per game and more than 10 assists per game."
"But what makes it special even though it has more than a 70 percent hit rate on three-point shots, is the incredible average of 9 steals per game."
"This is incredible thinking that the previous record was less than 5 steals per game, last season Jake already broke that record by averaging 6 steals per game and 217 in total."
"And this season there are still 18 games left until the end of the season, and Jake already has an average of 9 steals per game and has made 194 steals so far and is almost breaking his own record, a player who gets so many steals change the result of the games and will be welcome on any team in the NBA."
After this excellent victory, the Tar Heels team players started to relax again knowing that they were on the right path, the next game would be in a few days and everyone wanted to train to get another victory.
Jake and the Tar Heels team became news again for the sports media, it was rare to see a player score more than 50 points in a game and still make a quadruple-double, with the Tar Heels team having a sequence of games without losing so big it was normal for this to become news.
Who was most happy about this was perhaps David Falk, as Jake had asked he had spoken to the sponsors again and was trying to talk to Jerry West about the possibility of Jake playing in the Lakers.
The situation was not very good because two companies had already given up sponsoring Jake when they learned that the minimum was $ 1 million a year, and the others asked for time to consider, but it was likely that most would decline.
For companies that were considering the proposal, David said that Jake earned $ 3 million from two companies before he even joined the university of endors.e.m. , which was what made the companies think better.
So Jake making this great game with more than 50 points and 17 assists in one game would help him to convince companies that Jake was worth that amount, and David had managed to after a few days a meeting to talk to Jerry West.
David wanted to take advantage of this favorable moment and asked that when Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan could speak well of Jake to the sports media, few knew that he would be Jake's sports agent and this would further increase Jake's popularity.
So Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan spoke highly of Jake and how they hoped to play with him in an NBA game one day, and also talked about how talented Jake was and could improve even more in the future.
Luckily for David, even Magic Johnson spoke highly of Jake when the media asked about him, so other players also talked about Jake and the Tar Heels team and that made the media and fans even more excited.
Jake who had seen this on television imagined that David was behind it, Jake thought that if it was at the time of Twitter and Facebook he would get millions of followers after these interviews with NBA stars.
This made companies that were thinking about refusing David's proposal decide to think about it longer and research more because it could be a great deal for them, when more large companies the player had endors.e.m. it increased the player's popularity and the reach of the advertis.e.m. .
Some had researched that after the companies had signed an endors.e.m. contract with Jake, these companies increased sales significantly, the smaller companies multiplied sales and the larger companies increased sales revenue by more than 20 percent.
And these companies were also able to save on advertising expenses by betting only on Jake, which made the beverage companies more interested in Jake and other companies as well.
Of course, David did not expect to get any contract promises until the NBA draft was a few months away, perhaps these companies would even wait for the season to end before accepting a deal.
It was too risky to spend so much on endors.e.m. for Jake that he was a novice player, but these companies could bet because of Jake's talent and because he was also a very famous marathon athlete and the best marathon runner in the world today.
This was a differential that could be worth their investment and also seeing how famous Jake was even though he did not enter the NBA made these companies consider a contract of $ 1 million a year that would not even affect their revenue so much.
Jake was very happy to be praised by so many famous NBA players, he was always a fan of these players and even when he was depressed about having suffered the accident in the past he still liked to see them playing.
The last game managed to make the players confident and excited again, everyone trained hard to be able to continue winning, a sequence of victories like this can lead all the players on the team to go down in history.
Jake was also training very hard and was committed to helping the team as much as he could to win the next 3 games because after 3 games he would have to lose one game to run the Tokyo marathon and win the last remaining Major marathon.
So it was likely that the Tar Heels team could lose this game that he was not in, Jake thought that with Ed Cota replacing him the Tar Heels team could still win this game without him, but he had to prepare for the worst.
So after a few days of training, the day of the next game came, it was another home game at the Dean Smith Center and the players were prepared and confident to win.
The opponent for this game was the Clemson Tigers team, the Tar Heels team had already beaten that opponent this season in a difficult game, so all the players were focused on that game.
The Tar Heels team started the game by attacking as usual, in the last game the Clemson Tigers team had already proved that their defense was very good and therefore Jake did not want to speed up the pace of the game and preferred to work better on the moves to hit more attacks.
For this game, the Clemson Tigers team also wanted to put pressure on the attack and not just on defense, but the Tar Heels team's defense was one of the best of the season and it was difficult to score easily.
In another play Jamison managed to rebound after the mistake of the Tar Heels team attack, just as Jake had been doing, Jamison did not rush and slowly advanced until passing the ball to Jake.
Jake and Jamison were excellent rebounds players, Okulaja and Carter were also good rebounds and with that, the Tar Heels team got the advantage in many games by not losing in the second ball.
The opponents could not get a second chance to attack and the Tar Heels team could try again if they failed in attack if they managed to rebound, this was something praised in the work that did coach Guthridge who had a good team in rebounds without playing with a Center.
After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Carter who was on the left, Carter advanced with the ball and before the three-point line he passed the ball to Williams on the right.
Williams tried to get rid of the player on defense and when he couldn't pass the ball to Okulaja up front, Okulaja received the ball and soon passed it to Jake who was further behind, Jake received the pass and went to the left.
Jamison made the screen and prevented the player who was defending against Jake to continue, so Jake was free and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team in a team play.
Jake, Carter, and Jamison were very close friends and trained more time together even when the other team players were resting, so plays like this, although rarer on the Tar Heels team, were often trained among them.
Carter was well on the attack in that game and Jake took the opportunity to make a lot of assists, Williams also always played a good game and had a good average of points per game, sometimes he managed to make more than 25 points in several games.
Jamison was performing slightly below normal in this game, but Jamison was still helping with rebounds and also drawing attention from the opposing defense, so Jake was counting more on Williams and Carter in the attack.
At the end of the 1st half, the Tar Heels team was getting a good advantage with the team doing well in attack and defense, Jake was not making as many points as in the last game, but he was helping in defense and still getting some assists.
In that 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and had 16 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals, it was a good performance for him and due to the difficulty of the game Jake was more satisfied, Jake could make more points, but Williams was fine too and Jake could do more assists.
The Clemson Tigers team was now behind the scoreboard, but the advantage that the Tar Heels team had was not that great and the players of the Clemson Tigers team could feel that they were making a good save in that game.
So in this 2nd half, the Clemson Tigers team would try to win against the Tar Heels team by going more to the attack while prioritizing defense, in that game Coach Guthridge also decided to let Jamison and Carter play less time to be rested for the next game.
This made it harder for the Tar Heels team to keep up the pressure in the attack in the 2nd half when Jamison was out of the Jake team, he would have difficulty with the defense more on top of him and less choice for assists.
So at the beginning of the 2nd half the Clemson Tigers team started to put more pressure on the attack, Jake had to put more effort into the defense and even then it was more difficult to prevent the Clemson Tigers team from getting the attacks right.
In the attack Jake tried more three-point shots and had Williams to score when Carter and Jamison were not on the court, luckily Williams was rewarding confidence by making a good game.
The Clemson Tigers team seeing this was also doing a lot of fouls in that game, luckily all the players on the Tar Heels team had a good hit average in the Free Throw when the foul was against Williams or against Jake the points for the Tar team were almost certain.
Even with a complicated game in the 2nd half, the Tar Heels team still managed to win by making 101 points against 73 points of the Clemson Tigers team, even so, it was a victory with a good advantage on the scoreboard and increasing the winning streak of the Tar Heels team.
In that 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, with another double-double even though the game got more complicated in the 2nd half, the Tar Heels team still managed to win.
It was a good game that was even difficult and the Tar Heels team players had to work hard in attack and defense to guarantee victory, with Jamison and Carter playing less time it was more difficult for Jake to organize the attack.
But with that they would be more prepared for the next game after a few days, the media now followed all the games of the Tar Heels team, so either they followed this historic moment of the team or they would be around to see their defeat.
The players were free to do interviews, but Jake always tried to avoid the interviews because he didn't want to say anything unnecessary and in many interviews, the reporters hinted that he was the one responsible for the Tar Heels team that was winning the games.
Jake knew well that this was not true and that the Tar Heels team was able to win the games even without him on the team, only in a few games in which the team would lose that it could be said that Jake was instrumental in the victory.
So Jake just spoke a few words to reporters and avoided answering questions, he liked to do interviews at high school because he could advertise the companies that sponsored him, but at university, he was forbidden to talk about it.
But the next day when Jake was going to focus on his training, he got a call he couldn't help but answer, it was from someone who hadn't shown up in a long time that Jake was even starting to forget about him.
"Hi, Jake, how long ago, I thought you wouldn't take my call."
"Hi, Eric, really long time ago, I thought you forgot how to talk to me after so many years."
"Hahaha, I knew you were going to say that, Jake, but I told you that I wasn't going to cover high school games or college team games anymore, which is why I didn't have a place for you for so long."
"I remember you saying that you would not work with it anymore and that is why you would not do interviews with me anymore, but I thought we were friends and there is no reason for a friend to spend so many years without calling."
Hearing Jake say that Eric had nothing to say, it was true that he and Jake were friends and also helped each other even when Eric didn't have to interview him, so going several years without talking to Jake was something he did wrong.
Eric managed to become successful in his work because of his talent, but the opportunity came when he decided to follow Jake's basketball career since he was younger.
So they became friends and Jake gave him some exclusive interviews and Eric helped when Jake was out of the high school basketball team, with everything that happened Eric gained more attention for his talent and started to have more opportunities.
He has worked at major sporting events like the Olympics and NBA basketball games all these years, with his talent Eric managed to become a respected reporter and the players liked to talk to him too.
Having so much work and starting to live in another environment Eric who had stopped covering high school and university games lost contact with Jake, then he actually forgot everything he had been through with Jake, got other friends and just worked.
But in recent years things have changed, even if Eric wanted to forget about Jake he couldn't because little by little Jake started to become news in all sports media with an incredible performance in the Tar Heels team winning all the individual awards and winning the NCAA title.
And Jake was also well known for winning several important marathons and even gold medals at the Olympics and the Athletics World Championship, Eric thought about calling several times to talk and congratulate Jake on his success.
But after having spent so many years without talking to Jake he was embarrassed and decided not to try, but this time he had no way to escape, his boss knowing that Eric was friends with Jake and got several exclusive interviews in the past asked Eric do an interview with Jake for the newspaper.
Just as his boss sent Eric had no choice but to accept the shame and seek out Jake to see if he could get an exclusive interview with him, Jake was smart and of course, he knew it must be when Eric called.
He was very disappointed in what Eric had done, but he understood that this was Eric's job too, and Eric helped him a lot in the last few years to increase his popularity and also put some advertising ads that Jake wanted in the newspaper.
Eric also helped when Jake needed an opportunity to return to the high school basketball team after being 2 years off the team, so if Eric asked he would do an interview with him.
"I'm really sorry Jake, I have no excuse to say about it, it was my mistake and I know I shouldn't have done that."
"Okay, this is now, what do you want to call me?"
"You have been very successful in college basketball and have been breaking all records, so my boss knew that I already had contact with you and asked me to try an interview with you."
"I can do an interview, but it will only be one because I don't like doing interviews and I will not answer any questions that I think may harm me."
"Okay, thanks for that, Jake, we can meet later at a restaurant to do this interview."
"Okay, I'll see you later."
Jake wasn't too surprised after talking to Eric even though so much time had passed, he knew it would be because Eric was a reporter and they would meet someday, Jake hoped it would be after he joined the NBA because that's where Eric worked after they stopped talking.
After a few hours, the two met in a restaurant that was not far from the university and which was a good place for them to do the interview, even if Jake didn't answer many questions in this interview it would still be an important interview because of the great season of the team Tar Heels and Jake's impressive performance.
"Thank you for accepting this interview, Jake, I'm going to ask the questions and you answer as many questions as you can."
"It's all right."
"You are 19 years old now and you are considered very young in the world of sports, yet you have won more than 10 international marathons and you have broken your world marathon record twice and won some important gold medals in the sport even though you are running less 4 years old, I wanted to ask how you feel about it?"
"I always loved to run, since I was a kid I liked to run in the square that was close to home, after 10 years old I started running longer until I got tired and I think it helped me when I started in basketball to have more resistance."
"I liked to run and also to play basketball and my family did not have a very good financial situation with only my mother working, and one of my mother's dreams was for me to go to university."
"So I decided to start training in basketball because in basketball I knew that I would have more opportunities to get a scholarship and could perhaps become a professional player."
"After many years I finally managed to play on the high school basketball team and after it performed well I knew my training had paid off and so I could get a scholarship at a university if I continued to perform well."
"Knowing this, I decided to try to fulfill my dream of running a marathon, I was already training to run for several km because of basketball, but I wanted to try to run more than 43 km to make sure I could run a marathon."
"Fortunately, after training in basketball for so many years, I already had the necessary physical preparation and the talent to run for a long time because I had good resistance, so it didn't take me many months to be able to run 43 km."
"Then I tried to aim to run the 43 km in less than 3 hours so as not to be embarrassed in the marathon, and always without trying my best because I had to do the training with the basketball team."
"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.